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gannett.com
Tidbits contributor Steve Klein recently discussed Gannett's new "Information Center" strategy with Jennifer Carrol, Gannett VP of new media content. |
If you do a Google search of "Gannett + Reuters," the three most recent headlines as of this writing are:
Gannett overhauling papers for 24-hour, new media,
MediaNews plans job cuts at San Francisco papers, and
Gannett reports lower third-quarter profit.
As news hit Friday that Gannett Co. Inc. plans to make major changes in its 89 local newsrooms that include reporting stories 24/7, something it has named the Information Center, the cynics, doubters and late-adopters stuck in a run-down, late-20th century, outmoded journalism model are expressing their doubts.
Gannett likes to package and name its initiatives, like "News 2000" in the late '90s, which was meant to meet reader and community needs (and in large part, did, even if all it was a fancy name and outline for good journalism). Well, wake up and read those headlines while you're smelling your coffee. They're not unrelated. And no, layoffs are not planned as part of this initiative, says Jennifer Carroll, vice president of new media content for Gannett's newspaper division.
But Gannett is finally speeding ahead after a cautious-at-best and slow-at-worst approach to a cross-platform media strategy -- despite the success of USAToday.com (now part of a converged news operation with the five-day-a-week newspaper).
"News and information will be delivered to the right media -- be it newspapers, online, mobile, video or ones not yet invented -- at the right time. Our customers will decide which they prefer," Chief Executive Craig Dubow wrote in a now well-circulated memo to employees. I might haggle with Dubow's preposition: "to," as opposed to "by," but no matter. Gannett gets it. Finally.
The big question, of course, when you look at Knight-Ridder and the Tribune Co., is timeliness, an enduring news value that's taught in journalism school.
Has Gannett gotten religion in time?
I sat down with Carroll on Friday (disclaimer: Carroll and I go back to our days as journalists at Gannett's Lansing State Journal in the mid-'80s) at the Gannett offices to learn more about the Information Center and what it will mean to students like mine at George Mason University. I'll have more to say about that conversation later, but it is important to know this about Jennifer Carroll: Nothing in her professional portfolio exceeds her personal enthusiasm for good journalism that serves readers and communities. I have seen this from the days Carroll covered local education and Michigan State University for the Lansing paper.
Carroll's job has changed over the years, but not her journalism -- or her infectious enthusiasm.
"This is about taking advantage of all the new tools and applying them journalistically in areas we have always been passionate about," she said."This is not a program. It's a complete transformation of the way we do business."
That business, of course, is journalism (again, take a look at those three headlines from the Google search), and some journalists rooted in 20th-century reporting and delivery methods (heck, many fought late 20th century writing tools as computers evolved!) are going to grumble -- and stumble. Gannett is not going to drop its pursuit of investigative journalism, for example, but it is going to insist that journalists learn and utilize new online tools in their investigative methods. There are going to be those who resist the changes; there always are.
"We are more mindful than ever of connecting people in our communities and giving them the kind of coverage that's relevant to them," said Carroll, who has never strayed from that pursuit throughout her career as reporter, editor or executive.
"We hope that our audience will see and find many ways of connecting with us, no matter what the platform: working mothers and blogs, Little Leaguers with photos, disenfranchised citizens who want to speak out about their government. We want to find new ways of understanding and being involved.
"Yes, we have a business imperative. But we also have a change imperative, an innovation imperative. There is a very small window here to re-engage with our communities in ways we never have before. Yes, we are very mindful of the economic realities of the industry. But 20 years from now, when we look back at what we did, will we be able to say that we did the right thing? There is an urgent need to remake ourselves, to make ourselves vital to both readers and advertisers. As journalists, we all care so much about the industry's survival that we must make this happen."
And to that, Carroll could have added the journalism imperative, which remains the most important imperative of them all. Good journalism IS good business. It's also good citizenship (there is an emphasis in the Gannett plan on the First Amendment). I don't see anything in the Information Center that would indicate that Gannett is ignoring any of these imperatives.
