Now this is more like it. The leaking has returned to its FrontBurner-friendly path.
A couple days ago, Harvard’s Neiman Journalism Lab published a Q&A that quoted Moroney as saying the pay wall move was “a big risk.” Now, in a memo to staff this morning, Moroney says he doesn’t recall saying that:
Big risk? I recall saying it was a risk. And a smart risk. A big risk? Maybe I did say it, but I don’t recall it.
Is it a big risk to our enterprise? No. It’s simply not. In fact, I believe the upside is far greater than the downside. As I do recall saying, this move we are making to ask consumers to pay for the content we distribute digitally isn’t a “the world is flat or it’s round” proposition where getting it wrong means sailing over the edge never to return.
I did say that you can always go back to free. Because you can. Yet that’s not what we are planning to do. We are planning on making this strategy work. As I said in a note to you last Tuesday, strategies need time to work. We are going to give this strategy lots of time and lots of support.
Is it a “big risk” relative to the experience some publishers have had when they have asked their customers to pay for access to the content they distribute digitally? Sure. There aren’t that many examples of companies that have made this work. Frankly, there aren’t that many companies that have tried to make this work. We have developed this strategy carefully and many of you have put in countless hours to give us the best chance we can have to make it successful. I feel very good about our prospects.
The single most important thing that gives us the best chance to be successful is our track record of 125 years of publishing news and information that is relevant and important to people who live in the communities we serve. No local media organization, nor combination of local media organizations, can match the breadth and depth of local, regional and state reporting that we do. And we do it daily. This is how the consumer benefits from us having one of the largest local media newsrooms in the country.
Here is just one way we put the scale of our news resources to work: The story on the state budget on page one yesterday. There may be no more important story for people living in Texas in 2011 than how our legislature deals with a deficit that could reach $25 billion. I can guarantee you this: no media organization in this state will cover this story as well or as deeply or with the kind of sophistication that we will. That’s just one example of reporting worth paying for.
As I said a week ago, the only failure in times like these is the failure not to take risks. Big ones and small ones. I am glad we have a culture that wants to take risks because it knows that only through taking risks will we move forward.
Jim Moroney
Publisher & CEO
The Dallas Morning News
11 comments
Moroney’s new philosophy: better to fail greatly than never to have failed at all.
Why not just have no online content and force everyone to pay for the shrinking DMN? Think of the savings!
@ Diane: as far as business philosophies go, I can’t think of a better one. Any business that is afraid to fail will die. Legacy businesses and large corporations have a tough time with risk. I think what the News is doing is extraordinary. Whether it works or not, it signals a willingness to try — and trying is where success comes from.
Does taking risks mean the site goes down? It’s that way now (1:16 p.m.) and was down for a while last week as well. Who wants to pay for that?
DMN must be rolling it out right now – try going to their website.
The DMN website has been down since around 8 am. If I was paying for that, I would be pissed! Instead, I have perused FB and Unfair Park.
I sympathize with any business that can’t keep its public site running like the DMN today. I really do. However, it does provide fodder for general mirth-making, so…. What’s next? Perhaps in the future we’ll get a morning memo from the DMN Publisher instead of their usual daily missive?
@ Wick: Wick, you’re smart guy so I’ll quiz you – can you name another industry that has steadily lost customers, reduced the quality of its product AND consistently raised rate in double-digits over a 5- or 6-year period? Anyone else making a living by doing that? Anyone? Anyone? That ship is sinking fast and it seems obvious to everyone except the family that has staked their legacy on it.
“To improve is to change. To be perfect is to change often.”
I am proud to see the DMN make a change for the industry. As much as I hate paying taxes just as much as the next person, I don’t take certain services for granted or expect them free.
@Wick: Big difference between taking risk and a presumption of failure. Nothing about this enterprise or Moroney’s sanguine promotion gives me the impression that this will succeeed in the long term.
My former colleagues are working in fear every day now. Moroney keeps asking for worker input about morale, but no employee is dumb enough to speak up anymore given the Belo HR Bully. Emerson said enthusiasm is needed to drive all great things. Only good morale = enthusiasm. Ipso facto, pay wall or print, DMN readers won’t be getting what they pay for
anymore.
DMN bosses resorted to offering iPods for feedback. Still, no one dared disturb the sound of silence at 508 Young St. Hey, Jim, try offering to restore the 401(k) matching that you’ve stolen from labor!