This is the weekend edition of TheMarioBlog and will be updated as needed. The next blog post is Monday, June 10.
Those of us who admire most of what The New York Times does know that what Mr. Thompson tells in this interview is part of the strategic thinking that makes The Times perhaps the best newspaper in the world.
I am not objective here, as I am a daily reader of the Times, across various platforms, and a subscriber to its Sunday print edition (which I devour when I am home in New York City).
I will invite you to read this comprehensive interview, but one thing stands out, and that is the key to the Times’ success: innovation and the ability to experiment.
These two statements summarize it all for me:
“To be honest, the business of the NYT is about making the main news, opinion and feature-based NYT edition. Investing in that is by far the biggest thing we have to do.
“If you invest in newsrooms, you get the best journalists in the world, people will want to consume it. They fall in love with the product, and the money they pay will pay for more journalists.”
Hope you enjoy the piece. Better yet, make some notes of the messages you can take home to your newsroom. You don’t have to be the giant and powerful Times to get into an innovative mode. It all begins with looking at your audience, examining the data about what they are reading—and where they are reading it. The rest should follow its due course.
Here is a quick check list of things to remember when hitting that innovation button:
- It is a multiplatform world.
- Print is no longer the protagonist.
- Invest in journalists who can practical digital journalism.
- Create new products that extend your brand.
- Take your good content mobile first, and discover the power of storytelling there.
The Times—the so called gray old lady (for whom the name does not apply anymore)—has done all of the above brilliantly.
You can, too.
Read the full interview here
Mario’s speaking engagements
Here are places where I will be taking the message of mobile storytelling in the weeks ahead:
June 12, NEC Media City, Bergen, Norway, Storytelling workshop for Editors
June 13, Fortellingens kraft 2019, Bergen, Norway, Long form Mobile Storytelling for Writers
July 11, Florida Media Conference, St. Petersburg, FL, Keynote for editors: The mobile first newspaper strategy.
Mario’s weekend rituals…..
Monocle interviews me about what I do on a typical weekend (is there such a thing? Not for someone like me who is seldom in the same location twice. But I gave it my best shot, for what may come as a normal weekend, when I am home in New York! Enjoy.
https://monocle.com/minute/2019/04/27/
Pre-order The Story
The newspaper remains the most powerful source of storytelling on the planet. But technology threatens its very existence. To survive, the Editor must transform, adapt, and manage the newsroom in a new way. Find out how, pre-orderThe Story by Mario Garcia, chief strategist for the redesign of over 700 newspapers around the world.
Order here:
https://thaneandprose.com/shop-the-bookstore?olsPage=products%2Fthe-story
An interview of interest
http://www.itertranslations.com/blog/2019/3/11/fd60ybflpvlqrgrpdp5ida5rq0c3sp
TheMarioBlog post #3068