Technology will help us own the agenda – all day, every day
In this opening speech to the Future Forum of the Newspaper Publishers Association, News Ltd CEO John Hartigan argued that news organisations have the opportunity to become more rather than less relevant.
Today I want to talk about a tipping point that heralds the most exciting era for journalism. The most exciting era ever.
This tipping point is already upon us. It has arrived at lightning speed, with the explosion in demand for mobile devices.
I am not consigning newspapers to the scrapheap. Not by a long shot.
Welcome to the 21st Century.
Sensible commentators have been trying to tell newspaper publishers about a changing guard, a news revolution that is about a distributive transmedia approach where different platforms will necessarily demand different user experiences for at least a decade now.
Regardless of the fact that some publishers have been disbelievers and slow to experiment, strong trusted and authoritative news brands, provided they get their business models right stand to prosper.
Hartigan should already be thinking beyond mere mobile news devices.
How about the iRupert NewsChip?
One easy injection behind the ear & and every morning the pleasing voice of Rupert Murdoch fills your skull and welcomes you awake with the morning news, plus ads.
Anyway, one year on, it turns out that aggregators are not thieving, rotten, bastard scum, but are instead the future of news.
“Harversting content”. That doesn’t sound good for the digital farmer or the digital crop, does it?
Great speech. Hartigan is spot on when he says ‘The challenge for management is to create the right environment for them (the creative journos) and then get out of the way.’ ICouldn’t agree more with his end line either.
John I disagree with your assumpiton that Eric Schmidt means abundance of choice only. The reality is that we have abundance of choice and also an abundance of quality. Newspaper don’t corner the market on great writing or great insight. You corned that market when you owned the distribution channels but that has come to an end now. And for the truly great writers that write for papers they are already waking up to the reality that you need them more than they need you.
Death of newspapers….i dotn know. But I can access many places online where i can get great insightful writing on a range of topics from individuals who are deepky knowledgable about their topics. I don’t need you guys for that any more. Don’t fool yourself that you are the only ones who can create great content.
Let me translate Hartospeak into real world language:
* Reconfiguring our newsrooms
MEANING: Bring in carpenters so that the next time Rupert makes a flying visit to Oz, Harto can show him something concrete to demonstrate how “I get it, boss”.
* Re-skilling our editorial staff
MEANING: After pooling all the subs from the dailies and suburbans under one roof, force them to learn the web sites’ CSM as well.
* Identifying the most creative and entrepreneurial people and …
MEANING: … and then fire them, like Bruce Guthrie at the Herald Sun.
* Giving them the tools and the autonomy to be adventurous and truly innovative
MEANING: Master a lot of cliches because, if the carpenters don’t impress Rupert, maybe the buzz words will hit the spot
Rupert is 80 and can’t last forever. When he goes, News Ltd will be sold and probably dismantled. That will be a good day for Australia, journalism and also that innovation thing Harto talks about.