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March 28, 2024

The Philly Watch: Labor, Skills and the Digital Future

WHYY’s Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane did an hour on next Philadelphia story on Monday. I joined the new protagonists — who, ironically, seem a lot like the old protagonists:

  • Bob Hall, former Philly publisher under Knight Ridder, who is returning as chief operating office, the #2 job, for the new private equity owners.
  • Two union leaders, local Newspaper Guild president and Daily News columnist Dan Gross and President of Teamsters Local 628 John Laigaie.

Over radio, you could practically see the next set of battle lines drawn. Speculation in Philly has it that Hall’s first and main task will be dealing with the company’s 14 unions, drawing on his past relationships and reputation (Philly tough, but fair to deal with) to tame the labor beast, as new CEO and Publisher Greg Osberg focuses on lighting a digital age rocket igniter under the paper-centric company. As a friend pointed out, the sale was reported by Inquirer as “Phila. Newspapers sold to lenders.” Note that only is “Newspapers” capped, unusual in Philly style, but ironically, the new owners made clear that it was the digital future that they were investing in. Sure, they’d like to milk the long, though dwindling, tail of print revenue, but it’s digital that promises growth — and justified a $139 million bid. While the papers keep losing circulation, Philly.com has more than tripled page views in the last couple of years.

The union negotiations won’t be just about cuts, though those are surely coming. They are as likely to be around “skills,” as Osberg has already made the point he needs people who are flexible enough to meet the various journalistic and sales challenges of the day. As Osberg put it plainly to the Daily News’ Will Bunch: [Of journalists wedded only to the old ways of news delivery], “That type of person doesn’t fit well into where our overall strategy will be.”

The Guild, in particular, has tried to flex its flexibility muscles as the industry has cratered; Philly will be a next test for it and the new owners of whether you can successfully transform a largely old-world workforce for what’s needed today. Those labor challenges offer a double edge: 1) cost restructuring, key as ad revenues won’t grow dramatically; 2) a change in the very content created daily, online and in print.

Brian Tierney deserves much credit, for his pugnacious and unflagging spirit and real Philly patriotism, in the unanticipated times of deep recession. The next challenge, though, is less in saving the fortress newspapers than in building a community-based future. The new company needs to reach out — broadly — to its wider region, partnering with other media, top local blogs and more, much as its leading peers across the country have begun to do. (The coincidental release of J-Lab’s Philly-centered Networked Journalism Collaborative report gives the new owners a free handbook, here; thanks should go to the Knight Foundation and J-Lab exec director Jan Schaffer, an Inqy alum). As importantly, it needs to revamp its ad/marketing strategies, here, too, reaching out to a far broader spectrum of advertisers with the digital tools and services of the day.

Philly’s next re-do — maybe it will catch the recovery wind at its back this time — won’t happen in isolation. Down the road, in D.C., it’ll be able to watch Allbritton’s TBD start-up experiment, beginning in June. The first lesson: Figuring out how to serve substantial top-flight journalism and the commerce that accompanies it is no longer just the province of newspaper companies trying to figure out their next act.

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