New Products, Advertising Models Needed To Keep Quality Journalism, News Executives Tell National Press Club Forum at Drake University

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- New thinking in how to attract advertisers will be essential to regenerating the income necessary to keep quality journalism alive, leading news executives said at a National Press Club forum at Drake University Wednesday.

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"The business model is clearly broken," said Laura Hollingsworth, publisher of the Des Moines Register, part of the Gannett Co. that announced this week another 10 percent cut in personnel.

Supporting quality reporting and investigative projects is the essential piece of what the company is doing, she said, but it is only one piece.

"The vision for the Register as a regional information center is knowing the household, knowing the players in it, and layering products and services that are both digital and print," Hollingsworth said.

She said she is seeing a split between news and advertising, and advertising is not following news to the Internet. Advertisers want to reach people where they are active, through information that connects to their lifestyles, she said. But the company cannot give up its core responsibility in civic engagement and watchdog journalism.

"I am protecting with my life all I can right now the number and the depth of investigative reporting that the Des Moines Register is built upon and is our mission and value," she said.

Hollingsworth was speaking at one of the National Press Club's forums on "The First Amendment, Freedom of the Press and the Future of Journalism" the Club is holding around the country to mark its 100th anniversary. At each forum, the Club gathers a panel of leading local journalists to talk about where the news business is going and how to protect its core values.

This forum was co-sponsored by Drake University's journalism program.

Michael Gartner, who had been president of NBC News as well as a Pulitzer Prize-winning print editor, publisher and columnist, said the newspaper industry should take a lesson from what happened to television news when cable and satellite television challenged the three major networks.

"I lived through all of this 25 years ago at NBC," he said. "It was the same dire threat that these folks are facing now. You lost exclusivity, you lost your immediacy, and you lost a big chunk of your audience and a big chunk of your revenue."

Television networks fought back by embracing cable television, he said. ABC has ESPN, and NBC has MSNBC and CNBC and Bravo and Oxygen and Lifetime. Television networks found ways to cooperate with each other on routine news to free up more money for competitive journalism.

"I understand the short-term panic," he said, "but I don't understand the long-term dismay and distress."

Dave Busiek, who is news director at KCCI-TV and a past chairman of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, said his station is re-examining everything it does as it faces revenue shortfalls. Across the country, he said, television newsrooms are embracing the Web and new technology for delivering news to people where they are.

But that still doesn't answer the question of where the money comes from to pay for it, he said.

"Any newsroom needs a certain number of feet on the street to do original reporting," he said. "I don't think there is one right answer. All I know is that if we are not out on the leading edge of trying some of these new ideas and figuring out what works and what doesn't, we're not going to be around very long."

Steve Buttry, the editor of the Gazette ofCedar Rapids and GazetteOnline, said news organizations have to look at Web advertising differently.

"Think of how much of the content of a traditional newspaper is related to someone's decision to buy something," he said.

A person reading a bridal announcement will want to buy a gift or two. If it's online, a person could click on the bridal announcement and be connected to the bridal registry and can buy the gifts right there. The same is true in sports, he said. Read about a game and click on it and buy the tickets.

"You can see that if we start becoming the community marketplace where you actually conduct the transaction, that is so much more valuable to the advertiser than just the advertising model of selling eyeballs," he said. "That's where we need to go."

Details and highlights of these forums can be found at the National Press Club's Web site: www.press.org.

The NPC Centennial Forums program is sponsored by Aviva USA, one of the nation's fastest-growing life insurers (www.AvivaUSA.com). In addition, the company is funding the production and distribution of 12,000 DVD copies of the Club's centennial documentary, "The National Press Club: A Century of Headlines" and supplemental education materials.

Tom Godlasky, chief executive officer of Aviva North America, said, "Our partnership with the National Press Club is based on shared values and a belief that the First Amendment, freedom of speech and professional journalism are fundamental to democracy, personal freedom and free enterprise."

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Gil Klein - National Press Club Centennial Project director, 703-338-2721. E-mail gklein@press.org.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB:

The National Press Club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. Founded in 1908, the Club has 3,500 members representing most major news organizations. Each year, the Club holds more than 2,000 events including news conferences, luncheons and panels, and more than 250,000 guests come through its doors.

    SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING NATIONAL PRESS CLUB  FORUMS

    Oct. 30 Milwaukee, Wis.

    Nov. 6 Salt Lake  City, Utah

    Nov. 10 Washington D.C. Webcast to the  University of Alaska (Anchorage
    and Fairbanks) University of Nebraska,  University of Idaho, University of
    South Dakota, and University of  Montana

    Nov 12 Cleveland, Ohio

    Nov. 13 Norman, Okla.

    Nov. 13 Houston, Tex.

    Nov. 17 Phoenix, Ariz.

    Nov. 17 Minneapolis, Minn.

    Nov. 18 San  Diego,  Ca.

    Nov. 19 Los  Angeles,  Ca.

    Nov. 19 Philadelphia, Pa.

    Dec. 2 Indianapolis, Ind.

    Dec. 3 Ann  Arbor, Mich.

    Dec. 8 Naples, Fla.

SOURCE National Press Club

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