Written by Matt Erickson
Four words seemed to sum up how Lee Abrams feels about the state of the newspaper industry: “Let’s fix this thing.”
With that, Tribune Co.’s first chief innovation officer set the tone for an hour of “aggressive action to reclaim our turf.” Abrams spoke with the president and executive editor of Greenspun Interactive, Rob Curley, as part of the Society for News Design’s keynote session Sunday night at the group’s annual workshop in Las Vegas, Nev.
“War has been declared on newspapers,” Abrams said. But that doesn’t mean he thinks journalism’s oldest medium is ready to call it a career. “I don’t think newspapers are dead, despite what everytone thinks. But we’ve got to make some changes.”
Abrams talked to a standing-room-only crowd about some of the myths he believes plagues newspapers as they prepare to make changes, including that “any change means dumbing things down” and “change means pissing off the core readers.”
Abrams, who has been influential in helping drive recent Tribune Co. redesigns in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Baltimore, not surprisingly was optimistic about newspapers chances moving forward in an era of uncertainty in the industry.
“I just try to inpsire people to rethink things, to take nothing for granted,” Abrams said. “There’s no reason we can’t create a newspaper renaissance. Papers are everywhere — it’s not like it’s a new startup business. We have to focus on rethinking. Think dramatic. Think urgency. Dramatic issues require dramatic solutions.”
While Abrams was perhaps a bit more low-key than the reputation that may have preceded him, Curley seemed ready to change the face of journalism immediately. Like before everyone left the room.
Armed with a Red Bull that may very well not have been his first of the evening, Curley launched into an opening that left the room asking, “What if?”
“What if you could just blow shit up?,” Curley asked the crowd. “What if you didn’t have to worry about revenue? Or circulation? What if you didn’t have to worry about what newsroom jobs you’re going to get rid of this quarter? What if you could literally just start over and forget about the legacy? Would your paper look like what it looks like right now?”
Curley said that was the philosophy at the Las Vegas Sun, both in print and online. He said the Sun is a newspaper built “for people who love to read newspapers,” and its Web presence is “for people who have eight seconds.”
The Sun’s mantra is one of providing intensely local news to its readers. “A lot of people call this hyper-local,” Curley said. “I call it doing your damned job.”
While many publications struggle with how their print editions co-exist with their online presence, that doesn’t seem to be a major burden for the Sun.
“The web site has a distinct personality, but it complements what is happening in print. What is old is new again,” Curley said while showing highlights of some of the Sun’s Web-exclusive content.
In closing, Abrams said he draws inspiration from the sheer volume of people he sees day to day who are embracing change and wanting to be involved in helping shape future journalism.
“What’s inspiring is the 70 percent of people who, once they’re liberated, … they tend to see hte big picture and want to change. I’m pleasantly surprised at the number of people who want to move forward.”
For more, read Matt Mansfield’s live-blogging of the keynote
Having Lee Abrams as the keynote speaker of an SND event is insane. Designers throughout the Tribune company mock him for the horrific mandates he has made on the redesigns that have made the papers look like candy wrappers. Readers are not welcoming the clearly visible changes of more junk and less content and he is certainly not going to change newspapers.
There is a huge problem and that is that the SND has somehow convinced managers that “design is everything.” People want journalism, not gimmicks. The SND is a damn joke! Having Abrams as a keynote speaker is evidence of that. Maybe when he actually causes the industry to actually turn around, then you might be justified in having him speak at a keynote. In the meantime, the janitors might have been better.
While Abrams may have not been the best pick to head up this event, the points that Curley made were right on!
“...the Sun is a newspaper built “for people who love to read newspapers,” and its Web presence is “for people who have eight seconds.”’
Why is it so hard to recognize the changes and create products to fill the demand? The newspaper industry is reminding me more and more of the recording industry every day; instead of embracing (and profiting) from change, it is continually fought!
While I love good design, I couldnt agree more with Gunkland. While a newspaper design needs to be clean, what papers need is to be packed with information. Since the 1970s, newspapers have gotten more and more minimalist, and the actual word counts and information have drastically decreased. No more redesigns or blowing up “sh-t” into candy wrappers.
Good read.I learn’t more information on reading this article.Its a good one.
I think there will always be some respectability that comes from print media. Over time it may get phased out as it is not very cost effective.
I bet we’ll see people stop paying for internet connect and that print will be on the uptick till the economy turns.
War is bad :(