Journalists….. arise! You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Chains

2009-07-15-gordongecko740537

I’m currently working on a piece about homeless people in San Francisco

Why are we such wimps?

Journalism is in utter collapse and we wander around asking whether perhaps the answer is not to turn the New York Times into a non-profit!

Wimps!

Jeff Jarvis just ran a great piece about Journalism as Capitalism.

High time.

The entire Internet Revolution was about one thing: Journalism.

It was about gathering and delivering information. Well, what the hell do you think we do?

But we missed the boat.

Entirely!

We should be billionaires!

Instead, we’re reduced to walking around with a tin cup begging for a few scraps of bread. It’s revolting.

What happened?

We brought this on ourselves.

We brought it on ourselves because we preached the philosophy that business was somehow ‘dirty’, that the business side of newspapers or TV stations was something that  we, the journalists, simply would never deign to do. We were ‘pure’. We didn’t get involved in ‘making money’, in ‘ad sales’. That was for ‘them’.  The ‘business people’.

So we created this wall, between the business side of the business and the journalism side.  The wall was so strong that it was considered sacred.  At both The New York Times and CBS News, two companies I worked for, the journalists were righteously proud of the ‘wall’. It was solid.

Idiots!

While we were wandering around in our worn sports coats with the patches on the sleeves thinking great thoughts about Zimbabwe, the MBAs, who knew squat about our world were busy cleaning up.

Morons!

What is Craigslist but a variant of newspaper classifieds?  What is eBay but a variant on The Pennysaver? What is Google, for crying out loud, but a variant on ‘all the news fit to print’ or ‘The Encyclopedia Brittanica’?  What is the matter with us? We should own ALL those things, and so much more.

But we don’t. We got cut out of the deal. Eclipsed. 

And now we’re gonna die.

Die.

And why?

Because we bought into the idea that business was somehow ‘dirty’… beneath our ‘noble calling’.

Well, it wasn’t.  Journalism schools failed and journalism in general failed because it refused to come to grips with a very simple axiom:  Journalism is a business.  Plain and simple. This is a business. And if you don’t make a profit, you don’t get to publish all those nice stories about Zimbabwe.  

When I was a student at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, First Amendment was a required course. They brought over Benno Schmidt from the Law School to teach it. Great. They should also have brought over some guy from the Business School to teach a required course: “How To Make Millions in Journalism”.

We can do more than ‘survive’; we can thrive. We can triumph. We can own.

But we have to change. 

We have to change the way we think (and the way we dress).

From now on, no more ink stained wretches, and no more sport’s jackets with patches on the sleeves.  It’s all Armani or Prada.

Listen: What happened to newspapers is going to happen to TV. A second wave is coming. This time, we should own it.

Journalism schools should teach their students to be robust Capitalists.  Teach them how to go out and raise money for new ideas. Teach them how to do an IPO.  Richard Branson should be our hero. We should burn Michael Moore, fat slob in sneakers, in effigy.

What we need is a new definition of journalism. Robust Journalism. Aggressive Journalism. The journalist who is not afraid to be rich. Rich is no crime.  MBAs glory in the idea.  Instead, idiots that we are, we lurk in the shadows, terrified of a balance sheet or a stock option or ownership.

Joseph Pulitzer didn’t get to give away his prize money based on his weekly salary as a reporter. He owned the newspaper. And then he got innovative. He was aggressive.  

Ownership and being aggressive are no crime!  

Because if we don’t own it, we’re going to have nothing.

So rise up journalists!  Rise up! Take what is yours! Own it! 

Revolution!

If all the reporters and producers at 60 Minutes got together tomorrow and formed their own company, 60 Minutes Inc, and produced the weekly show, (which they know how to do), and took it into first run syndication, how rich do you think they would be?

And if they took it online or into podcasting, which is where it’s going anyway?

We ARE the content. And content is King.

Own the future.

Own it.

Michael Rosenblum

For more than 35 years, Michael Rosenblum has been on the cutting edge of the digital video journalism revolution. During this time, he has lead a drive for video literacy, and the complete rethinking of how television is made and controlled. His work has included: The complete transitioning of The BBC's national network (UK) to a VJ-driven model, starting in 2002. The complete conversion of The Voice of America, the United State's Government's broadcasting agency, (and the largest broadcaster in the world), from short wave radio to television broadcasting and webcasting using the VJ paradigm (1998-present). The construction of NYT Television, a New York Times Company, and the largest producer of non-fiction television in the US. Rosenblum was both the founder and President of NYT TV, (all based on this paradigm (1996-1998). The President and Founder of Video News International, a global VJ-driven newsgathering company, with more than 100 journalists around the world. (1993-1996). Other clients include Spectrum News, Verizon and CBS News.

4 Comments

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  • jason brown March 24, 2010

    . . .

    Possibly the most twitty thing I’ve read in the history of journalism.

    Yes, I agree that journalists have allowed themselves to be painted into ethical corners.

    But to suggest that we can “own” the future while maintaining aggressive journalism is ridiculously utopian.

    Does Rosenblum really think that large corporates will let us make fat “greed is good” profits while running them down? Or will they treat our efforts as a hostile takeover and simply buy us out?

    And where does he think the 60 minutes team will broadcast their wares – on the internet? How many millions will they need to start up and produce content to the same quality? Who will invest?

    Suggesting that we stop wearing patchy elbow suits is akin to saying “let them eat cake.” Insulting. Really quite stupid.

    And let’s step back a bit: isn’t the relentless pursuit of profits what got America (and the rest of us around the world, thanks) into so much trouble in the first place?

    Right profession. Wrong revolution.

  • Bill Kingman October 08, 2009

    I’ve done research on a serial killer that terrorized New Orleans from 1910-1921. Back then there were six newspapers. Today there is barely one. Today we have at least five television stations broadcasting “news”. I would bet the same ratio from 100 years ago will fulfill itself again.

  • Austin Beeman October 05, 2009

    And when TV Studios die, Hollywood is next to go… Instead of Actors, Crew, and Writers unionizing and whining for their ‘right’ to make 10 million on a movie that LOSES MONEY, how about getting together, owning the content, and getting paid when you make A PROFIT. Actors and filmmakers need to become Entrepreneurs. Cut out the fat, make great content, run a tight business, and make money.

    And maybe Hollywood and New York have too high a cost of living? Maybe the Midwest is going to do to Hollywood what China did to Detroit?