TAKEAWAY: It’s a new owner, new team and new opportunities for the Orange County Register; we chat with Publisher Aaron Kushner and Editor Ken Brusic ALSO: The Cumbre de Diseño 2012 opens in Mexico City today. I will report highlights.
”Growing the “new” Register”
Here is front page of the Sunday, Sept. 23 edition of the new Orange County Register
In the print celebration basket of goodies, you may add what is happening at the Orange Country Register in California. Finally, the “words expansion, hiring and circulation rise” are used again within the context of an American newspaper!
The latest news from the OCT reads auspiciously well: “In the first full month of new ownership, the Register had a 3.4% increase in daily home delivery and 3.9% Sunday increase over the previous year.”
However, what caught my eye in a memo from publisher Aaron Kushner to the staff was his reference to “growing the Register.”
While Kushner’s investment into the Orange County Register is great news for one of America’s great regional newspapers, I believe that Kushner has also done another great deed: giving the newspaper industry generally a shot in the arm loaded with optimism and hope, something terribly needed. As I told Kushner in an exchange this weekend: this will go a long way to make publishers, editors and journalists realize that what they have is valuable and worth saving.
“Fundamentally, we believe in the future of newspapers and the critically important role great journalists play in each of our lives and in the strength of our communities. Our core business premise is straightforward albeit daunting and counter to conventional wisdom- it is that by investing more in what we provide to subscribers, we will ultimately grow our business,” Kushner told me.
OCR Editor Ken Brusic has this to say about his new publisher:
“He is the real deal, focused on quality journalism and willing to pay for it. He also has a strong concern for our community.”
Ken is quite enthused about what is happening at the OCR:
“We are in the process of hiring dozens of reporters and interns, creating new sections, remaking others and adding new features. We have a new life, one filled with possibilities. I’m doing my best not to screw it up. We are looking for great reporters, columnists and graphic artists. If you know of any anxious to grow, please send them my way,” he said.
We certainly will, and publishing it in this blog is a first step towards alerting those talented people out there who may be interested.
Publisher Kushner suggests that the progress reported at the OCR is only the beginning:
“Six weeks is just a start and an early one at that with a long way to go. I also think that every market is different- its own community, its own market dynamics, its own media dynamics. Orange County happens to be a great fit for our model I believe,” he said.
Many in the industry wonder if Kushner and his team know something the rest of the newspaper industry may not, but Kushner disagrees:
“I don’t think we have any particular magic formula. There are a lot of smart people who’ve been working on these challenges far longer then we have. And there may well be more than one business model that works well. Reading our particular P&L the overwhelming majority of our subscribers and advertisers are spending the overwhelming majority of their money on our print products and that will continue to be the case for quite a while. If and as digital grows as a percentage, if we’re succeeding it will be because of true growth in digital not simply a decline in print,” he says.
A string of auspicious news for the OCR
Nonetheless, a lot has happened in six weeks at the OCR.
Addressing a Town Hall meeting with readers, Kushner said:
“Eric (Eric Spitz, president) and I are thoroughly enjoying growing the Register, and we hope you left the meeting as energized as we are about the significant steps we are already implementing to add more value for our subscribers and our community.”
Growing is the right word, and NOT one usually associated with printed newspapers, but which we are delighted is not just mentioned, but backed up with proof.
Take a look at this list from the Kushner memo:
—”We now have 46 new positions approved for hiring in our content group, up from 23 four weeks ago.”
—”We have openings in almost every area of our content group, and if someone fabulous comes through and we don’t have a specific opening, we’ll do our best to make one.”
—”With deputy editor, local news Rob Curley joining our team, we also have approved the expansion of our internship program with an additional 26 year-long internship slots for the best college journalism graduates from around the country, in addition to the 20 slots already being filled from local colleges. We are the Orange County Register, and I know we will have one of the most exciting programs in the country for our next generation of journalists.”
—”We also are ramping into a major cycle of hiring for our sales team with at least 22 open positions approved for hiring.”
“Launching a daily, full-scale Business Section from concept to live production in less than 8 weeks speaks to the talent we can bring to bear on whatever we set our minds to. And as the sales team readies to launch its first major initiative, there is no doubt that as a team we are doing exactly what we should be doing: working together thoughtfully, skillfully, decisively with joy and heart. This is exactly what I believe it is going to take to win.”
I don’t know about you, but when was the last time you heard words and phrases such as “expansion,” “new daily section,” “openings in every content area,” in relation to a newspaper, and, especially an American newspaper.
This is celebration time.
I imagine Kushner and Brusic are likely to get a lot of resumés in the days ahead. Keep us posted on your progress. I am well aware that publishers everywhere, including outside the US, are keeping an eye on the “growing of the Orange County Register”.
Of related interest:
Circulation up at the new Orange County Register
http://jimromenesko.com/2012/09/20/circulation-up-at-the-new-orange-county-register/
Design with a Spanish accent
Reporting from Mexico City today as I do an opening presentation at the
Assorted screens from the book: top, chapter openers all of which are color coded and carry illustrations by Luis Vazquez, of the Gulf News of Dubai; second image, opener of Storytelling chapter, and two inside screens.
As we get closer to publication date for The iPad Lab: Storytelling in the Age of the Tablet, we are now set up so that you can give us your email address and you will automatically be informed when the book is ready for download.
Now you can leave your email address so that you will be updated and informed the moment the book is read for download.
Simply go here:
http://ipaddesignlab.com
Video walkthrough of the iPad prototype of iPad Design Lab
1st Middle East News Design Conference
It promises to be a great program, and a historic one, too: the first SND Middle East gathering. Put it on your calendars: November 8 & 9, in Beirut, Lebanon. Sponsored by An-Nahar and SND.
For more information:
http://www.snd20events.com/conference/