“Bits of History” Items

Straits Times, Singapore, Workshops

In 1993 I taught a series of workshops or training sessions at the Straits Times newspaper in Singapore.  These sessions were aimed at the copy editors and visual editors of the newspaper.  Attendees also came from the Business Times publication, the New Paper and two non-English language newspapers: Zaobao and Berita Harian. 

Actually, there were two weeks of training, with a different group for each workshop.

Workshop goals were:

  • The challenge of serving readers more fully today
  • The challenge of serving readers in the next century

And the topics covered were:`

    • Readership issues
    • Typography & readability
    • Designing
    • Photography
    • Graphics
    • Critique

At the end of each workshop, I looked at the Year 2000 and views of top designers and what the newsroom might be like.  This was based on an API seminar I attended and presented at.

I also did critiques of the Straits Times, the Business Times and the New Paper.

Michael Bloomberg on Newspapers

Michael Bloomberg, president and founder of Bloomberg Financial Markets gave a keynote speech at the International Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1997.  His speech was about the future of electronic devices and he spent a lot of time talking about newspapers and whether there’s an electronic solution that would make consumers give up on print. [That’s why I’m posting his speech]. An excerpt:

And if we are going to build consumer products, if our businesses are going to grow and let electronic devices replace newspapers they are going to have to provide the same functionality. Now another answer to the problem would be don’t let radio and television become the substitute for newspapers. But find some way to make newspapers more valuable, more economic. And if you think about it, it is a very easy thing to do. Right now we go and we chop down an awful lot of trees in Canada, we haul them to the mill, we grind them up into paper, we put ink on it, we deliver it to the comer newspaper stand or the newspaper boy or girl throws it on your doorstep. You read it once and you throw it away. It is a phenomenally inefficient thing screaming for a technological solution.

Bloomberg also so the coming of streaming television:

No matter how many times people tell you that broadcast is here to stay, the feet of the matter is it is not here to stay. It is so compelling to be able to get what you want, when you want it, independent of everybody else that we are going to give you video on demand no matter what it costs and no matter who’s axe gets gored and people will try to protect their industries. They will try to protect their jobs, but the feet of the matter is, if you look at the public, the public has the interest in getting a movie they go to Blockbuster, they want to see it when they want to see it. The public even goes to the comer movie theater to see it when they want to see it. The public wants to be able to jump over commercials, which is going to be a very big problem. Who is going to pay for all of this? The public wants to be able to stop that football game for two minutes when the phone rings or when the diaper needs changing. And we are going to have to deliver those kinds of products, those facilities, those attributes for television.

His speech had some good visionary moments.

Phoenix Newspapers Enter Cyberspace

The launch of Phoenix Newspaper’s initial efforts in publishing online was covered in The Arizona Republic’s front page on Sunday, June 18, 1995.  The story was written by David Hoye, a staff writer on The Republic. Here’s his lede:

Arizona is getting wired.

By late this year, the best the Grand Canyon State has to offer will be available online, thanks to an agreement between America Online and Phoenix Newspapers Inc., publishers of The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Gazette and the Arizona Business Gazette.

For the first time, anyone with a computer and an account with America Online will have immediate, 24-hour access to news and information from around Arizona.

You’ll note that the paper’s initial online efforts were on America Online.  It would take a few more months before AzCentral launched on the World Wide Web.

All of David’s stories about the launch in a PDF.

More information about the launch of AzCentral can be found elsewhere on this site.

The Future: Embracing Change

In 1999, the Society for News Design published a handbook for editors about dealing with pagination and technology. I was asked to write a chapter about “the future” and embracing the changes new technology would bring.

Some of the things I got right:

  • Working at home, even doing newspaper design
  • Always connected to a network
  • Using databases to edit and present content
  • Constant feedback on what consumers are reading

Here’s the opening to the chapter:

Firing up her monitor with a verbal “log on” command, Kate gets ready for the daily meeting with her fellow editors and a managing editor at The Republic.

Almost instantly, her monitor is on the “virtual network” and eight images of her co-workers start to appear. Three are at home; two are at remote or shared offices. One is on the road with his team covering a live event. The rest are at the paper’s head­quarters building.

After discussing reports from the teams that worked the previous “info cycles” – each cycle is four hours and there are teams working around the clock – Kate and her fellow editors start the business of producing material for The Republic.

She doesn’t have a computer in her house, only a 27-inch flat-screen that is about one inch thick and connected to The Network. Everything is on The Network: broadcast entertainment signals, written communications and voice messages.

It was a fun assignment.  Thank you, Olivia Casey.

Online Consumer Survey, 1992-1993

The Interactive Services Association, a trade organization for companies that marketed online services [think AOL or CompuServe] to consumers, issued several reports about consumer behavior online.  The 1993 report was done just before the wide-spread use of the World Wide Web.  Here are some of the highlights from the report:

  • Active users find that no one system meets their needs completely, and seek out unique content and bargain features. Three in five online survey respondents use at least two online systems, and more than half subscribe to three or more. This should strongly encourage innovations by incumbents and unique offerings by new entrants – right-minded efforts will be recognized and rewarded by a market that restlessly seeks out new and improved services. (More representative survey data suggest that only about one-fourth of all online users use more than one system.)
  • BBS’s appeal to online users on both price and content. About two-thirds of respondents use bulletin board systems (BBS’s) in addition to commercial online services. A third or more cite cost, software libraries for downloading, and communication with other users as the reasons for BBS’s appeal. Commercial services must continue to expand their offerings beyond these latter areas in order to justify their higher fees.
  • Software downloading, communicating with others who share interests, and getting PC-related help and information lead in popularity among applications. Respondents were asked to choose, from a listing of 10, the three applications they use most. In addition to the three just mentioned, exchanging electronic mail with friends and family, and obtaining current, general news round out the first tier of most-used applications. Systems and services competing for the core of today’s market must continue to advance their offerings in these areas.
  • Online use by multiple household members is substantial and growing. Regular use by other family members was reported by a full 42.5% of respondents, almost double last year’s percentage. In addition, a remarkable one in ten of all respondents report regular use by a child or children 12 or under. Although Prodigy did not participate in the survey, its use by multiple-system users may underlay this phenomenon – along with the growth of family-oriented features on other systems. This paradigmatic change, regardless of its source, presents a new opportunity to be addressed broadly by the industry.

In a couple of years, there would a report on how to build online services that were Web-based.

Named as IT Director

In February 1997, I was named as the director of information technology.  Here’s what the company newsletter wrote:

Howard Finberg, director of infor­mation technology, will direct the Information Services department for the next 18 to 24 months, effective Jan. 30, Vice President/Operations & Product Development Rich Cox announced last week. Sam Young will remain as Services director and turn his full attention to expanded responsibili­ties with several important Services issues and projects. Finberg will report to Cox on IS issues and continue to report to Publisher & CEO John Oppedahl on strategic technology issues.

A couple of months later, I wrote a memo to the IT staff outlining my goals:

As we discussed a little more than a month ago, the leadership structure of the information services department will be changing. During our first staff meetings I outlined my vision for the department. Since that time, I have had the opportunity to discuss this vision with many of you. Your enthusiasm has confirmed my thinking and serves as a guiding force towards our future. That vision statement is worth repeating:

“There are no system projects, only business projects enabled by information technology.”

To reach our vision, we need clear and consistent expectations. At our staff meeting I outlined those expectations. They are also worth repeating. An effective information services department:

• Makes sure all infrastructure works properly and is positioned for future growth.
• Develops a coherent architecture and clearly communicate its structure to the company. Standards can save companies money if they are applied properly; a poorly chosen standard or standards that do not change as technology changes can cost a company time and money
• Develops a team structure at both management and staff level. In addition, every team member needs to understand everything that is going on; you need to know more than your own projects.
• Makes sure that the company and its directors understand the full cost of the latest technology and the risks involved in trying to satisfy all demands all the time.
• Provides leadership, advice and it assists and works with customers so they can accomplish their business goals with a minimum of effort and expense.

 

20 Years of Being a Graphics Editor

In the Spring 1994 edition of Design magazine, the publication of the Society of News Design, I wrote about the creation of a new kind of editor — the graphics editor.

It started very simply and quietly. Notes posted on bulletin boards on the walls 20 years ago hardly anticipated the revolution that was to come. In that note, the first modern newspaper graph­ics editor job was created. It was a new job for me at the Chicago Tribune: It was an unheard of job in the newspaper industry.

Mostly, the creation of this new type of editor­ship was lost in the turmoil and angst caused by the closing of the Tribune Company’s Chicago Today and the merger of dozens of “tabloid” journalists into the white-shirt and narrow-tie culture of the Chicago Tribune.

This article talked about and showed examples of the Tribune’s graphics desk’s work.

1995 Online Service Research Study

In early 1995, PAFET conducted a consumer online market research survey to establish baseline information in order to measure the development of the consumer online market. This document summarizes the goals, approach and results of that study.

[PAFET stands for Partners Affiliated for the Exploration of Technology. In 1994 six media companies [mostly a bunch of newspaper companies] created this research consortium to learn about and evaluate technology that could impact media and support the creation of new businesses and services.]

Some of the highlights of the study:

• The level of familiarity with online services among PC owners and online subscribers is lower than expected. Despite online services’ aggressive subscriber acquisition efforts and heavy media attention given to these services, almost 1 of 4 PC owners considers themselves to be “not at all familiar” with online services.
• Current online users still represent a niche market, that can be characterized as young, affluent, highly educated, and predominantly male. However, improved presentation of online content (via graphical and multimedia technology), faster transmission speeds, better content and lower prices are attracting more mainstream consumers.
• The demographic profile of online subscribers using the Internet and those who do not is very similar.
• Accessing or subscribing to multiple online services is not uncommon among current online service users. One of four online service users reported regularly accessing at least two online services.
• “News and information” remain the top reason non-online users subscribe to a service. The research results showed that, among current online users, the primary reason they chose their current service was for “news and information.” Among those who canceled a subscription within the past six months, “lack of use” and “lack of information” were cited most often as the reasons for the cancellations.

The study’s questionnaire and research methodology were designed by Maritz Research (Los Angeles, CA), PAFET Operating Committee members, and market research directors and managers at each of the newspapers included in the study.

Also included with this post is the presentation made by Maritz Marketing.

Visual Editing. A New Textbook

In early 1990, Bruce Itule and I published: “Visual Editing. A graphic guide for journlists”.  This textbook was aimed at editors at newspapers who handled various elements — photos, illustrations and informational graphics. It also tied all those elements together with chapters on newspaper design. It also include some history and a section on ethics.  It was a great learning opportunity and I believe it helped become a better editor and manager. The Visual Editing textbook is on this site. More on the book is here.

Chicago Tribune Publishes Watergate Tapes in 1 Day, 1974

One of the moments of journalism history that I had a chance to live was the Chicago Tribune’s publishing of some of the Nixon White House tapes – the Watergate tapes – in 1974. It was also a moment where I was so very proud of the Tribune and its management and staffers.

The paper created a 44-page supplement that contained every word of the transcripts. And it was done in a single day. The remarkable inside story about that publishing achievement was capture by the Tribune’s in-house publication, “The Little Tribune.”  The June 1974 edition is full details and names. For example:

After the decision was made, [editor Clayton] Kirkpatrick immediately contacted Maxwell McCrohon, managing editor; Frank Starr, chief of the Washington bureau; and Charles Parvin, assistant news editor then on duty, and instructed them to begin work on the project.

Because a decision had to be made quickly on how the transcript would be printed, a team of five editorial and production men was sent by Tribune plane to Washington’s Dulles airport to meet Frank Starr who would bring copies of the transcript.

Parvin contacted Dick Leslie, an assistant news editor, at his home about 10: 30 p.m. and asked him to round up two other men for the trip. Leslie called Bob Finan, editorial production coordinator, and George Cohen, Book World production man, who had experience with setting copy in cold type. John Olson, vice president and general manager, phoned Fred Hemingston, composing room superintendent, and Fred contacted Pat Ryan, engraving superintendent.  

This is a great story about the power of journalism.  The Tribune managed to print the transcripts BEFORE the official government printing office.

P.S. I was also proud to play a small role as a picture editor.

[art director Gus] Hartoonian and [art director Tony] Majeri created several designs for page 1, and one of them was selected by McCrohon. The front page story for the section was written by James O. Jackson, reporter, and Casey Banas, assistant to the editor, prepared the Transcript Index. Howard Finberg, assistant picture editor, located and sized photographs for page 1, inside and back pages, and ordered Velox prints from the engraving department. [picture editor Chuck] Scott asked photographer Chuck Osgood to take the special front page picture of the tapes.