We have the video: trends in business and technology blindside newspaper biz
By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, March 31, 2009
with story from News 14 Carolina
E.W. Scripps media company CEO Richard Boehne admitted his company did no see the internet coming 2 years ago. Scripps is the $1 billion per year media giant that closed the doors recently at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver CO, USA. Scripps told WFU students in Winston Salem on March 31, 2009 “We are in the midst of a story and the end of the story is very uncertain.” Scripps and Boehne’s failure to see the impact of the internet and the recession is typical of most media in the world. Complacent in their position of rich annual profits they scoffed at the Internet which has been around for over 3 decades, and gathering steam for the past 15 years.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MttZnROOuJU
Scripps and most media companies “couldn’t conceive of the Internet a few years ago.” Duh, talk about not knowing your readers. Lulled asleep by rich advertising profits they also refused to believe a recession would follow the boom years, which always happens. Pundits and financial analysts were predicting a recession in late 2007 and the chorus got stronger in early 2008. What were these business leaders thinking? It’s hard to feel sorry for them. GM didn’t realize that Toyota and Honda made small fuel efficient cars and that with gas prices going up, GM cars wouldn’t sell. Fat cat business leaders plead for mercy when they should be allowed to pass off the business scene. President Obama gave GM and Chrysler that message yesterday – you’re time is running out. Then they fired GM CEO Wagener.
Scripps is a $1 billion annual media giant in 20 urban markets. Global CanWest, the Canadian $3 billion annual, media company, is in 17 urban markets. It has announced it may file for bankruptcy. TransContinental, publisher of the Charlottetown Guardian and Summerside Journal Pioneer, is a $2.4 billion media and publishing business that has been on a acquisition binge fueled by Quebec pension funds. It publishes 12 dailies and 90 weekly newspapers across Canada.
There is another ironic twist to this story. Associated Press published the announcement of Boehne‘s speech Media company CEO talks in NC about online impact and misspelled his name “Boehnoe” and the misspelling was repeated by Forbes, Businessweek, Europe News and 9 other media outlets. Guess they forgot to Google the name and get the correct spelling.
Scripps CEO talks with WFU business students
News 14 Carolina
WINSTON-SALEM – The CEO of one the world’s largest and most influential media companies had a frank discussion with business students Monday.
Rich Boehne, chief executive of E.W. Scripps Co., told the group the Internet and the recession have had a profound effect on traditional media. He said what the future will look like for local media is still unclear.
“It’s a very exciting time to be in this business, if you can handle the risk and the stress,” Boehne said during his lecture of the internet’s effect on media.
Boehne said media companies knew their products needed to change, but the struggling economy only moved up the timeline.
“We’re in the midst of a story and the end of the story is very uncertain. Media is a dramatically changing industry. The news industry is changing,” Boehne said. “The Internet has brought about changes that we’re unimaginable just a few years ago.”
Boehne told the group like many other media businesses, he’s had to make tough decisions over the last year, including shutting down the 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News in Denver.
“We have to get through this period. So we’ve had to make an awful lot of very hard decisions. I’ve had to go and hug and cry with people I’ve worked with for many, many years and said your job is ending this week,” Boehne said, “But all of that is necessary if we are going to make it to the next season.”
Business student Michael Romano said they’re working to stay up to date and competitive in a challenging job market.
“We have classes that focus on management styles with the upcoming new trends and so, with the Internet being at the forefront of all of this, we thought it would be a unique educational opportunity for the students,” Romano said.
Boehne spoke to the group as part of the Babcock School of Management Lecture Series.
tongue in cheek
I guess the dinosaurs millions of years ago didn’t see the meteors coming to wipe them out either ,but at least they were uneducated beasts. It’s definitely time these older company CEO’s start asking and listening to younger people in the industries to get a real feeling for future trends.