The future of publishing
There’s a battle raging within the corridors of The Wall Street Journal. Owned the past 15 years by Robert Murdock, the Journal is the most influential business periodical in the world, a treasure trove of exclusive content staffed by an army of more than 1,300 editors, writers, researchers and sales professionals. Its daily mission is to maintain journalistic excellence while exceeding the prior month’s massive profitability. And profitable it is—The Wall Street Journal is the shining star of the print media world and the most important asset within parent company News Corp, generating more than $1.4 billion in subscription revenue and ad sales. Inside that revenue is an immensely successful digital strategy with more than 2.35 million subscribers who pay to read its online content each and every day.
So if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Because The Wall Street Journal fears for its future.
Senior management and many among the rank and file are not convinced that the means of its current success today is the path toward its future success tomorrow. According to an article published on April 11 by its rival, The New York Times, a 300-person “innovation team” at WSJ concluded last year that “drastic” changes were immediately required to save the company. As reported in the article, there’s an inside joke by some Journal editors that rolls around the hallways: “The No. 1 reason we lose subscribers is they die.”
While that’s an obvious exaggeration, the innovation team argues that the Journal must pursue a more “progressive” agenda to grow a younger and more diverse subscriber. They believe that trending social issues and content on race disparities should be covered with the same vigor the Journal chases stock trends and corporate mergers.
We’re undergoing a similar process at NorthBay biz magazine. While our mission remains the same—to be the voice of business in the North Bay for both established leaders and up-and-coming stars, the means by which we present our voice and the content we serve to our readers are under careful review. Should our website mirror our magazine content? Should we break business news in short-form style or continue our more in-depth review of the news?
It’s no secret that the future of publishing is changing, so we’re rethinking how we’ll continue to stay relevant to serve the needs of our readers in the business community. Our task force doesn’t quite number 300 (more like eight), and we meet weekly around our conference room table to hash out what’s next for us. Last year, we transformed our website where you’ll continue to find content from the magazine, but also daily “News Briefs” that are timely and relevant and, in some cases, website exclusives.
Should your organization undertake a similar review? Do you feel technology, social and consumer changes are dovetailing in your organization’s favor? As always, I welcome your thoughts. Write to me at Lawrence@NorthBaybiz.com.
