How the Newspaper Industry Killed Itself
Disruption only happens when you let it. A former insider on what executives were telling themselves during the heyday of print.
Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight
— Henry Robinson Luce
It’s nearly 2 o’clock on a Friday afternoon. As you pull into your spot in the parking lot, it occurs to you that your workload is a lot lighter than what the other guys at the country club are carrying. You’ve just turned 60. The years are going by quickly now but there’s still a spring in your step. You practice a couple of half-swings as you walk down the corridor, you’ll play well tomorrow if you can get your short game going. 1996 has been a great year, and based on the budgets you’ve been looking at, 1997 will be even better. The newspaper business is one hell of a business, that’s for sure.
You can hear them all assembling in your meeting room next door. You marvel at how well it’s gone this week. Too easy, really. Hold the line on headcount expense and capital spending, and hike the advertising rate. Even the last remaining union bullies down in the delivery department of the big paper in the chain of…
