The Money Blogs is the source for Blogs about the latest financial and stock market news with rss feeds
This post received 6082 Money Blog views
Stock Investing > The Longish View
Two Paths for the News Business: Retrenchment versus Reshaping
Tom Hughes | Thu, 10/30/2008 - 12:52pm | Christian Science Monitor, Conde Nast, NWS, NYT, online publishing |
54 comments
Rank this post
54 comments
The Christian Science Monitor and The New York Times are venerable, first-tier journalistic enterprises. The news about the news business, though, is generally downbeat: ad revenues going to the web, attention spans shrinking, and younger audiences ignoring "mainstream media." The Monitor's response is to cut costs and go web-only, as they describe here. Understandable, and kind of inevitable-feeling, don't you think? Similarly, Conde Nast is implementing five percent cuts across the board (from Media Bistro, here).
The Times' response, though, is much more interesting and, I think, forward-looking. They are taking all their content -- much of it best-of-breed -- and exposing it in APIs for the rest of the Internet to consume and re-purpose. This is a bolder, harder-to-explain, but ultimately much more promising approach. You can see example posts from their "Open" blog here (Campaign Finance data API) and here (Moview Reviews).
The Times' strategy, as I see it, is to invest to exploit the upside of the Internet: more connections to more audiences in more ways (at lower costs). The "dead trees" business is, of course, threatened; but journalism was never meant to be about printing presses. The presses, and their massive capital requirements, were an Industrial Age artifact that tended to lower profits and entrench incumbents (creating the "press lords" like Beaverbrook and now Murdoch, as a side effect). The Times has always been about its writers (and photographers and other creative individuals); human and intellectual capital, and reputation capital, not physical capital. If the Internet puts a premium on that intangible capital, and the resulting companies are smaller, they should be more profitable. It's a long shot -- market forces may drive NYT to cut costs at all costs, and sacrifice its long-term future for its near-term survival -- but we can hope, and watch.
Similar posts from The Money Blogs
- Earnings and Market News: Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), Citigroup Inc. (C), New York Times Co. (NYT), TD Ameritrade Corp. (AMTD)
- Internet Growth Walks Out On The New York Times (NYT)
- False Hopes For Internet Profits (IACI)(GOOG)(TWX)(NYT)(DIS)
- In Facebook's New Revenue Plans, A Way Out For MySpace (NWS)
- The 'Long Tail' - Not Always and Automatically a Good Thing

Money Blog Feed
Comments
sideboard
lance7 | November 6, 2009, 5:50 pm
reshaping academic programs
lance7 | November 6, 2009, 5:54 pm
What is Retrenchment?
coolpete | November 6, 2009, 2:59 pm
The obligatory letter of
akshara | November 4, 2009, 2:07 pm
VTS Converter is a
john810 | November 4, 2009, 1:08 am
Retrenchment is like
dentistbirmingham | November 3, 2009, 9:37 am
Facing uncertain
Shoot | November 3, 2009, 1:54 am
antique sideboard antique
lance7 | November 2, 2009, 7:47 am
he results were an example
lance7 | November 2, 2009, 7:49 am
I also agree that the Times'
sandra34 | November 2, 2009, 6:19 am
I think reshaping is better.
Zero82 | October 28, 2009, 1:40 pm
Not sure if Times Plan Will Work
susan44 | October 27, 2009, 11:48 pm
Routinely creating a mindset
hommerock | October 27, 2009, 8:10 am
The newspaper's headlines
s.keski | October 26, 2009, 4:02 am
reshaping academic programs
hommerock | October 24, 2009, 9:37 am
Retrenchment is nothing but
s.keski | October 23, 2009, 11:31 pm
On Wednesday's Mad Money ,
hommerock | October 22, 2009, 2:28 pm
tiffany jewellery .tiffany jewelry
niuzai987 | October 19, 2009, 2:27 am
tiffany jewelry
tiffany
tiffany uk
tiffany jewellery uk
tiffany jewellery sale
tiffany jewellery london
silver jewellery
tiffany jewellery sale
Tiffany Bracelets
Tiffany Sets
Tiffany Rings
60 % des acteurs
hommerock | October 18, 2009, 4:38 am
A good post.. Its great to
dentistbright | October 15, 2009, 11:41 am
If the Internet puts a
hommerock | October 12, 2009, 12:30 pm
States or governments may
Nathanial | October 7, 2009, 2:00 pm
free ads |usa jobs |memory foam mattress
If the Internet puts a
hommerock | October 5, 2009, 1:33 am
The surviving businesses will be smaller
abi | September 29, 2009, 12:45 pm
Although retrenchment is
s.keski | September 27, 2009, 11:18 pm
Retrenchment is a pullback
s.keski | September 19, 2009, 1:43 pm
Opportunities in Adversity,
hommerock | September 17, 2009, 1:24 pm
The investment that the
akshara | September 15, 2009, 11:46 am
Retrenchment means the
silver57 | September 15, 2009, 5:45 am
The investment that the
akshara | September 14, 2009, 1:12 am
I think (hope) that opens up
akshara | September 12, 2009, 8:16 pm
Thanks for sharing. free
freegames31 | September 19, 2009, 4:01 am
Employee mindset is necessary in workplace
dentistkent | September 12, 2009, 1:41 pm
Service businesses offer
alodie | September 11, 2009, 2:56 am
It's hard to survive now in
AwekMelayu7878 | September 6, 2009, 12:01 am
Thanks
prp123 | September 4, 2009, 5:57 am
There are dozens of
hommerock | August 31, 2009, 7:58 am
States or governments may
rocky111 | August 31, 2009, 5:14 am
The Times has always been
hommerock | August 31, 2009, 3:16 am
Opportunities in Adversity,
hommerock | August 30, 2009, 5:19 am
When a company or
silver57 | August 29, 2009, 9:58 am
I like your local-news
hankjmatt | August 29, 2009, 8:07 am
Cramer's sovereign wealth
hommerock | August 19, 2009, 5:39 am
I think when a company or
sharoncollinsr | September 10, 2009, 12:44 am
Nice post, Routinely
virginia.jacobs | August 15, 2009, 5:57 am
Retrenchment, across the
hommerock | August 14, 2009, 2:43 am
but there seems to be enough
jackiboa | July 30, 2009, 4:51 am
It is NECESSARY to replace
jackiboa | July 30, 2009, 4:50 am
This times wherein life is
ropkik | July 25, 2009, 6:24 am
Expected Tax Changes In 2009
hommerock | August 12, 2009, 3:40 am