Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
STLIrish said:They lost the person in charge of the "rethinking" project? That's rich.
Sounds like a massacre for the Biz desk.
Frank_Ridgeway said:Philosophically, I disagree with those who want to "blow up the paper," as Carole Leigh Hutton phrased it. I believe that almost everything that's been done in the name of saving newspapers (and the ensuing ego trips for those who want to be first to reinvent the wheel) has hastened rather than delayed their decline, and I think the wisest course is to let everyone else fork up their papers, and if one of them finally gets it right, copy that. But if that's what led to Hutton's demise, that's silly, too. What kind of message does it send when suggesting a radical idea means off with your head? Either there's a lot more to it than that, or (now here's a radical thought) Hutton deserves our sympathy.
captzulu said:I think that newspapers (or news organizations) do need some significant re-invention to go from a declining industry to a growth industry.
Frank_Ridgeway said:There's nothing wrong with deciding to stop making things worse, putting out a traditional newspaper in the meantime and watching the other papers do dumb stuff. Sitting out this dance or even backtracking a bit may be the wisest temporary course, unless you truly believe your newspaper's editor is the best in the country.
Frank_Ridgeway said:I think you are talking in terms of the entire industry, and I am talking about each paper taking an honest look at its likelihood of finding an answer, and if the answer is "not very," avoid doing anything radical and let other papers take that risk for you. Because they will.