“Convergence” Items

Convergence and the Corporate Boardroom

In early December 2002, I published an article for Poynter Online based on a speech I gave at the opening of Newsplex, a prototype newsroom of the future, at the University of South Carolina. Newsplex was a cooperative project between private and public media organizations and academia at the USC’s College of Mass Communications and Information Studies.

My topic was convergence and the changing media corporate culture. I talked about how before convergence can succeed in the newsroom, it has to be adopted in the boardroom, where major cultural and business changes are also needed.  Here’s a taste of the article:

The bigger issue isn’t whether we can change the corporate culture of the boardroom to embrace convergence. Rather, it’s the need to focus on learning and adjusting the characteristics of the entire organization.

With education we can affect the learned behaviors of the media industry’s leaders, its journalists and other workers.

And when I talk about the media industry leaders, I am not talking about just the people who sit in the boardrooms. Leadership includes managers and staff members, who actually can be more influential than their bosses.

Convergence and the Changing Media Corporate Culture

Howard Finberg gave a speech at the opening of the Newsplex, a prototype newsroom of the future, at the University of South Carolina. Newsplex is a cooperative project between private and public media organizations and academia at the USC’s College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. His topic was “Convergence and the Changing Media Corporate Culture.”

The idea he presented was this: Before convergence can succeed in the newsroom, it has to be adopted in the boardroom, where major cultural and business changes are also needed.

The article/speech kicker:

Next time you are in the boardroom, remember the three “Rs” – research, retraining and risk taking. Remember that it takes a long time to change our cultural templates. But it can be done.

Here’s a link to the complete article.

Come Together: Defining the Complementary Roles of Print and Online

In 2001 I worked with the Newspaper Association of America’s circulation federation to develop a report on how print and online departments could work together to further the sales of subscriptions.  Working with me on the project was my consulting partner at that time, Leah Gentry.

From the report’s opening:

… the NAA Circulation Federation began looking at how consumers use print and online news sources and how their choices affect our business. We began looking at the challenges and opportunities both media would encounter as this new consumer channel developed.

Here’s what we wrote for the introduction to the report, which runs 72 pages.

Newspaper marketing executives confront more challenges and opportunities as the media landscape evolves at an ever-increasing pace. No longer can our audiences be solely identified as newspaper readership; online also is becoming an important path for customers to access news and information. As our customers select from an increasing number of routes to us, we conversely enjoy expanded opportunities for marketing to them through multiple routes and for using each platform to strengthen its siblings.

When we wrote the report, pay walls and online subscriptions were just a glimmer on the digital horizon.

The report is too large to load here, so I’ve put in my SlideShare account.