John Sturm: Reading Newspapers Provides 'Psychic Satisfaction'
The NAA's president and CEO says newspapers form a "special connection" with readers, "and it's not going to go away."

I Want Media, 04/09/01

John Sturm is president and chief executive officer of the Newspaper Association of America, the newspaper industry's chief trade group, which will hold its annual convention in Toronto April 29-May 2. Although NAA policies prohibit commentary on newspaper personnel -- such as Jay Harris, whose March 19 resignation from the San Jose Mercury News over profit issues sent shock waves through the industry -- Sturm is forthcoming on a variety of current newspaper topics.

I Want Media: The question of the year: What do newspaper companies need to consider in their attempt to balance the demand for higher profits with the pursuit of quality journalism?

John Sturm: [Laughing] They don't need my advice on that.

IWM: Which is a bigger problem for newspapers: the advertising decline or the rise in newsprint costs?

Sturm: The fact that both are going on at the same time puts considerable pressure on newspapers' margins, and we've all seen the results of that, as papers around the country attempt to contain costs. Still, this is a very resilient industry that has lived through obstructions in the past. My firm belief is that we'll make it through again and actually be more productive when the upswing inevitably comes.

IWM: What do you expect will be the chief issue at the NAA convention?

Sturm: I'm hoping the spotlight will be on a major project we're doing with the Northwestern University Media Management Center on readership in the industry. And that's the biggest challenge facing the newspaper industry overall -- how to deal with what has been a long perceptive decline in newspaper readership over the last decade or so. Northwestern has produced the largest set of research studies ever done on how consumers read and use newspapers. We're going be looking at what this data really means.

IWM: Is the dot-com downturn helping or hurting newspapers?

Sturm: It's been a mixed blessing. Clearly, it's unfortunate on the advertising side. For the last couple of years we were happy to enjoy the dot-com business. On the other hand, newspapers everywhere have an online presence, and to some extent the dot-com downturn has lessened the competition for eyeballs online in local markets.

IWM: Some content Web sites are beginning to imitate The Wall Street Journal model and charge for online news. Should we expect to see more newspapers' online editions following suit?

Sturm: The Wall Street Journal is a specialized publication in many ways, and probably has more latitude than the average local newspaper. How the business model will work for the local newspaper is still not yet set in stone. We're going to have to wait and see on that.

IWM: Many newspapers are developing local Web portals instead of merely replicating their print product online, such as Pulitzer's new STLtoday.com in St. Louis. What's the strategy behind such moves?

Sturm: With a portal you can construct a site that carries the user into different areas of information and services than a standard newspaper site. You're not constrained by the newspaper category, so to speak. It's a move toward being thought of as an information company rather than as a newspaper company.

IWM: Expected deregulation in the industry is hoped to be a catalyst for future growth. Is that what you're hearing?

Sturm: We've been pursuing a repeal of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban with the FCC. The ban is 25 years old and hasn't made sense for at least a decade. The atmosphere for repeal on that ruling is quite good. The rule was built on a marketplace situation of about 1972, well before cable exploded. Those were the days when we had only three or four television stations per market. There were no satellites, no DirecTV, no wireless. It's a world people don't even remember anymore. And yet we're still shackled with a rule built in that period.

IWM: In this era of increasingly fractionalized media, what particular strengths do newspapers offer?

Sturm: I worked for two television networks 10 years ago or so -- for NBC as a lawyer and for CBS as a lobbyist. At that time, if a television show got a rating of a 10 it would have guaranteed an immediate cancellation. Now it's a hit -- a big hit, as a matter of fact. With 150 or so channels on cable, television has really fractionalized. Even magazines have fractionalized considerably. There used to be a few leading magazines; now there's one for every taste. The only medium that really hasn't fractionalized is newspapers. And advertisers are finding out that they can get excellent reach and broad market penetration by use of the local newspaper. It's the last department store, in many ways.

And one last plug: the sort of psychic satisfaction that comes from the experience of reading the newspaper is rather substantial. Getting up in the morning and reading the paper -- at the breakfast table, on your way to work, at the office -- is a pleasing, comfortable routine. There's a true, almost emotional connection readers have with their paper. You've heard people say "my newspaper." But when is the last time you've heard somebody say "my Channel 4"? It's a special connection, and it's not going to go away.

IWM: So far, this has been a tough year for newspapers. What "good news" is on the horizon?

Sturm: Newspapers are aggressively pursuing online ventures. To some extent, the consolidation and elimination that's taking place in the dot-com world will work to our advantage. Newspapers are getting better at doing things advertisers like -- color, more discrete zoning, new products. And, again, newspapers are evolving from newspaper companies into information companies, which is a broader approach. If we work hard on readership and do a better job of understanding why and how people use newspapers, this industry is going to do just fine.



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