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News & ArtsThursday, February 12, 2009
City / Media Job Interview? Online-Only Brainstorming Session? Whatever It is, Some of the P-I Staff Will Be Doing It on Wednesday.
Posted by Eli Sanders on Thu, Feb 12, 2009 at 7:45 PM
A Seattle Post-Intelligencer writer sends over this e-mail from Michelle Nicolosi, the P-I's assistant managing editor and web guru. The subject: an upcoming opportunity for meetings with Ken Riddick, Hearst's vice president for digital media.
The e-mail sure makes it sound like the P-I is going to be holding on to its local web presence after the paper edition likely folds in March. It also sounds like a potentially awkward series of encounters. After all, it's highly unlikely that every person who signs up for a meeting with Riddick is going to be hired on to work the web in a post-paper world, and Hearst itself has said that any online-only P-I would have a much smaller staff than the print-and-online P-I does now. My guess is that Riddick will be having far more Wednesday meetings than he has web-only staff slots.
From: Nicolosi, MichelleSent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 3:19 PM
To: PiStaff
Subject: Chat with Ken Riddick
Hi All,Ken Riddick from corporate will be here to learn more about your ideas next Wednesday. If you'd like to discuss your ideas with him in person please sign up for a 20 minute period on the signup sheet on the whiteboard in the newsroom. If you're in a bureau and want me to sign up a time slot for you just give me a call or email me.
Thanks much,
Michelle
2
There's no barrier to entry (like a printing press) for website newscasting...so the PI might not want to let so many free agents roam the blogosphere...
4
Please explain how this "sure makes it sound like the P-I is going to be holding on to its local web presence after the paper edition likely folds in March." It sounds like he's simply going to listen to ideas. A month before the end, and they're still listening to ideas? I'm telling you, there is no plan to keep the P-I alive online.
5
Oh, this is mean if they don't intend on keeping the PI online alive.
At least keep the SPi alive, hehehehe.
At least keep the SPi alive, hehehehe.
6
Actually, it's possible they would run all Web operations centrally (working out a deal with the Times to extricate themselves from NWSource) and then have a small local reporting staff that worked almost like Web stringers for the bosses elsewhere.
8
Does RIddick have a penchant for good bourbon and rough trade with high-class whores? One wonders...
9
Here's the "idea."
The P-I lost $14 million in 2008 and Hearst forecasts even greater losses in 2009.
The newspaper is not making money from its online operation.
The "P-I is going to be holding on to its local web presence after the paper edition likely folds in March?"
And why would Hearst want to hold onto its web presence in Seattle?
Benevolence?
The P-I lost $14 million in 2008 and Hearst forecasts even greater losses in 2009.
The newspaper is not making money from its online operation.
The "P-I is going to be holding on to its local web presence after the paper edition likely folds in March?"
And why would Hearst want to hold onto its web presence in Seattle?
Benevolence?
11
Hearst a large corporation ... not an innovator. If they haven't figured out how to make money online yet, they won't in the next x number of days. It's all hubris. Goodbye newspapers. You dolts.
12
The idea they're looking for is how to run it without staffing it. The person who can bring unto them that idea will be --- canned!
14
I think it's insane to ask a bunch of journalists to come up with an online-only business strategy. They need to be talking with successful start-up entrepreneurs outside of the industry. I doubt they'll even follow through on attempting this, but if they do, it's is a terrible way to start. Typical newspaper industry thinking to create this new beast within a vacuum.
15
I suppose this helps explain Monica Guzman's canceling the BIG BLOG meetup this week (coincidentally on Wednesday).
16
If Hearst is planning to hang on to PI.com after the newspaper folds, it demonstrates how incompetent the company is at managing anything. It's four weeks before the newspaper is to fold, and they're just now thinking about keeping the dot-com alive? Kind of late the party, aren't you pal? It might have been a good idea to plan the future of the dot-com when, oh, let's say you were deciding to kill it?
This is hardly a ringing endorsement of Hearst, or indicative of their support to either the PI or the community. You either are, or you aren't. If they haven't figured out whether the PI online fits into their corporate strategy, I wouldn't expect anything coming out of a meeting with a suit to inspire them further.
I'd like it if the PI would survive. But this is bordering on cruel. Help them, or go away.
This is hardly a ringing endorsement of Hearst, or indicative of their support to either the PI or the community. You either are, or you aren't. If they haven't figured out whether the PI online fits into their corporate strategy, I wouldn't expect anything coming out of a meeting with a suit to inspire them further.
I'd like it if the PI would survive. But this is bordering on cruel. Help them, or go away.
17
Apparently no one at Hearst knows how to run a profitable news Web site, and Ken Riddick is trying to throw everything up and see what sticks. Why don't they talk to all the tech and Web folks in Seattle instead of hoping that someone from journalism school can nail a business model?
18
Gee Glenn, now you're saying that Hearst could be planning on operating a PI website in the future. When only last week you were vociferous in your opinion, on Publicola, that there was no way the PI website could continue.
I'd call that talking out of both sides of your mouth.
I'd call that talking out of both sides of your mouth.
19
Hearst isn't trying to save anything here -- besides money. They'll give lip service to an online site, and perhaps do something small as an experiment.
But folks, they're shuttering the P-I because it's losing big money, simple as that. An online operation -- beyond a few tech people and a handful of low-paid reporters -- is also going to lose money, at least for the foreseeable future. No way will Hearst sink money into another money-loser.
So all this is just a fun, cruel "parlor game" for Eli, with lots of idle speculation based on tidbits of information.
But folks, they're shuttering the P-I because it's losing big money, simple as that. An online operation -- beyond a few tech people and a handful of low-paid reporters -- is also going to lose money, at least for the foreseeable future. No way will Hearst sink money into another money-loser.
So all this is just a fun, cruel "parlor game" for Eli, with lots of idle speculation based on tidbits of information.
20
A few thought from a journalist with 35+ years experience - small and large circulation newspapers, national new magazine and 12 years at a money making online content provider...
Online or on paper, content is king. Readers can not be forced to come to a site. They need to value the content on that site and then make the use of the site habitual. How do you do that? Plan to loose money for two years while you find what the right mix of content is for the site aimed at the demographic you are after. Once you have found all the right pieces, do not sit still. Change. Your audience will always be in a state of change themselves. The trick is to know your readers well enough so you can lead that change not follow it. If you are following, you are not going to win.
We are probably in one of the most challenging economic times any of us will see in our lifetimes. Look at this as an opportunity. This is the time to get ahead of the competition and grab the coming wave with the coming upturn in the economy. The economy will come back. It always has.
Hire the BEST online ad sales team possible. Then push them and reward them well for their success. Accept noting but success. Both their short term and long term goals need to be realistic, obtainable and measurable. If not, they will not succeed and the company will not succeed.
Hire (or keep) the best journalists and photo-journalists you can. Not only do they need to be the best but they need to understand the power of the web and how to execute in that environment. Don't hire people that you think you can train. Hire people who have experience and KNOW what to do. Pay them well for their talents. It's amazing what you can do with a small very talented group of people as opposed to a larger group of people that may have questionable talent or output.
Great photos drive page views, engagement and habitual readers. Columnists, with attitude, that know their market and can get their points across briefly will win repeat readers and help gain unique visitors. Useful (by the definition of your readers) local news will keep them coming back again and again.
The news business has changed. Everyone in the "new" company needs to do everything they can to monetize the content they produce. If it can't be monetized then don't do it. Look carefully at every dollar you spend. Every dollar not spent wisely to better the product is a dollar lost off the bottom line.
Interactivity is important. Don't just put the news product in front of your potential readers. They will get bored and go elsewhere. Get them involved with the product. Keep a dialog going with them. They are the important ones. Not the writers, photographers, multimedia journalists, nor the editors.
Do not follow - lead. And always innovate, innovate, innovate.
More...
Online or on paper, content is king. Readers can not be forced to come to a site. They need to value the content on that site and then make the use of the site habitual. How do you do that? Plan to loose money for two years while you find what the right mix of content is for the site aimed at the demographic you are after. Once you have found all the right pieces, do not sit still. Change. Your audience will always be in a state of change themselves. The trick is to know your readers well enough so you can lead that change not follow it. If you are following, you are not going to win.
We are probably in one of the most challenging economic times any of us will see in our lifetimes. Look at this as an opportunity. This is the time to get ahead of the competition and grab the coming wave with the coming upturn in the economy. The economy will come back. It always has.
Hire the BEST online ad sales team possible. Then push them and reward them well for their success. Accept noting but success. Both their short term and long term goals need to be realistic, obtainable and measurable. If not, they will not succeed and the company will not succeed.
Hire (or keep) the best journalists and photo-journalists you can. Not only do they need to be the best but they need to understand the power of the web and how to execute in that environment. Don't hire people that you think you can train. Hire people who have experience and KNOW what to do. Pay them well for their talents. It's amazing what you can do with a small very talented group of people as opposed to a larger group of people that may have questionable talent or output.
Great photos drive page views, engagement and habitual readers. Columnists, with attitude, that know their market and can get their points across briefly will win repeat readers and help gain unique visitors. Useful (by the definition of your readers) local news will keep them coming back again and again.
The news business has changed. Everyone in the "new" company needs to do everything they can to monetize the content they produce. If it can't be monetized then don't do it. Look carefully at every dollar you spend. Every dollar not spent wisely to better the product is a dollar lost off the bottom line.
Interactivity is important. Don't just put the news product in front of your potential readers. They will get bored and go elsewhere. Get them involved with the product. Keep a dialog going with them. They are the important ones. Not the writers, photographers, multimedia journalists, nor the editors.
Do not follow - lead. And always innovate, innovate, innovate.
21
Read between the lines, folks. Hearst already has a plan - but isn't ready to announce it. Sounds like the point of the interviews is to see who has "ideas" that are compatible with whatever it's already decided to do.
22
A reminder-
The PI is losing money online mostly because the family Blethen is in charge of trying to run the website into the ground.
My opinion-
Hearst shakes free of NWSource- not an easy thing to do- and taps into the decent ad sales departments it has around the country- a chance of profit!
Plus it becomes the jewel in the 21st century Hearst crown. What better place than Seattle to launch what so many consider the future of journalism.
The ideas session- may be discreet interviews with current staff to find out who can make the cut online.
I believe that this is the ultimate doing more with less plan. "The Wire" lives on!
The PI is losing money online mostly because the family Blethen is in charge of trying to run the website into the ground.
My opinion-
Hearst shakes free of NWSource- not an easy thing to do- and taps into the decent ad sales departments it has around the country- a chance of profit!
Plus it becomes the jewel in the 21st century Hearst crown. What better place than Seattle to launch what so many consider the future of journalism.
The ideas session- may be discreet interviews with current staff to find out who can make the cut online.
I believe that this is the ultimate doing more with less plan. "The Wire" lives on!
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