Number One Obstacle to Change for Newspapers (and Non-Profits?): Organizational Culture

"It is difficult to get someone to understand something when their salary depends on them not understanding it."

Internet guru Clay Shirky is famous for his statement about the state of newspapers today.

In his seminal 2009 essay Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable, he wrote that people committed to saving newspapers would often ask him: “If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?”

To which he replied: “The answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the internet just broke.”

But that doesn’t mean newspaper editors aren’t trying to find the “thing” that will save them.

Recently, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers asked its members: “What is the single most important risk to a news organization’s future success?”

The answer? Reluctance to innovate.

The number two answer was finding a new business model—which is related to innovation.

And what is the main thing they need to do to be innovative?

Change their organizational culture.

“Getting all staff to share to embrace and share new ideas, techniques and strategies to keep the newspaper alive and exciting,” said one editor.

Change is Hard for Non-Profits, Too

This report is about newspapers, and their future, but it applies equally as well to other media, businesses and organizations—including non-profits.

As many of us know, changing a culture is hard. It’s doubly hard when revenues are falling—as they are for many newspapers and some charities—and resources are tight, as they are for most organizations these days.

And if change means some people might lose their jobs, then it’s even harder.

As American writer Upton Sinclair observed: "It is difficult to get someone to understand something when their salary depends on them not understanding it."

Nobody votes to eliminate their job, in other words.

In my world of international relief and development, a conversation is beginning about the need to collaborate more, or even merge.

It might make economic sense, and even enhance the mission and allow groups to raise more money and help more people.

But if you merge three NGOs, you only need one executive director, one financial officer, one director of communications, etc.

See where this is going?

But back to the report and the future of newspapers.

After changing their culture, what practical things did leaders of newspapers think they should do?

The number one priority was video, presumably because more and more people are watching videos online.

What is not clear to me is whether people want to watch news video, or whether they prefer cute animals and pratfalls.

That’s also the conclusion of Joshua Benton, director of Neiman Journalism Lab.

In an interview, he said:

“I am 100 percent prepared to be wrong about this, but I think many publishers’ continued investment in video will prove to be a waste of time and money . . . the accurate belief that people love consuming video doesn’t mean people love consuming news video.”

I would say the same for non-profits and, for my sector, NGOs. Just because people like watching video doesn’t mean they will like watching our videos.

One last thing newspapers say they should be doing more: Investing in social media.

Ultimately, it may not matter—in North America, at least. 

If, as a recent study found, a majority of Canadians say they can live without a daily newspaper, and ad revenues keep dropping, newspapers may simply run out of runway.

One day the expense line will rise above the revenue line and it will be over.

Or maybe, just maybe, something new will emerge, something nobody has thought of before.

We can only hope—for newspapers, and maybe for the non-profit sector, too.

You can read a summary of the World News Publishers Outlook 2017 here.