Martin Baron knows good journalism does not come cheap.
As the editor to many notable newspapers, and as a first-hand witness to newspaper failures, Baron talked with the Eugene public about the “ever-shrinking newsroom” and gave some explanations to a crisis that is continuing to grow.
“Lord knows everyone is going to try anything,” he said, to survive the current decline in newspaper advertising, subscriptions and revenue.
Baron, editor of The Boston Globe and past editor at publications such as The Miami Herald and The New York Times, sent a message of wary optimism for the future of the newsroom to the large crowd that gathered in the EMU Ballroom late Thursday afternoon.
Baron brought to campus decades of experience in leadership roles at several of the nation’s notable newspapers, making him the one of the most experienced and appropriate speakers for the School of Journalism and Communication’s annual Ruhl Lecture, which honors outstanding ethics and dedication in journalism.
Journalism instructor Michael Werner recognizes significant value in discussing the trials newspapers are going through.
“The things Marty Baron said were right on,” Werner said. “It’s a challenge that anyone in journalism today is struggling with and I don’t think we have the answers, but I think the more we talk about it, the more possibilities there are we’re going to find a solution to the problem.”
Newspapers such as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle, among others, have either ceased daily publication or announced they may have to stop publishing. Tuesday, the Houston Chronicle said it is laying off about 12 percent of its work force. After hearing endless stories of failure, Baron kept his hopes high when speaking to the audience.
“It’s important not to get caught in the pessimism, because it is always a ‘bad time’ to go into journalism, but the jobs are out there,” Baron said. While the newsroom staff is seeing a decline, jobs in multimedia or social media are booming. Staff members at The New York Times have begun to join social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook to keep up with their audiences.
“People who need to survive their institutions will create journalistic brands with this social media,” he said. But without certain resources, most newspapers are unable to keep up with the changing social trends and technology, and are forced to cease and desist.
In the standard business model, newspapers rely on revenues from circulation and advertising to pay for news coverage and generate healthy profits. But in the past decade, as Americans embraced the Internet, newspaper circulation has declined every year. Advertising revenues, which are tied to circulation levels, fell even faster. Classified ads in particular suffered as the Web offered cheaper, easier and more effective alternatives. “It’s hard to compete with cheap,” Baron said in reference to the lost battle between newspaper classifieds and free online services such as Craigslist.
Baron is not new to the shrinking staff and changing newsroom. The Boston Globe editor discussed many of the cutbacks he has made in past years, from the consolidation of printed sections to completely eliminating the paper’s foreign correspondence staff.
The latter sacrifice struck a chord with University undergraduate Deborah Bloom, who occupies the journalism seat on the ASUO Senate and hopes to make a career in foreign correspondence.
“(Baron’s speech) was incredibly applicable to me, because that’s my future right there,” Bloom said. “But it actually kind of scared me. It really, really scared me.”
But Bloom said that at the same time, Baron made her feel empowered. “I think he brought up some points that were not exactly mainstream and were incredibly interesting and related to students and community members alike.”
Last week the Globe cut 50 staff members, and metropolitan papers across the nation are taking similar measures. But Baron insists the Globe “has not yielded in covering stories that have a direct effect on its readers.”
When expectations for newspapers are high, and confidence in the very same papers are low, he said the integrity of journalism is questioned. Baron distinguishes “content” from “stuff” in papers these days. As new online media outlets popularize, viewers want stories quicker than ever, and the emphasis on speed rather than credibility can diminish quality. As financial cuts are needed in a newsroom, money to fund investigative news is stopped, and such principals as honesty, fairness and accuracy are pushed aside in order to met the demands of the audience, he said. “We need to strengthen journalism,” Baron said, “before it risks becoming quick, easy, cheap and valueless.”
But Baron expressed optimistic views on the future of journalism while the need and want for news is prevalent. As larger newsroom staffs cut back, more rural and small papers are blooming and the Internet is filled with opportunities outside of the traditional newsroom with non-profit or specialized news sectors. While there is still a need for top-quality news coverage, papers are “using multimedia more than ever,” which seems more appealing to the nation’s technologically-savvy youth. As most newspapers have come to embrace, Baron said “digital is going to be our future,” with the Internet giving readers stories they want, when they want it, and how they want it. To Baron, newspapers that wish to survive must evolve to this changing era of news or concede to impossible choices that could lead to paper failures or mediocre journalism.
But Werner, like Baron, says all hope is not lost.
“One of the things you can take away from his speech is that in this crisis, there is opportunity,” Werner said, adding, “(journalism students) are going to be the pioneers of this new frontier we’re going into.”
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