All posts in the topic Civic Caucus interview with ex-reporter Bruce Benidt on decline in daily newspapers (Short link)

--Jennifer Armstrong
Gilbert, MN

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Today's summary covers our interview with Bruce Benidt, communications
consultant and former reporter, Star Tribune, on changes in the media.  After
you've read the summary, which appears below and as an attachment, please share
any comments you'd like:
_____________________________________________________________________
Also, after reading the summary, here are questions for you:


______ 1.  On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most
agreement, what is your view on whether the largest daily newspapers as we have
known them in Minnesota are dying?

______ 2.  On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most
agreement, what is your view on whether Minnesota needs dedicated entrepreneurs
to come forward and offer innovative, economically viable, and worthy
replacements?

______ 3.  On a scale of (0) most disagreement, to (5) neutral, to (10) most
agreement, what is your view on whether a community-based effort should be
undertaken to articulate the problem, create public awareness, and develop
suggestions for such replacements?

To respond, click “Reply”; fill in your responses; click “Send”.  Or
send a separate email to <email obscured>.   Thank you.

Verne C. Johnson, chair, Civic Caucus
Paul Gilje, coordinator
<email obscured>

Summary of Discussion with Bruce Benidt
Civic Caucus, 8301 Creekside Circle, Bloomington, MN 55437
http://civiccaucus.org
Friday, May 15, 2009
Present: Verne Johnson (chair), David Broden, Paul Gilje, Jim Hetland (phone),
Jan Hively, Tim McDonald, John Mooty, Jim Olson (phone), Wayne Popham (phone)

A. Context of the meeting—The Civic Caucus is increasingly concerned with the
future of media in state, and its role in civic and public affairs. What does
the future of the news business look like? What possible models exist? Are they
profitable?

Bruce Benidt, communications consultant and a former newspaperman himself, will
provide insights from his perspective of a leader in the ‘Save the Strib’
movement.

B. Welcome and introductions—Bruce Benidt is a communications consultant. He
is a frequent facilitator of strategy, team-building, leadership and planning
sessions, and has been a national keynote speaker on communications and
learning. He has more than 25 years of experience in communications as a public
relations executive, college teacher and daily newspaper reporter.

After 12 years with Weber Shandwick, Bruce started his own consulting and
coaching business in 2001. Prior to working in public relations, Bruce was for
10 years a daily newspaper reporter, most recently with the Minneapolis Star
Tribune. He was an assistant professor of journalism for four years at
Minnesota State University, and has been part of the adjunct journalism faculty
at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for 20 years.

Welcome also to Jan Hively, a new participant with the Caucus core group.

B. Comments and discussion—During the internal discussion, the following
points were raised:

            1,  Broken economic model for newspapers--Bruce opens by asking if
anyone present has seen “State of Play,” a 2009 movie starring Russell
Crowe as a reporter, digging up a story (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473705).
The movie shows the mechanics of printing papers, with towering machines and
massive gears. Very heavy operation. “No wonder the business is going
away,” Bruce said, in the face of new technologies.

            But long before a story is even published and printed somebody
needs to do the legwork: sit in city council meetings, follow a beat, go to the
doors of a business or organization that needs to be checked out. Who is now
going to do this important component of newsgathering?

            Bruce believes Minnesota can find an answer to preserving great
daily journalism – whether it’s delivered on newsprint or on the web or in
new ways. It will take creative thinkers who know web marketing and networking,
journalism and business. The traditional newspaper may die, but we need to make
sure good journalism and an informed community don’t die also. That requires
a new approach to creating and delivering a daily newspaper, to meeting
people’s needs for news, information and entertainment.

            2.  Fewer news reporters---Many people in media today, such as
bloggers and commentators, are not doing real reporting, he says. The danger of
having newspapers die is not the fall of media companies making 20 percent
margins, but that there are fewer reporters on the beat. Those left are working
twice as hard, and in many cases have less experience.
            In the case of the Star Tribune, a member asked about the role of
its debt load in the paper’s troubles. What has hit the paper is a perfect
storm, Bruce said, to use one reporter’s term. The owners went into deep debt
to purchase it, and the paper now operates at a loss, on top of factors such as
advertising migrating to websites, the economy falling apart and declining
circulation.

            Someone asked if there is anyone saying to Bruce: Newspapers are
dead, accept it? Conventional wisdom says they are dead, he replied, but some
smart people disagree.

            3.  Finding a way forward with entrepreneurs--We can’t let this
decline in the quality of newsgathering happen, Bruce insisted. A member asked:
Do you have an answer?

            No, he replied, but he has an approach. We need to get
entrepreneurs in here. Bruce described himself as ‘a convener; independent,
trying to bring people together.’

            Physical plant is too expensive. Nobody knows how to make money on
the web where newspapers have been giving away their product for free. But
Bruce is convinced that there is a way forward, if creative people try new
solutions.. “There need to be three or four different kinds of people at the
table: a technology visionary; someone that understands journalism; an angel
investor with a civic conscience. This is the kind of entrepreneurial team that
will be able to make progress.

            4.  Ideas around the future of the news business--People are
bringing ideas to the Save the Strib movement. They are being innovative in
finding ways to charge for things other than advertisements and subscriptions.

            Some papers are streaming video from third parties, he said. Or the
paper could “out-Craigslist, Craigslist.” Others have suggested
theme-specific editions of a paper, with perhaps seven or eight different
focuses printed out and delivered in a smaller-than-full-size, as requested.
There could be an arts version, a policy version.

            We are breaking down the lines of how reporters are paid, Bruce
followed. Seymour Hersh, a well known reporter, is not employed by anyone. He
sells his work. Editors may call him and request his assistance on a story.

            5.  Possible new model for news gathering and distribution--This
leads to an idea among those present: a ‘journalist institute,’ where
reporters come together cooperatively, have desks and overhead, then sell their
news to people who in turn print and distribute it.

            One possible example of a new model:

TABLE LOST HERE

            6.  Non-profit newspapers?--Would it be possible for newspapers to
operate as non-profits? Congress is looking to make it easier, Bruce replied,
for media to make that shift. MinnPost operates as a non-profit but it cannot
endorse candidates.

            Should the community foundations finance a non-profit paper? They
may have a role, in supporting a journalist institute or in providing startup
money for new ideas. One member worried that foundations cannot subsidize
losing enterprises—media is too big, and it would take away from other
commitments of the foundations. There needs to be—must be—a ways to make
money.

            Bruce agreed, but other members said that foundations may have a
strategic role to play, assisting in areas of the business where they can be of
most help.

            7.  New ways to read the news--A member said that he uses the
internet to collect and group different stories he wants to read. Another says
that he likes hard copies of papers so that he can read them at his discretion.
You can do both, Bruce said, and will be able to do so with more ease in the
future. Amazon just came out with a larger Kindle, a portable electronic reader
which could organize stories. Or some digital entrepreneur might print out and
put together an amalgamation of news stories, personalized by someone on their
computer, and bring it to you. This is the kind of thinking that needs to
happen.

            The Pioneer Press is going to begin charging for web content. The
Wall Street Journal does. The Strib has print-only stories. People are starting
to nibble-back, Bruce said, but subscription fees are not the only—or even
the primary—source of revenue, so this will have a limited impact.

            8. Citizen v. professional journalism--A member pointed out that
the Twin Cities Daily Planet fields writings from community members, and
accepts for publication based on its quality and relevance.

            There is a paper in North East Mississippi, http://nems360.com/,
with a fleet of citizen journalists, Bruce followed, and this may be one answer
to who might sit in those boring meetings. But, “citizen and professional
journalists are differently-orientated.” Professional journalists have
special training to examine and present information in an unbiased fashion.
Citizen journalists are often very talented, he said—in cases more so than
professional journalists—but their lack of professional status is a big
drawback. Local issues may be difficult to cover in an unbiased way.

            A member noted that good reporters are those that can go to events
and understand them, to know what’s going on and read between the lines, and
“not get snowed.”

            9. Finding leadership in Minnesota for innovation in
newsgathering-distribution--A member asked Bruce if he sees any evidence of a
leader in Minnesota who will strive to save the collective news media?

            There are several groups devoted to this, Bruce said, and the
beginnings of people with money that might act as angel investors to new ideas.
This is a civic good, and we need investors willing to receive lower monetary
returns but realize running media provides a civic benefit.

            We need a process for innovation in newsgathering, he continued,
not a static ‘solution.’ There is not going to be one solution that works
into perpetuity. Times are always changing now.

            A member asked if Bruce is aware of anywhere in the country with
leadership on this? He replied that he didn’t know, but that could be his
ignorance. Many places are trying to save something old, he noted, and that
will not work.

            A member wondered if the Governor should convene an action group.
Another member countered that business should be the one to step in and provide
leadership, admitting that, “This is good for us, and good for society.”

            Whoever creates this thing, Bruce said, referring to a new media
model, will get bitten by it. Remember that the media is critical, and is
nobody’s pet. They will be creating a public good, but it won’t necessarily
be friendly to them.

            10.  Possible next steps in Minnesota for a new approach to news--
A member asked Bruce what he sees as the end-goal of his role, in this.

            “The end for me is a group of people at a table that say,
‘Yes—we’re going to do this,’ and either buy out the remains of the
Strib, allow the two papers to die and move in, or take some other approach.

            “But the point is,” he said, “that entrepreneurs need to move
in.”

            Bruce sees his role as a convener, bringing people together who can
(perhaps with his help) frame and move an action plan. “I then have no
problem backing away,” he said.

            The problem here is not about selling the news. The Strib website
is the 10th busiest in the country, while Minneapolis is only the 14th largest
city. They must be doing something right, he said. The challenge is ad revenue,
which probably won’t come back. But there must be a business model that
works; it just needs to be discovered.

            11.  Whether the Civic Caucus approach should be expanded--It was
noted that the Civic Caucus circulates a limited amount of information that
isn't news but is more discussion of issues prior to news events or after the
news events have occurred.  We interview people with knowledge and ideas about
certain issues and distribute their comments in a manner that is easily
followed.  We're able to cover only a limited number of topics and circulate
that information only to a limited number of readers.   There might be
potential for expanding this approach to become a modest supplement to the
regular news-gathering-distribution process.

            There was talk about covering events, writing notes, and using
those as a piece of reporting for the public good. “Someone goes to a nice
event,” a member said, “sits quietly, leaves with some materials under
their arm. But all content is lost. To put together and send around notes would
keep ideas alive that are presented, even though there may be no ‘news’.”

            This mode approaches the way journalists used to operate, and has
been used in public affairs for many years. “Verbatim summaries are
worthless, absolutely worthless,” the member said. “You need someone who
knows what is going on to cover something and write it up,” with context.
This person may be someone in the field with expertise, an executive, a
journalist, etc.
            The Strib could be a bulletin board for such a process, Bruce said.
This sounds like a very viable tool for getting quality content for no cost to
the distributor. It also departs from citizen journalism a bit, reserving the
writing of notes for someone with special qualification relative to the event.

            12.  Thanks--Thanks went out to Bruce, from the group. “Let me
know if I can be helpful,” he said.

D. Upcoming meetings
--Friday, May 22, internal discussion, Civic Caucus strategic plan

--Friday, May 29, State Sen. David Senjem, Senate Minority Leader

E. Recent additions to Civic Caucus website
            --Comment on meeting with Curt Johnson, Education|Evolving:
http://www.civiccaucus.org/RespSummJohnsonCurt-04-09.html

--Comment on meeting with David Dillon, third-party candidate:
http://www.civiccaucus.org/RespSummDillonDavid-04-09.html

--Comment on meeting with Fred Zimmerman, management professor:
http://www.civiccaucus.org/RespSummZimmermanFred-03-09.html