June 6, 2005 in Media Orchard, Public Relations by Scott Baradell

Journalists’ Dirty Little Secret: "We’re Conservative"

No, that’s not a misprint. American journalists — particularly of the print variety — are among the most conservative folks on the planet. And it’s something that is hurting the newspaper industry from a competitive standpoint.

Newspaper journalists are conservative in the sense that they hold their traditions very dear. Some of these traditions are admirable and important. Others are just silly. Remember the debate in 1997 over whether the New York Times was right to add color photography and “kill off” the Gray Lady? Guess what: gray was great in 1897, but not 1997! Move on.

Considering such Luddite impulses, you can imagine how difficult it has been for the industry to navigate the era of the Web and, now, citizen journalism. Newspapers are finally starting to add blogs, but as a group they aren’t impressive. I ran across the blog of one major daily recently where the writers appear to think we care what they had for lunch. (All the important stuff, after all, is covered in the paper, right?)

Don’t get me wrong: I love journalists and journalism. I was a newspaper reporter myself. I’ve been reading the newspaper since I was a kid, and I still read it almost every day. And because I love newspapers, I worry that the industry is not embracing change quickly enough in this new era.

I’m not the only one who’s worried. It’s why the country’s top journalism schools recently unveiled a plan for a total overhaul of their programs. The plan is being funded by the Carnegie Corporation and the Knight Foundation.

“This industry doesn’t put its money where its mouth is,” said Hodding Carter III, president of the Knight Foundation. “This is an attempt to address the great dirty secret of journalism: that we are inherently conservative about what we do.”

I should add that in Dallas, more good things are happening on the journalism education front. Belo recently donated $5 million to enhance the journalism school at SMU, which has enabled the creation of a state-of-the-art digital newsroom.

So there are some signs that newspapers are picking up the pace. But I would urge them to not look back. The competition is gaining speed — and multiplying rapidly.

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