By Daniel Cásarez
In the opening keynote Thursday of the 2010 CNPA Press Summit in Monterey, Andrew B. Davis outlined a working economic plan to help settle the tension in today's publications amid a tough worldwide economy.
"The industry needs a message of hope. Yes, the economy is turning, but in these difficult times, the challenges are also great opportunities," said Davis, director of the American Press Institute, before he touched on issues including the evolution of the newsroom and how to use advertising dollars more efficiently.
Davis drew grins when he pointed out that talk-show hosts Jon Stewart and Rush Limbaugh, respectively, do not get their content until they read the newspapers.
In his presentation, Davis introduced competitive strategies for the industry to explore. API's Five Doctrines, dubbed the Newsmedia Economic Action Plan, are:
Doctrine of True Value: What the industry creates has monetary value to it, and it has intellectual value; the news is actually intellectual property and must be recognized as such.
Fair Use: The industry needs to capture revenue for content it produces; upon delivery of that content, rights must remain with the author.
Fair Share: Davis says Google pays licensing to AP for usage, "but nothing to you." He calls for renegotiating this part of the industry for payment.
Digital Delivery: Davis wants everyone to take advantage of digital delivery in mobile electronics; take the opportunity to deliver rich content, but for profit.
Consumer Centric: A progression aimed at the refocusing on readers and users.
In introducing working models for paying online content, the API director explained Paid Access Profiles. As an example, Davis said the Financial Times, a national and international publication, attracts print readership to its website with online offers that have led to nearly 150,000 print subscribers. The model was well received.
API is considered a leading education and research facility in the training of industry executives. Davis joined API in 2003. As a major general, he was the director of Marine Corps Public Affairs at the Pentagon from 2001 to 2003.
Davis would like to see more savvy strategies in the protection of newsroom content. In the case of Google, the protection of content is a "must-do, but in a hard-to-do column," he said in an interview after his talk.
"Google is a very large company run by very smart people," said Davis, who admits he's a self-proclaimed pessimist. "They have their tentacles in every part of our communications and media society."
"I think we'll emerge with the strength from our brand and the strength from our audience into the new era just fine. We still need to pay attention to maximizing our core products; this is still a $50 billion-a-year industry," said Davis, commenting that the current economy is stretched, but will rebound.
"There are things the newspapers can do to upgrade their sales organization," he added. "I don't, in my heart of hearts, believe straight online advertising banners and buttons will ever be sufficient to sustain our investment in the journalistic product."
Davis believes the industry is hopeful and eager to implement many new techniques to increase sales next year by 5 to 15 percent. Methods include experimentation with digital processes in this new digital-gadget era, utilizing search-engine optimization, video advertising, and e-mail advertising, which on the whole, remain untouched.
Daniel Cásarez is a reporter for Vida en el Valle in Fresno.
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