Last Updated: June 29, 1999
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A note from the president
It’s back to basics and into the future with the ASNE/NAA
readership initiative
With the magnificent planning of ASNE conventions, it’s hard to barge
on to the program at the last minute. That was the case in San Francisco,
where Peter Bhatia and Edward Seaton, along with the help of many, many
ASNE members put together an outstanding program.
The result was that we couldn’t share many details of the newspaper
readership initiative, which was still coming together just as the convention
was beginning. Let me tell you what happened, and why I think it is a great
undertaking by ASNE — and why collaboration in our industry is so critical
to our future.
First, some background to show you that some things happen logically
in ASNE.
First came the Journalism Values Institute, stemming from Timeless Values,
the report of the ASNE New Media and Values Committee. Then Sandy Rowe
launched the Journalism Credibility Project to further examine how our
ethics and values get played out in the day-to-day editing of newspapers.
In a stroke of brilliance, she got Edward Seaton, Rich Oppel, Tim McGuire
and myself to commit to continuing this project during our tenures as ASNE
presidents.
The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation funded both the Journalism
Values Institute and the Credibility Project. Vivian Vahlburg, who has
been so helpful in assisting ASNE in drafting project proposals for funding,
noted how all of this was connected to readership. She and others suggested
that if ASNE were interested in a readership initiative, there might be
some funding for planning purposes.
Enter Frank Denton, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison
and chair of our Readership Committee. He just happens to work for Lee
Enterprises, the CEO of which was 1998-99 chair of the Newspaper Association
of America. Dick Gottlieb was also very interested in readership. Thus
a steering committee was born. It consisted of representatives of ASNE,
NAA, McCormick Tribune and the Newspaper Management Center at Northwestern
University.
Gottlieb invited us to take much of the NAA board meeting in February
to present a case for a newspaper readership initiative. We did so, with
pretty enthusiastic response. The steering committee then was asked to
put together a specific plan for consideration at the NAA board meeting
in San Diego at the end of April. The NAA board approved that plan.
Two weeks earlier, I asked the ASNE board to support our involvement
in the project in anticipation of the NAA board’s action.
Now the real work begins. Obviously, ASNE’s purpose is built around
helping editors better serve readers. So it is natural that we should take
a strong leadership role in setting the agenda for the readership initiative.
The NAA board approved a plan that calls for spending $11.5 million
in the first two years of the project. The first phase is designed to determine
readership drivers and roadblocks, then to develop a mechanism to measure
the effectiveness of specific readership-growth initiatives and tactics.
In doing so, we expect that as many as 100 newspapers will test new ideas
to see if they increase readership.
ASNE will have a couple of spots on a small board to lead the initiative.
Our Coverage and Content Committee, the new name of the Readership Committee,
will be led for another year by Frank Denton. The committee is already
at work on new ideas to help editors, building on the very positive reaction
to the Local News Handbook distributed at the convention.
Of course, the work of every committee of ASNE is aimed at producing
ideas to help newspapers increase readership. Now we have the commitment
of NAA, along with its considerable financial clout, as we all work together
to find ways to make newspapers a growth medium. That’s a good partnership.
Anderson, ASNE president, is publisher and CEO of The Orange County
Register, Santa Ana, Calif.
