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Updated: Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Published: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 |
The Changing Media Landscape: Are you driving the train or are you on the tracks?
Here we go again.
NBC to cut 700 jobs and $750 million in costs. The San Jose Mercury News (where I spent 12 years as a senior editor) to lay off 101 people, including 40 from the newsroom, a 14 percent cut. The Cleveland Plain Dealer eliminates 17 percent of the newsroom staff. The Akron Beacon Journal slashes 39 from its newsroom. The Orange County Register to cut as much as $8 million in costs, including 10 to 40 newsroom positions. The Dallas Morning News is finishing up its latest round of buyouts,
The Tribune Company, owners of the Los Angeles Times, Orlando Sentinel, WGN TV and Radio and the Chicago Cubs, has hired a financial advisor and is officially exploring strategic alternatives, code words for a possible sale of some or all of the company (ironically, the same language that preceded the sale of Knight Ridder earlier this year).
Do I need to go on?
If you havent figured it out by now, allow me to make it plainly clear. The news business isn't changing. It has changed. The question is, will NABJ and our members change with it?
The old school, dead tree economics just aren't working anymore, at least the way they have worked in the past. No more is it enough to go out, write about the news, print it in your newspaper or broadcast it on your TV station or network, and expect readers, viewers and advertisers to throw money at you. Those days are over.
While there may be little we or the industry as a whole can do about the economic realities and shifts in media consumption habits happening throughout America, we and our members can get out ahead of the tide.
The new journalist, much in demand today, is as comfortable creating content for the Web and cell phones as they are writing a 1,000-word piece or putting together a stand-up. These ambidextrous journalists are the ones who are surviving and thriving in the world of layoffs and cutbacks.
I recently attended a conference of magazine publishers and editors a group also struggling with shifts in audience habits and economic realities and witnessed another sector in the midst of transforming and adapting, now embracing the internet, mobile technologies and video as a vital component in their journalism and business strategy. And many of them are hiring.
But the tightening of the industry nevertheless continues. It has even taken its toll on NABJ. While we have put in place the processes and procedures to more effectively run the association, and have cut nearly $1 million worth of annual spending, we are still, from a revenue standpoint, dependent on many media organizations for support. However, from sponsorships to donations to subsidizing your own dues, many media companies are not stepping up to the table, cutting their contributions this year significantly. That has hit us hard in the past few years.
But even as some corners of the media industry are hunkering down, others are reaffirming the importance and value of diversity in the workplace. For instance, the NABJ Media Institute has partnered with the New York Times to launch the first-ever NABJ/NYT Leadership Academy. The initial pilot class has been selected and their first session will be in November in New York City.
NABJ has also engaged in initial discussions with Consumer Reports magazine to help them expand the diversity and reach of their internship programs. And the Magazine Publishers of America an industry criticized for its sporadic focus on diversity has quietly begun gathering data on representation among editorial staffs at magazines. They hope to expand the census to include the business side soon.
In D.C., Daniel Lyght, the first recipient of the White House Correspondents Association four-year Frank Cormier scholarship and a journalism graduate of the University of Maryland, is now on his way to his first full-time job at the Fresno Bee after an internship at The Washington Post. His accomplishments are even more significant because Lyght, a 22-year-old black student who counts NABJ members Michael Wilbon and Sonya Ross as mentors, was better able to take advantage of these opportunities because of the support from WHCA and the guidance of NABJ members.
Other members are also taking the lead. Several NABJ colleagues, led by Roland Martin at the Chicago Defender and Andrew Humphrey at WDIV in Detroit, started an email dialog on the NABJ listserv and are pulling together an Online/New Media Task Force, building off the successful Web seminars at our recent convention. They hope to present the Task Force for approval at the winter board meeting in January. Contact Roland or Andrew if you want to participate.
But don't stop there. Local chapters should also step up and take on the charge to do more with New Media. Several chapters, from Kansas City to Philadelphia, have longstanding and successful urban journalism workshops, where they train young students in the basics of the craft. Each of those sessions this summer should now include a major component about online journalism, if they don't already. It will help prepare the students for the future and maybe teach a few of us old heads a thing or two in the process.
But ultimately, it is your career, your life. You should be in control. Dont wait for your editor or news director to provide the training and opportunity for you to get ahead. And don't wait for a buyout or layoff to force you to make some tough decisions. As one of my mentors once told me, take control of your own destiny and prepare yourself for the future, because the future has now arrived.
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SHORT TAKES
NABJ PRESIDENT TO SPEAK AT UN: National Association of Black Journalists President Bryan Monroe, vice president and editorial director of Ebony and Jet magazines, will be the first American media executive to speak from the podium of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, at the opening of the historic UN Global Youth Summit on Sunday, Oct. 29. NABJ, along with its UNITY: Journalists of Color partners, has assembled 10 student journalists from around the nation to cover the first-ever United Nations Global Youth Leadership Summit, being held in New York City.
NABJ BOARD VOTES TO INCREASE DUES: At the recent meeting in Washington, D.C., the Board of Directors took a look at the current dues structure membership dues have been the same since 1999 and approved a cost of living increase, effective December 1, 2006. As an example, full member dues will go from $80 to $100. For complete details, check out the summary from the meeting in the members-only section of www.nabj.org .
PHILLY, ORLANDO SLATED TO HOST CONVENTIONS IN 2011 & 2013: Also at the fall board meeting, NABJ selected Philadelphia and Orlando as tentative hosts, pending contract negotiations, for the Annual Convention and Career Fairs in either 2011 or 2013. Narrowed from an initial field of nearly 30 cities, the association considered three finalists in October. Minneapolis was chosen as the alternate city.
FREEDOM FUND SEEKS TO EXPAND MEMBER SUPPORT: With a powerful reception at the home of Rodney and Shelia Brooks outside Washington, D.C. in October, NABJ recently kicked off the next round of the Freedom Fund campaign, which has an overall goal of raising $100,000. Our first target is to raise $50,000 by the end of the year, and another $50,000 by May 31, 2006. If we reach or exceed that target, we will receive a matching grant of another $50,000 from the third round of the Challenge Fund for Journalism. Other small fundraisers are planned for Miami, Chicago and Atlanta. To contribute, go to www.nabj.org or email kfreeman@nabj.org .
LOOKING FOR COMMITTEE CHAIRS: NABJ is seeking new chairs for the Communications Committee, Media Institute Committee and Elections Committee. If you are interested, please email ryan@nabj.org .
Yours in service,
Bryan Monroe
NABJ President |
