Commentary: Finding a different path for success

The recent failure of a San Diego news website offers the temptation to engage in a schadenfreude-laced diatribe of “I could have told you so.” But that’s never been my style. So, rather than taking any pleasure in this particular failure, my feeling is better expressed by the frustration of Marlon Brando’s character, Terry Malloy, in “On the Waterfront.” To paraphrase Malloy, “they coulda been a contender.” And that is what is so disappointing.

The failure of San Diego local news site SDNN, aka The San Diego News Network, was driven by unrealistic expectations and a bad economy. Wealthy and successful people failed to recognize their own limitations. It may be that because of their own self-image they believed that success in one field would guarantee success in another. In the case of SDNN, entrepreneurs Neil Senturia and Barbara Bry--they're married--were good at raising money and getting a respectable, though undistinguished, product on the web, but never mastered the basic economics of why people go to a local news site.

SDNN tried to succeed at local news by, in its words, creating a conversation. After a little more than a year, the news site is no longer operating. I offered my services to SDNN, early on, and also gave Bry some free advice. When SDNN had an opportunity to hire a senior executive to help run things, Bry and Senturia chose to go in a very different direction. So, that’s the full disclosure.

Beside the dynamics created by overconfidence, SDNN lacked a mastery of how to fit into the San Diego marketplace. Finding the right niche is not an easy to solve or short term problem. But it must be addressed early on. Making a better personal computer did not drive Apple’s success. Creating innovative products that were useful—and not available elsewhere—made Apple the growth stock it is today.

The other problem is usually internal. I can only speculate about SDNN's work atmosphere. But creative enterprises require motivated teams that become better with time and are driven by factors besides a paycheck. That’s where leadership comes in. Attitude and leadership should not be confused. SDNN had plenty of attitude. That is good. But it’s not enough. Solid leadership is not about charisma. It is built upon predictable behavior, a sense of service to the team, and steady focused attention on achieving clear goals.

The final piece of the puzzle involves using money wisely. Media enterprises burn through dollars rather quickly. Deciding how to spend money can never be driven by personal ego. Ego can be a useful driver in successful organizations but only if it is purposeful. To slightly alter the words of the late Hunter S. Thompson, the media business is a cruel and shallow money trench.

According to former business professor and “Good to Great” author Jim Collins, the most successful organizations and executives are built upon personal humility and professional will. As we learn from failures--even noble failures—like SDNN, it is instructive to see if Collins is right. In my experience, he’s nailed it.

Of course, this commentary is based on my own opinion, personal observation, and what could be inferred by reading SDNN over the past year. At this writing, the fact that the site's link is still active may indicate that Senturia and Bry will sell the site, re-tool and relaunch, or try again in another form. I can only guess, because when I contacted Bry to find out what happened and about future plans she politely declined to comment or engage in a conversation. In any case, I sincerely wish them well. There's no pleasure in watching the community lose a news organization.

Trying to fix the news

(To the tune of Me and Bobby McGee, by Fred Foster and Kris Kristofferson)

Ratings flat in Houston town,

Where thunder leads the rain,

Tried to find a way to “fix” the news.

Abrams sent the anchors home,

Then took off in a plane,

Took the Texas crew some time to find its way.

Feelin’ good was easy, lord, ‘cause the old ways had to change,

And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free.

It’s no surprise that The Tribune Company’s innovation guru, Lee Abrams, is not a fan of incremental change. “Why delay,” he says, “if something hasn’t been working.” Abrams shared his thoughts with us, the other day, about the upcoming “NewsFix” format that will compete in the Houston TV market, beginning this fall. The most publicized aspect of the new format-- Tribune’s KIAH is going to ditch its anchors and lead what it calls “a revolution” in TV news.

Anybody who has read this blog over the years knows that I share the view that the current model for TV news is in need of a fix. It’s been essentially the same since the 1970s. And the low ratings at KIAH hearken to another line from Me and Bobby McGee. “Freedom’s just another word, for nothing left to lose.” So with low ratings comes a lot of freedom. But an anchorless newscast will have to have characters and personalities to connect with viewers.

Successful television, perhaps more than any other medium, is built on characters and personalities. Every successful show, from Jersey Shore to Masterpiece Theatre, is rich with characters. For traditional TV viewers, the para-social relationship with anchor teams has been the foundation of viewer loyalty and success. Viewers often relate to anchors as family members or friends. So whom will viewers relate to on the NewsFix?

That’s a strategic question that requires creative answers. Unlike the movies or radio, TV is, in Marshall McLuhan’s analysis, a cool medium. We don’t watch in a darkened theater with focused attention or while driving down the road isolated in our car. TV competes with other distractions, which is one reason it has to be so character driven to be sustainable. So, an anchorless newscast will require thoughtful casting to generate meaningful connections with viewers. And yes, that can be successfully accomplished without a traditional anchor team.

Like any creative experiment, NewFix will probably strikeout a few times before it connects. Abrams believes that’s okay. In the current environment, successful news media entries need to have a grass roots feel and attention to breaking news This is particularly important for short form hand held delivery, actually more like radio than TV. For the TV part of daily news delivery, real people telling their own stories may offer the personality connection that will be necessary to sustain viewer loyalty with the absence of anchors. In many ways it is a casting challenge. Who gets to tell her story today and is it of ongoing interest? That’s the kind of question that might be appropriate at the new news morning meeting.

The other challenge will be how to connect on big stories. TV news is often at its life saving best during disasters. Houston is hurricane and thunderstorm country. Identifying the non anchor story-tellers for major storms will require preparation and a bit of training for the real life experts—not suit and tie observers but in-the-trenches-pros—who will take the place of anchors on major stories. Each market has the sort of articulate leaders who can jump in and offer real insight for those big news marathons.

Ultimately, a successful news fix will need creative producers who can work the latest technologies, but also have real news judgment to identify interesting story lines and the people who are affected. Flash without content will wind up like a September hurricane, very noisy with a lot of damage.

In the interest of disclosure, I’m not a disinterested observer. I’d enjoy working with Abrams and his team to make the NewFix a success. But unlike Abrams, I’m more a fan of incremental change than revolutionary overthrows. We agree that if something is not working it needs to be tossed. But to me the difference between success and failure is more like the difference between a major league hitter and somebody who spends his whole career in the minor leagues. As Hall of Fame hitter Tony Gwynn once explained on a Padres broadcast, what separates big league batters from the guys who never make it past Triple A is the ability to make adjustments, often small ones. You can try it without anchors, but the news needs storytellers with real stories to make it on TV.

Still......after all these years

I have not vanished. Irv’s Eye View is alive and well, though coming out of a long hiatus. It’s just that I have taken two classes in a row and, with travel and life ongoing, posting the blog tends to slip in priority. The second of those two classes ends next week. “Research Methods” is important but tedious, so I will enjoy completing it. When this class ends, I’ll have only two left to earn an MA in organizational leadership.

For what it is worth, the degree has nothing—or at least very little—to do with why I am back in school at the advanced age of 59. Mainly, engaging in formal studies is good brain exercise and an opportunity to interact with a diverse group of classmates, even though the instruction is “online.” Being online to learn has many advantages. For a social science program, such as the one I’m in at Gonzaga University, online learning is quite appropriate and rewarding. Online learning also offers the opportunity to pace the instruction in ways that would be impossible with a traditional schedule of classroom attendance.

So what’s next? I would like to get to work. So many small-minded hiring managers don’t understand or appreciate the advantages of hiring an older worker who is eager, energetic, and motivated. That’s me, of course, who I’m talking about—the out of work older worker. But “me” is emblematic of so many others.

Back in the day (the 80s and 90s), I was an unusual--and successful and sought after--news executive. For one thing, I took people’s calls and did not hide from job seekers. In fact, I hired some great people who walked in without appointments. One is working in Tucson today, more than 20 years after walking in, unannounced, and convincing me to meet her. When I moved on to San Diego, a few years later, I remained open to non-traditional candidates who often had something unusual and compelling to offer that set them apart from the usual suspects who sought jobs, the traditional candidates. The usual suspects can get very boring. That’s part of the reason TV news is a business in decline, too many of the usual suspects doing jobs the same way they've done them for years. Adding new platforms--different media--can make a difference, but only if the new platform delivers the messages in ways that matter. Trying to do the same old TV, or print, on the web is a shell game.

For the last 10 years it’s been the Internet and entrepreneurial pursuits keeping things current and remunerative in my work world… then came 2008—ouch! Thought Obama might help fix things up, but that has not yet happened.

Now, as I seek a job myself, it is distressing to encounter the conventional lack of wisdom that results in never—or rarely—getting calls returned, mainly because I’m quite certain the hiring manager cannot see beyond, “oh, he’s an old guy, who’s been out of it for too long.”

For most news operations, I would “add value;” how’s that for dredging up an old cliché? Cliché or not, the wisdom of age, coupled with a record of success and innovation, might actually help an organization get out of its rut and stand out in the current competitive environment. Then there is that degree I’m earning. Believe it or not, the combination of practical experience over more than 30 years in the TV news business, coupled with formal education that is current in terms of exploring the current work and media environment, might just be the sort of profile that would help an organization achieve success.

Having a sense of humor about all of this helps. The very fact the Mets and Padres, the two teams I follow and root for, are doing well just a week before the All Star break, is a sign of something. This current recession/depression will eventually improve. And all you general managers and news directors will probably scramble to catch up with what was current yesterday. Maybe it might be fun to be ahead of what’s happening, for a change, and figure out what will be happening tomorrow. Or, better yet, how about setting the agenda for the future. Think about it. Read some of my older blogs. You might figure out that I can help. There now, that feels better.

Happy Independence Day!

The business of healthy eating

An old friend, who is also a former client and colleague, now works for Edelman Public Relations, the firm behind a just released global research study on attitudes about health and how these attitudes affect businesses. The "good health is good business" theme got my attention. My friend asked me to look at the data and presentations and blog about it if I found something interesting. I mention this in the interest of disclosure.

Edelman's Health Engagement Barometer confirms something that has become increasingly obvious to anybody paying attention. There are consequences for companies, and industries, that contribute to disease and bad health practices, as they find themselves exposed in a variety of media with increasing frequency and reach. Food and eating are hot topics because, like the weather, they affect everybody. Author Michael Pollan has effectively spread the word about ways to improve health through better eating with his books on food and how it is "produced" in America. Recent movies, such as The Informant, Food Inc., and Super Size Me have also shined an increasingly brighter light on corporate food and farming practices that are major contributors to child and adult obesity, along with other health problems; diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer are just one deadly trifecta fed by choosing to eat the wrong foods. So, clearly, companies face public perception consequences when they are purveyors of foods that slowly make us sick, even though they fill us up and don't cost too much.

From a business perspective, this also creates opportunities. Companies that focus on good eating and healthy choices can reap benefits. Whole Foods Markets has been a leader in this area. And renewed focus on organic farming and the humane treatment of animals can be business benefits if you follow the thinking embedded in the Edelman findings. When businesses are motivated to do the right thing because of economic incentives they usually get it done, even if it means changing the way they do business.

The real test will be how many companies adapt and start doing things differently. Some will certainly go for the short term benefit of disputing findings that work against their interests. Genetically modified produce is one of those battlegrounds. Corporate farmers depend on crops that have been genetically engineered. They tout the benefits, understate the risks, and pay little attention to consequences that hurt smaller farmers producing different crops. Ultimately consumers drive the trends. Food Inc. included a scene where buyers for Walmart were cutting deals with organic food producers. Edelman's Health Engagement Barometer serves as new evidence that good health is good business. When it comes to providing alternatives to highly processed and factory farmed foods, Whole Foods got the message long ago, Walmart more recently, but not without controversy.

The businesses that "get it" will find ways to exploit good health; that's better than exploiting our "sweet tooths" and thirst for bigger beverages. The important message is that good health, on a personal level and for the public, is a global imperative. As businesses recognize this they can contribute to a healthier future that exceeds even the benefits to their bottom lines.

The "Easter Earthquake"

The desert wildflowers were beautiful, on Easter Sunday, just a few days ago. The spot where these flowers bloomed is quite close to the epicenter of the 7+ magnitude earthquake that shook Baja and Southern California. We left the Anza-Borrego Desert flowers about one hour before the earth moved and shook everybody up. As we drove over the Coronado Bay Bridge, just before reaching what used to be a toll plaza, I felt the car behave oddly. It felt like a flat tire or a bad section of road. The shaky feeling passed quickly. When we got home and about 30 minutes after coming off the bridge, we felt a big aftershock. Obviously, that strange driving sensation was one of the effects of the quake.

Nothing broke and everyone we know is fine. Kids called to check in as did other friends and family members from around the country. After all the devastating news from Haiti and Chile a 7+ magnitude quake is serious business.

In the 25 years I have lived in California, earthquakes have happened fairly regularly. Mostly, they are minor. As a newsman, I helped cover two large, deadly, destructive quakes, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that hit the San Francisco Bay Area, and the 1994 Northridge quake that did its damage in and around Los Angeles. Sunday's quake was intense but centered in a mostly rural area, but not entirely. The border towns of Calexico, California, and Mexicali, Baja California, sit very close to the epicenter. And, as one local expert predicted on one local news outlet, there were deaths associated with the latest rumbling along the earth's fault lines. Two people have died. The latest news is that some--who can--are choosing to leave northern Baja. But things are getting back to normal despite substantial damage in certain parts of the desert border region.

Earthquakes wake us up. Unlike other destructive natural phenomena, they hit suddenly almost always with no warning. All we can do is be prepared and grateful that our First World building codes and practices provide a level of safety that mitigates the might of mother nature. And we hope the next time family and friends call, after we make the national news, we can report we are okay and share stories about desert wildflowers and that shaky feeling on the bridge, or whatever is happening then.

Back home from BaKaFORUM

(Originally posted at http://backaforumblog2010.wordpress.com)

The trip home to California went smoothly. Covering so much distance so fast is one of the technological wonders of our time. Accessible high-speed air transportation makes BaKaFORUM, and other world events possible. We often think of technology in terms of computers, cameras, and the tools of our craft. But the people at Airbus and Boeing. who design and build the planes, and the pilots and staff who get us where we are gong truly use technology for our mutual benefit.

"Mediaculture" working at BaKaFORUM

The young people documenting BaKaFORUM as part of the Mediaculture online project are the future of what we do. They inherit a world filled with tensions, problems, and real danger, but also a sense of hope. Each generation faces different challenges and opportunities. Thank you to all the teachers and supporters who make programs like "Mediaculture" possible. Enjoy their work and wish them well.

The theme of "Cooperation in a World of Cultural Diversity" continues to resonate in ways obvious and profound. To say that BaKaFORUM is a truly egalitarian event would be an overstatement, but it contains a core of truth and powerful potential. The possibilities for discovery grow when fledgling producers and aspiring story tellers interact as peers with accomplished professionals, commissioning editors, and international decision makers. Pitching ideas and finding new talent can grow into creative accomplishment through the collegiality and good feelings of working together for a few days on neutral ground. This is most obvious in terms of the proposal pitches and the seeding of ideas that happened this week at ZKM in Karlsruhe. And for those of you who may have left without a partner for your project or new funding from your pitch, the process itself can help you grow.

There's a true story about the manager of a young rock band who took his musicians for an audition to Decca Records in London, in the early 1960s. An executive heard them play but wasn't too impressed; he said they were good but nothing special and passed on signing this aspiring group. This disappointed the band and their manager did not like telling them the news. That manager's name was Brian Epstein and the group was the Beatles. The point of the story, of course, is don't be discouraged if you're turned down. The flip side is if you're commissioning or funding, look carefully at potential talent; you don't want to be the one who passes on the next Federico Felini, Ingmar Bergman, Haile Gerima, or Spike Lee.

At a gathering of mass communicators--where we spend four days on interpersonal communication--friendships develop, alliances form, and creative communities begin to be born. Existing successful cooperative arrangements, such as Nordvision, offer models to grow in a world getting smaller through instant communication and fast jets. But the divide between rich and poor remains real. Political and cultural tension and hostility threaten our survival. BaKaFORUM can not solve the problems of the world but it can help; it can serve as a conversation starter and encourage dialogue.

BaKaFORUM Staff (Photo by Werner Laschinger)

I hope each of you had a safe and pleasant trip home. Your work ahead can serve the world by serving your community. Tell the stories that matter and enrich us all. Also, kudos to the BaKaFORUM staff whose superb work made it all possible.

Thank you, too, to Werner Laschinger for taking so many fine photos; this link will allow you to view more of Werner's pictures.

New blogs up at BaKaFORUM

Hello, again, everybody. It's snowing today in Karlsruhe, Germany. Here's a picture from my short walk this morning to the conference center.

Several new blogs are up at http://bakaforumblog2010.wordpress.com

So if you are here click the link above for the latest. Comments are welcome on either site.

Thank you.

Good morning Karlsruhe (and points beyond)!

The BaKaFORUM conference begins today, in Karlsruhe, Germany. Follow the blogs at
http://bakaforumblog2010.wordpress.com.


Enjoy.

Miracle and wonder, for positive purposes, in the land of Goethe

This blog is part of the blogging BaKaForum project I will be working on for the next few weeks. The BakaForum blog is at

http://BaKaForumblog2010.wordpress.com

There is a 24 year old Paul Simon song that comes to mind in anticipation of BaKaForum 2010, now just one week away. It is Boy in the Bubble, the first song on the Graceland album.

"These are the days of miracle and wonder

This is the long distance call

The way the camera follows us in slo-mo

The way we look to us all"

That refrain is heard repeatedly throughout the song. The rest of Boy in the Bubble uses words and music to evoke images of technology being used for lifesaving medical purposes along side acts of terror and war. Whether the camera follows us in slo-mo or normal speed, these days, cameras are everywhere. How we choose to use the cameras is a bit like the juxtaposition of images in Simon’s song.

Neil Postman, a communications scholar and commentator on culture, described technological change as “a Faustian bargain.” According to Postman “Technology giveth and taketh away, not always in equal measure.” In its own way, Simon’s song captures this idea rather well. Which brings us back to BaKaForum.

Images of the worlds we live in today are the building blocks of stories captured and presented at BaKaForum. The various screenings, sessions, and workshops while practical in purpose, convey a point of view that is designed to increase “cooperation in a world of cultural diversity,” a clearly stated theme of BaKaForum. This positive approach, to storytelling and the technologies that make media’s current incarnations possible, is encouraging.

But the realities of Faustian bargains in many parts of the world are also captured with a sense of realism in much of the work at BaKaForum. Somehow it seems a fitting metaphor for a conference convening in the land of Goethe, the great storyteller and probably Faust's best known expositor. Goethe artfully used the tools and media of his day to explore the complexities of life.

So in these days of miracle and wonder it is refreshing to come together, with storytellers from all over the world, for four days in a quest for cooperation in all its diversity.

Can the left and right agree: Big bankers are clueless?

COMMENTARY: The bankers who testified before a special commission this week truly seem clueless as pointed out by Paul Krugman in today's NY Times. Only the wall to wall coverage of the earthquake in Haiti kept the bankers' testimony from being top story material on most newscasts and front pages.


In this fragmented world we live in, where Obama supporters and tea party participants seem irreconcilably divided, perhaps there is a bit of common ground in recognizing that the behemoths of Wall Street really don't get it.

In a strange way this syndrome is closely related to the article posted here yesterday about NBC's CEO rising higher and making more money with each monumental failure. As these creators of chaos continue to draw seven and eight figure paychecks, hardworking citizens struggle with unemployment, underemployment, and home payments they can no longer afford. There is a line from a Bob Dylan song that keeps coming to mind. It's from "Idiot Wind" and it goes like this:

Now everything is a little upside down,

As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped,

What's good is bad, what's bad is good,

You'll find out when you reach the top that you're on the bottom.

If the news media are to effectively carry out their roles as public watchdogs who speak truth to power without fear or favor, aggressive coverage of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission ought to be high on the agenda for continuing scrutiny. Too many good people are out of work, and struggling to get by for the purveyors of failure to continue to be richly rewarded while they fail to acknowledge that the fault lies not in the stars but in themselves. Word plays by the likes of Dylan and Shakespeare at least give us a shot at making some sort of meaning out of the upside down way the world seems to work these days.

TV news and other media would serve the public well by more deeply exploring the real costs inflicted by bankers whose practices have real consequences for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Only then will Congress, the President, and the courts have the clout to take what this bipartisan commission finds and put some teeth into changing things for the good of so many who have been hurt by leaders who fail to take responsibility.

An object lesson for the new media ecology

How does NBC head honcho Jeff Zucker keep his job and keep getting promoted? Maureen Dowd very publicly raised those questions in her New York Times column, on Wednesday. The headline on the column was “The Biggest Loser.” Many of us who have worked in television, especially those with NBC experience, have been asking the same questions for years.

An inescapable part of Zucker’s legacy will be the failed experiment of moving Jay Leno to prime time. Now, just four months later, NBC is going to move Leno back to the traditional Tonight Show time slot following the late local news.

Perhaps less obvious to those outside the business has been the erosion of NBC’s local news operations. Once thriving stations owned by NBC now struggle in their markets. Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and San Diego, no longer enjoy the news ratings success they did ten years ago. For years, TV stations have been doing more with less, then even more with even less; in the process many truly lost their way. This shrinking budget syndrome, followed by falling ratings, is not exclusively the problem of NBC; others, too, have had similar losses. What is distinctive about NBC is that very little has been done to replace popular shows or improve the stations. The once proud peacock now shines mostly on big events like the Olympics and Superbowl. “Must see TV” has become mundane.

During my time as an NBC news director in San Diego I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff Zucker when he was executive producer of the Today Show. I found him to be friendly, thoughtful, and extremely creative. His later success did not surprise me. Like much of the industry in the last decade NBC had to adjust to changing technology and demographics. But rather than concentrate on building for the future NBC cut whenever it could and reacted only when it had to. The mantra that owning a TV station was a license to print money became drowned out by the ever-louder litany of doing more with less. Eventually people noticed and stopped watching. And when younger “customers” started to trade in their TV remote controls for laptops and text enabled smart phones nobody seemed very concerned.

For NBC and its TV stations to make a comeback will require renewed focus on building something of value and a clear understanding that cutting costs alone will not improve the assets. The media ecology is changing rapidly and only the nimble will survive. Playing it safe, doing things the way they have been done before, only more cheaply, has been a prescription for failure. Most important, commitments to presenting stories that matter about a station’s community must again become central to the way stations operate.

Jeff Zucker has a lot of company when it comes to leaders of failed or struggling media enterprises. Once mighty newspapers have folded and upstart hyper-local websites are trying to fill the gaps. Local television should have an important place in the new ecology. But leaders who only think about cutting the fat sometimes get so carried away they eventually destroy vital organs. Zucker’s desire to save a few bucks by replacing expensive dramas with the less costly Leno show at ten should serve as an object lesson for anybody who believes the key to success is doing more with less.

Blogging BaKaForum & Appreciating Journalism that Matters

I wanted to let regular readers of IrvsEyeView know that I will be blogging the Basel Karlsruhe Forum on educational TV, starting in about two weeks. The program alternates each year between Basel, Switzerland and Karlsruhe, Germany. This year it is in Germany. The actual forum, known better by its acronym--BaKaFORUM--begins on January 29th and goes through February 2nd. I attended BaKaFORUM, in Basel, in December of 2004 and I'm delighted to attending this year in Karlsruhe. We are currently building the blogsite for the conference. Take a look, even though it is a work in progress.

Spending three days with international producers of some of the finest educational programs is both inspiring and encouraging. In this era of cutbacks and bad economy it's uplifting to see the outstanding work being done around the world, with a positive purpose.

Speaking of positive purpose, I attended the Journalism Than Matters (JTM) conference in Seattle this past weekend. It, too, is the sort of gathering that encourages because it is about building rather than diminishing, both tangibly and otherwise. JTM attracted journalists, community leaders, and thinkers (some crossed all the categories :-)) to envision ways to bring together legacy journalism and newer hyperlocal and specialty media for the good of communities. I had a chance to visit with Tracy Record, of the West Seattle Blog. Tracy and her husband Patrick created one of the more successful entrepreneurial news websites in the country. Tracy and I worked together 18 years ago at KNSD. The good news is that some of these local websites are doing well--some even thriving--both editorially and financially.

The biggest take away for me was how legacy media, the big newspapers and TV stations, and grassroots hyperlocal media, like The West Seattle Blog, can help each other. This new "news ecology" as it was referred to, makes sense. The older legacy media can give the local folks credibility and exposure; the grassroots local media can give the big news organizations access to local communities and the sort of heartfelt connections that big media reporters don't often develop. A pretty fair exchange... credibility and heart.