News Execs: Mobile Is The Future Of News

DENVER — News executives opening the Associated Press Managing Editors meeting in Denver on Wednesday said mobile news delivery offers newspapers and other media companies a good opportunity to make money in the digital world.

Tom Curley, The Associated Press' president and CEO, said media companies lost revenue opportunities with the Internet but have a chance to change that with mobile.

"We've got to be smarter, this time, in the do-over. There won't be a third time," Curley said.

William Dean Singleton, publisher of The Denver Post and The Salt Lake Tribune and chairman of The Associated Press, said print media is still the most profitable segment of the industry and will continue to survive.

"Newspapers aren't dead. They're not anywhere near dead. They're not going to die. They're going to change a lot," Singleton said.

But he advocated for rapid adaptation to new technologies.

"We must find an economic business model to operate within the new economic rules, and it's been painful," said Singleton, who compared the challenge facing the news business to walking across a canyon on a tightrope.

In another sign of the times, the APME board voted earlier Wednesday to change the association's name to the Associated Press Media Editors to better reflect the organization's varied membership, which includes broadcasters as well as college students and professors.

Curley said the AP will announce in the coming weeks partnerships with dozens of newspapers to bring mobile advertising content to mobile devices. He assured the news executives that the mobile news delivery will be profitable.

Kate Marymont, Gannett Co. vice president for news, said newspapers should sharpen their focus on what they do best, and outsource cheaply produced "commodity information" such as sports scores and weather.

"Our firepower needs to go to watchdog journalism, the great storytelling," she said.

While the media executives said they were optimistic about the future, they were frank about the rocky path ahead, predicting further layoffs and consolidation in the news business.

"This ain't the job we applied for, but it's the job we got," Singleton said.

The conference continues through Friday, with discussions on social media and advancing limitations on sports coverage.

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Follow Kristen Wyatt at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

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Online:

http://www.apme.com

Comments

[Roland19]

09:18 AM on 09/19/2011

Well, it's good they have come to this realization. Welcome to the 21st Century, gang.

[matt spedale]

06:18 PM on 09/16/2011

Are they now just realizing this? My used to love getting my car magazines every month, ever since I was a kid. Now they are obsolete because Ive already seen all the new cars well before they appear in magazines. Even daily print news is behind. I real Wall Street Journal and Usa Today but everyday I read less and less in them because Ive already gotten them from online in some fashion or on TV.

[titimo]

04:08 PM on 09/16/2011

Ubiquity is the name of the game...'Newspaper 2.0' has yet to arrive. It needs to be transformative(vis a vis tech evolution) to create the necessary migration and market re-penetration.

[TFlint]

03:41 PM on 09/16/2011

To those who are not informed, newspaper have always been dead. To those who are informed, newspapers, in print or on screen, are the cement of civilization.

[Jim8]

02:23 PM on 09/15/2011

I need one newspaper a week because I have a parrot. He only uses it for nesting material, he's figured out how to place the droppings directly in the trash can next to his cage.

I do enjoy reading the paper before giving it to the nest effort, mostly because the Wifi here is unreliable and slow. The phone wiring and cable are so badly weathered that there are no other options.

What we need is good wifi.

[RayWes]

02:11 PM on 09/15/2011

Trust me, newspapers are dead. I haven't touched a newspaper since 2007.

[TFlint]

03:39 PM on 09/16/2011

Maybe you're dead! Ask somebody if they can see you.