Apocalypse 10: What Tribune Did Wrong
Posted: December 8th, 2008 | Author: Maha Rafi Atal | Filed under: Apocalypse Series, Business, Journalism | Tags: bankruptcy, local, national, Sam Zell, Tribune Company | 2 Comments »
So in case you haven’t heard, the Tribune is filing for bankruptcy. Now before all the shrill new media evangelists start celebrating, let’s take a moment to realize that this is the failure of bad management not bad journalism. Many of the Tribune papers–the Chicago Trib, the Baltimore Sun–were hallmarks of top notch reporting. And if they’d been properly run, we might have more of that top notch reporting around for longer.
But the Tribune was also the hallmark of managerial failure. As the WSJ explains, long before Sam Zell took the papers over, the Trib was in the financial hole. And while Zell undertook some smart redesigns and tried to cultivate the local focus, the community-curation, of the Web 2.0 age, he was half-hearted about it. The LA Times in particular never came to terms with the fact that it couldn’t really be a national or international news when LA readers can get that news from elsewhere. Not to mention the personality clashes among its top execs.
Meanwhile, at the Chicago Trib, Zell refused to merge an understanding of the new era’s culture with an actual embrace of the new technologies. He told reporters not to post juicy stuff online, and at least to this reader, the Trib’s website and blogs always seemed like a second class citizen to the print edition.
The message isn’t the medium, but you can’t have one without the other. Sam Zell never got all the pieces in place at the same time, but frankly, neither have most of the new media evangelists. So instead of seeing the fall of Tribune as a death sentence for print, let’s spend time trying to find a little common ground.
I entirely agree with you here, and so far the journalism I have read about this bankruptcy has followed your thoughts. However, while I think this is a matter of mismanagement, nonetheless the failure of a major organization as the Tribune will have to have some affect on the paper industry, probably for the worst.
I just listened to an NPR podcast on the state of the book industry. To be honest, I never considered the economic ramifications on this industry (not that it doesn’t make sense that they would be hit). I was a bit amazed at how many people in the industry were declaring that with the economic crisis perhaps now is the time to switch to cheaper media.
Perhaps, then the true force of Web 2.0 won’t actually be consumers, but rather industries trying to cut corners. I mean it just makes so much more financial sense if you can move more of you business to the web and digital medias that cost significantly less to produce and transport.
Speaking of which did you know you can get an unabridged audio book of Paradise Lost…yes…and I am now the proud owner.
One more thing – have you worked at all the role of intellectual property rights in the world of web 2.0? I find it fascinating.
[…] into profitability at a time when sustainable profits are years out is a fool’s errand. That’s the lesson Sam Zell learned at the Tribune. I sure hope we don’t have to watch BW go through the same. Related […]