Man bites dog & newspapers bite back – news commentary by Andy McCourt

Extract from Melbourne’s Herald-Sun, July 12:
A man desperately trying to evade capture bit a police dog yesterday. The police dog, named Pago, gave chase and when he caught up with the suspect, an altercation ensued. The man kicked, punched and bit the dog. "It's quite a foolish thing to do because a dog will bite back, and much harder," Sgt Fraser said.

It’s an old saw Dog bites man is not news; Man bites dog’ is news. So, it is with warm heart and great expectations that I bring you the news that our fusty old newspaper industry has at last made a bold move to show some teeth and promote itself as a modern, efficient media that is still the best way to sell goods and ensure that we remain a democracy, despite the best efforts of certain ACT-based Machiavellian manipulators. Newspapers, like the rest of the printing industry, have had to undergo seismic upheaval in their practices, in the face of new media, a dying (one step after ‘aging’) population and a disinterested young mkt wo prfr txt mssgs n bnal drvl 2 reel reading.

So what’s happened? Australia's leading publishers have established The Newspaper Works – a $2 million p.a. budget independent industry body tasked with promoting newspapers to advertisers and finding ways to boost readership. Moreover, they’ve appointed a top adman from Clemengers, Tony Hale, to head up the initiative as ceo, starting in September.

Jointly founded by News Ltd, John Fairfax Holdings, Rural Press, APN News and Media and West Australian Newspapers Holdings, The Newspaper Works (TNW) aims to modernize the public perception of newspapers. TNW Chair John Hartigan of News Ltd says; "We believe very strongly that newspaper assets are not going to be consigned to the scrap heap of old media. They are going to be trailblazers, as part of the new media."

Tony Hale acknowledges the need to multi-purpose news and information:
"The fact that you are offering it in an online form or within future technologies in a mobile form, is a positive step in the way to get people to read the content of newspapers," he says.

The body's board comprises the chief executives from each publisher, including Hartigan, Fairfax's David Kirk, Rural Press' Brian McCarthy, APN's Brendan Hopkins and West Australian Newspapers' Ken Steinke.

The announcement of TNW coincided with a report from MAN Roland Where are Newspapers Heading? in which MAN’s Georg Riescher comments: “There appears to be virtually no limit to the printing industry’s worldwide growth although there are of course weaker and stronger markets…one can see very strong growth of between 15 per cent and 30 per cent in annual advertising spend, above all in newspapers, in Eastern Europe, Russia, China, the Middle East and India.

This of course contrasts with some developed market events, such as last week’s announcement by the Chicago Tribune that 4 per cent of its workforce would lose their jobs. Publisher David Hiller said; "Most simply, our revenue is down and our costs are up, and we have to address that." Several other US newspaper publishers, including Gannett Co. Inc. and McClatchy Co., also reported lower earnings, as their print businesses lost national and automotive advertising dollars and readers to the Internet. (source: Reuters).

In the UK, The Sportsman newspaper slipped into administration last week after only four months on the news stands. It was the first national daily to be launched there in 20 years.

However, here in Australia – where the world’s smartest newspaper executives come from – it appears our flacks, hacks and jacks are once again ahead of the game with the establishment of The Newspaper Works.

MY CALL:

Gold! Gold! Gold! It’s a great initiative and one that must be mimicked by other sectors of the printing industry. Fact is, newspapers, catalogues, direct response inserts DO work and often much better than online, TV or radio alone.

There’s a bunch of roses, now for the brickbats:

Newspapers – care more about how you deliver your product. For the past two weeks in rainy Sydney, all I’ve had is a soggy, pulpy SMH mess each day, carelessly strewn in the gutter or grass for the rain to flow through the open ends of a too-tightly roll-wrapped paper. It’s unreadable and falls apart and I’m on the verge of canceling my sub. I’m an industry consultant, so I’ll happily charge you a very reasonable $5,000 fee for the following advice: Flat-wrap and seal the buggers! And tell your agents – papers are not grenades to be tossed.

Content – I know, I know, journos cost money and ‘we’re a business after all and we can get the news over the wire, so we’re firing 90 per cent of the reporters’….. BULL! Employ or contract more good journos, sector experts and op-ed writers; readers want YOUR paper’s vision and interpretation of events. You will KILL your product by not investing in first-class content.

To quote acclaimed writer Philip Knightley in this month’s Walkley magazine:
“The answer is staring us in the face. Sports pages are the one section of newspapers that go from strength to strength. Most readers of a report on a sporting event not only already know the result, but have probably seen it on TV. Yet they still turn eagerly to the sports pages to read about it. They want to know not just what happened, but why it happened now, what led up to it and where do we go from here?

“I believe there is an enormous hunger for serious journalism. I believe readers know the difference between this sort of reporting and the trash they frequently receive and that they will reward newspapers which offer good journalism with their support and loyalty.”

Well said, Mr Knightley. And enough said from me.
Woof.