“Leadership” Items

Electronic Newspaper of the Future, 1992

One of the more innovative folks in the design universe was a professor from Spain, Dr. Juan A. Giner.  Giner was at the School of Journalism  at the University of Navarra. In 1992, he asked several folks for their thoughts about electronic newspapers.  This is before the Internet.  I think he was using some of the information for a research paper and for a presentation at the Summit Meeting of Editors and Publishers, a European conference, I’m guessing.

Here’s what I wrote, the conclusion of my thoughts, sent via FAX:

They have information to sell, regardless of the form it takes to reach the reader. Unfortunately, only a few see the road ahead; too many are looking behind at the road they have just traveled.

If the current leadership fails in understanding the market place or fails to adjust to the needs of the news consumer, then the consequences will be two-fold:

• Many more companies will go out of business.
• Many more companies will be bought by those who understand the needs of the marketplace and replace those publishers and editors who do not.

The future will belong to the quick and smart. Be neither quick nor smart and you’ll be out of the game.

It was fun to think about the future.

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.

 

Chicago Tribune Publishes the 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.

Changing The Chronicle’s Visual Image. Or Not.

In late 1986, I wrote a memo to the paper’s publisher (Richard Thieriot) and editor (William German) urging a discussion about the design of the San Francisco Chronicle.  It was a memo deeply rooted in understatement as both Thieriot and German saw little need to change the appearance of the newspaper. I urged a gradual approach, an evolutionary method of updating the typography and design of the newspaper.  Part of the argument for change involved addressing the weakening economic aspects of the paper.

However, now is the time in which we must look ahead and decide on the type of newspaper we wish to present to our current readers over the next several decades. And we need to decide on what type of paper
will be necessary to attract new readers among those who live in the Bay Area but do not read The Chronicle.

While change would eventually come to the paper, the reaction to the memo was mostly silence.

I did like making this point about the importance of design:

While design cannot keep readers, but it can attract them to the paper and let the content and editing hold them. We are missing out on readers who move to the Bay Area from other parts of the country who are accustomed to a more organized, easily readable design in their daily newspaper.

To the casual reader, the images in the memo aren’t very dramatic.  However, if you knew the Chronicle from that period, you would remember they were still using wavy rule boxes around photographs.  Yuck. Kudos to John Sullivan for his work on the prototype pages.

Arizona Republic Announces Redesign (and My Hiring)

The Arizona Republic’s newsroom newsletter, EN, announces the hiring of Mario Garcia to redesign The Arizona Republic.  And, burying the lede [grin], my hiring.

TWO MORE STEPS have been taken in our continuing effort to improve The Republic: A contract with Dr. Mario Garcia of the Poynter Institute to redesign the paper, and the hiring of Howard Finberg of the San Francisco Chronicle as our new assistant managing editor for graphics.

Garcia’s redesign of The Republic will begin in July with research to understand how readers and editors perceive the newspaper. He will be here the week of July 6. The schedule will give him a chance to live up to his nickname, “‘the Human Hurricane”.

I just love the irony that years later I would be working at Poynter, although Mario would be gone. The world is a small place.

Perhaps My First Poynter Faculty Appearance

While I can’t be sure, I think this is the seminar where I did one of my first Poynter teaching sessions.  I know I attended Poynter as a participant earlier than this date.  It is all a bit cloudy.   Here’s the description:

“Newspaper Design Seminar at the newly named Poynter Institute for Media Studies January 29-February 4, 1984. The emphasis of this seminar will be the layout and design of news pages’ with special emphasis placed on preparation of graphic packages and material for the 1984 Presidential elections.”

The seminar was led by Mario Garcia.  A few years later, he and I would be work on the redesign of The Arizona Republic.  Other faculty included: Phil Nesbitt, Michael Keegan, David Griffin, Michael E. Foley and Roy Peter Clark [who is still at Poynter].

It is interesting to note the prices:

Cost for the seven-day seminar is $400 plus hotel and meals. We have reserved a block of rooms at the St. Petersburg Beach Hilton Inn at $61 per night for single accommodations.

In 2013 dollars, the seminar would cost: $897.28; the hotel would be $136.84.  The invite letter is here.

Pagination: Implementation & Human Factors

One of my roles as Assistant Managing Editor of The Arizona Republic involved steering Phoenix Newspapers [PNI] into its next generation of pagination, the electronic design and production of newspaper pages.  In early March, 1993, the Newspaper Association of America held a Prespress Technology Symposium in Phoenix, AZ. I gave two speeches at that conference, one on how The Republic implemented its system.

If you were to create an adage about the installation of a pagination system it might go something like this:

Installing a pagination system is much like building a ship while already at sea – it is possible, but be prepared to get wet.

The second speech involved the human factors in pagination:

A design department using pagination can be one of two things:

  •  A creative department using a specialized electronic tool
  • A service or production department using new tools but following the direction of the paper’s editors

A design department using pagination can’t be both.

This is the fundamental linchpin of any discussion about the human factors of pagination. How to manage the people doing the work.

 

Scenarios at The Arizona Republic

In 1999 the management of Phoenix Newspapers, publishers of The Arizona Republic and AZ Central, embarked on an ambitious project to take the company into the next decade.  Part of that process involved writing scenarios about “possible futures”.  We had five objectives as we looked toward the next five to seven years:

  1. As technology and the Internet continue to evolve, how will reader and advertiser needs and behaviors change? How fast will it all happen?
  2. Use scenario planning to enhance our strategic conversation
  3. Involve the organization at all levels.
  4. Craft a point of view about our future.
  5. Develop a more agile Year 2000 operating plan, and budget and craft a three-year  strategic plan.

I wrote much of the “Zero Time” scenario:

Zero Time asks us to throw out the notion of a continuous, predictable future. It represents our most challenging scenario. How rapid and radical is change in this Future? In just the five years between 2000 and 2005, the U.S. economy has morphed from a mass industrial economy to the new economy, an Internet and information economy. Computing is ubiquitous and touches every aspect or almost every person’s life–much like a telephone or television did in 2000. Communication is seamless and superfast broadband connections to the Internet have become standard. Customers get the information they need, exactly when they need it, and can do most transactions without the aid of intermediaries such as auto dealers, real estate agents and travel agents or newspapers. Audiences are increasingly fragmented, and mass is no longer the dominant model in any advertising medium.

Maybe not quite right for 2005.  Certainly on target for 2013. Read about Zero Time in the PDF.