Disappeared News: Worth reading—on-line, of course

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Worth reading—on-line, of course

by Larry Geller

Journal Register Co. CEO John Paton’s keynote at Editor and Publisher’s Interactive Media Conference (snip):

“We spend 20 hours of a day producing a newspaper then shovel it onto the Web,” he said. “True, we update on the Web sporadically, but essentially as an enhancement to print. And that is nothing like understanding that we are dealing with different mediums that have different strengths, and different audience expectations.”
…
“If you want your newspaper company to change and you care about journalism and getting it out to the people you serve, then you have to make that change radical,” he continued. “The only way I know how to do this is to put the Digital people in charge.

“The print people have been in charge of this transformation for more than a decade and they are NO GOOD at it,” he said. “At JRC, the head of digital content is now in charge of ALL content. The Chief Digital Officer is now in charge of ALL sales. Our soon-to-be-named head of ALL business development’s only experience – is Digital.” [Editor and Publisher, E&P’s Interactive Media Conference Kicks off with a Wake-up Call, 6/16/2010]