My 'Crisis' Advice to Newspaper Company CEOs: 11 Points to Ponder: I, along with a sizable group of new media pundits, have been proposing recommendations for turning around the newspaper industry for some time. The CEOs can plow back through our collective writing and speeches and find at least some of the answers. But knowing how busy all those guys and gals are, this column is the executive summary: my game plan for bringing the newspaper industry out of its steepening nose dive, with ideas of my own mixed in with those of other new media gurus that I endorse.
1. Issue an edict: Digital is first!
2. Consolidate print and online editing functions
3. Print edition: Don't bother chasing young people
4. Print edition: Focus on the core demographic
5. Guide older print loyalists to a life online
6. Reduce the number of print editions
7. Online: Broaden definition of news to include micro-personal
8. Hire a social VP
9. Experiment, fail, experiment more
10. Leverage your remaining staffers, and augment them
11. Consider retirement
