Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

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Speakers and Presentations

"Are There Big Ideas That Can Save Newspapers?"

Thorson pointed to the "astounding speed" of budget cuts in newspaper newsrooms in which ¿well-trained and committed journalists are being put out to pasture.¿ As a result, she said, "Americans are losing their highest quality source of information."

Thorson said that budget cuts have generally happened not because newspapers are unprofitable but because many newspaper corporations have taken on too much debt. She said many companies were overly focused on profits, rejecting expenditures such as research that they feared would reduce profits. "As a result, when most industries know exactly how dollars invested convert to dollars of revenues, the newspaper industry knew virtually nothing," Thorson said.

This lack of research-based knowledge led to cost-cutting that did not maximize profits. ¿When they made cuts to protect profit levels, they cut across the board, a management approach that is astounding to those who study American business practices,¿ she said.

Thorson decried the "almost impenetrable barrier" between news management researchers and the newspaper industry and pointed to an "almost complete locking out of scholars from information about newspaper finances, unlike in Europe where all media economists have extensive access to this critical information." She called for greater interaction between professionals and scholars, "one that leads to active use of accumulated knowledge and a shoulder-to-shoulder partnership."

Contact Dean Esther Thorson at 573-882-9590 or thorsone@missouri.edu

Esther Thorson

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