Joe Michaud, president of MaineToday.com, is announcing that he is leaving April 30 to start his own consulting business. Joe says he’ll be focusing on helping newspaper companies change their strategies and is convinced newspaper companies can survive.
If anyone can do it, it’s Joe Michaud, but I am very skeptical.
Back in the day, newspapers were the first true “information companies”. People picked up the Sunday paper for all sorts of reasons: news, sports, classifieds, community calendar, auto ads, coupons - and so on. The newspaper worked b/c it combined all that information in a neat package that was easy to deliver and had something for everyone.
Now, there’s a new place to go to get all the information you need - your computer, connected to the Internet.
Want to know who won Best Actor in 1943? Google it.
Want to know about an obscure topic like domain tasting? Ask Wikipedia.
Speaking of Wikipedia, does anyone still buy encyclopedias anymore? Encyclopedias, like newspapers, provided a wealth of information. Alas, for Britannica salesmen, that information is now easily available online.
There’s an article in this morning’s Wall Street Journal on How We Get News (in the future). In it, there’s this line:
…in the next decade we won’t use newspapers or television news programs to decide what stories we see each day…
One big key for newspapers going forward is going to be relevance. I know one person who recently dropped his subscription to the Portland Press Herald b/c on his Sunday paper, above the fold, were two headlines - one on Paris Hilton’s release from prison, the other on the upcoming final episode of the Sopranos (this is not a joke).
Newspapers will have to do a much better job understanding what is relevant to their best customers. To make matters worse for them, the Internet is making it easier for small teams to disseminate high quality information that meets or exceeds what can be provided by the local newspaper team. Probably the worst news of all for publishers is that as people spend more time online, advertisers are finding a more cost-effective way to market their brands than through ads in the local paper.
I worked for Joe Michaud at MaineToday.com a few years ago. It was a great experience all the way around. Joe was an innovator, and there were lots of creative people on staff (and then there was me 
. The main reason I didn’t stick around is b/c I was pessimistic about the long-term prospects for newspapers. I figured they might be gone before Joe retired and I’d have a shot at a promotion.
If anyone can help newspapers succeed in the 21st century, it’s Joe Michaud, and I wish him well. But because of the way people get information these days, I think it’s doubtful the newspaper as we know it will survive. In the near future, I predict publications using content from professional journalists will look quite different than they do today, will cater to narrower niche markets, and will in all likelihood not enjoy the regional monopoly of the local newspaper companies of today.
