Production: A World View
In the first face-to-face discussion of its kind, participants in this fall’s NAA/IFRA International Newspaper Operations Leadership Forum, held at NAA’s headquarters in Vienna, Va., took a global look at the issues and challenges facing newspapers.Among the top issues identified by the group of 19 production executives from three continents:
Content. Key issues were ease of use, localization, organization, declining credibility and non-linear work flow.
Personnel. With turnover rates high and a global shortage of skilled technical workers, training was seen as both a problem and solution.
Participants said their papers committed between 2 and 8 percent of revenue to training, and noted that larger companies such as Motorola commit 10 percent of all revenues to ongoing training.
One participant said several newspapers in his group needed press operators, and “we don’t even have people with the skills to train them.”
Delivery, including online and deliver-and-print models (see Delivering Beyond the Doorstep), zoning and targeting, divergence and organization.
Digitalization. Common and shared databases are now entering newspaper plants and linking papers (see Digital Asset Management 101), as well as departments within the same newspaper. But digitalization doesn’t necessarily lead to a reduction in head count. One participant said that for every employee he takes out of composing as a result of pagination, he adds one technical person into either advertising or editorial.
On the plus side, digitalization has improved quality and increased newspapers’ capacity for zoning.
Another participant recently consolidated her newspaper group’s classified departments into regional call centers, and revenue increased by 30 percent due to cross-selling.
The related issue of integrating such systems becomes monstrous. Standards, which appear to be more readily adopted in Europe than in the United States, offer one solution. IFRA’s IFRAtrak data-reporting format, for instance, will be used by 20 suppliers providing a next-generation publishing system for Associated Newspapers of London (see Going to Groupware).
Data culled from the disparate systems will be used to build a comprehensive production-tracking system. For such a standard to be adopted in the United States, newspapers must first reach agreement on a process model.
Research & Development. In truth, the newspaper industry now largely relies on “search and redevelopment,” adapting outside solutions for its own environment, participants said.
Confidence. Participants expressed concern about the Internet’s comparative present-day cachet, as well as Times Mirror Co. Chairman Mark Willes’ assertion that U.S. newspapers are acting defeated and not being managed as a growth business.
Some European and Asian participants saw this lack of confidence as a uniquely American problem.
Marketing. A host of related issues were identified, including declining readership, literacy, demographics, the age-old advertising dilemma of “mass vs. class,” customization and the ongoing consolidation of media players.
Challenges over the next five years included:
Supplier consolidation. One participant worried that the industry is getting close to having just two press manufacturers worldwide.
Y2K. As one participant put it, “Y2K is a big problem because newspapers have 9 zillion different systems, and we have to change them all.”
Governmental regulation. A key U.S. issue is depreciation rules, which make it cost-prohibitive to replace presses every eight-to-10 years.
Lack of industry cooperation. Participants specifically noted the inability of large newspaper corporations to cooperate on classified-exchange issues.
Cyclical economics. One participant expressed concern that as newspapers become increasingly dependent on classified revenue, they will become even more cyclical.
Forum participants also took a first stab at guiding principles to lead newspapers over the next half-decade:
Commitment to standards. Participants agreed that suppliers should play a role in standards discussions, and some cautioned that over-demanding specifics could put vendors out of business.
Increasing competence in implementing and integrating off-the-shelf solutions.
Understanding the timeline of the competitive threat posed by the Internet and other converging media.
Assessing competitive strengths and weaknesses.
Change management.
Appropriate political activism.
The formal exchange of information.
Exploiting educational institutions. Moderator David M. Cole, proprietor of the Cole Group, noted that the Rochester Institute of Technology offers four full scholarships to its newspaper-management program.
Last year, three went unfilled.
International cooperation.
Improving employee retention and competition for skilled employees by making newspapers more attractive places to work.
Getting closer to customers.