Vanity isn’t always pejorative
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall St. Journal
and Washington Post are a league above the next tier of newspapers.
They are, with the recent exception of the Los Angeles Times,
owned by families.
The Tribune Company of Chicago purchased the Los
Angles Times from the Chandler family a few years back. A recent
New Yorker article said that editors at the Los Angles Times
told their corporate boss that they wanted to produce the best newspaper
in the world and the corporate boss just wanted them to produce a newspaper
that was good enough.
Some have questioned whether it is structurally possible
for a publicly traded company to produce a great newspaper. The CEO
of a publicly traded corporation is primarily concerned with maximizing
shareholder return. Stock traders buying a media stock are examining
the price-to-earnings ratio of the company, not its editorial quality.
Despite what you may have heard about declining newspaper
readership and profitability, most newspapers are cash cows. Newspaper
chains expect 25 percent to 30 percent profit from a newspaper. In order
to meet these piggish expectations, they fire reporters and editors.
Reporters have less time to go out and report each story. They report
from the desk – a press release, and a few phone calls.
A glorious vanity compels families to produce great
newspapers. The same disregard for cost that has compelled tycoons of
the past to erect pyramids and Taj Mahals also produces the best newspapers.
It is a luxury simply not permitted a publicly traded company primarily
concerned with profits. Tycoons can spend what it takes and diminish
their profits in order to produce the best newspaper. Whether motivated
by a sense of public service, noblesse oblige, vanity or spendthriftery,
families diminish their profits to produce great journalism.
What I can promise you is that my vanity is sufficient
to run a newspaper focused on editorial quality.
Editor’s Note:
The Light is in a transition phase where I am learning
the process now in place. There will be mistakes. I am a novitiate.
As my comfort with the production process improves, the speed of editorial
change will accelerate.