WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Gilbert Cranberg: WHICH WAY FOR JEFF BEZOS?

One plus in the sale of the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos is the switch in its status from a publicly owned company to private ownership. That means Post stock no longer can be bought and sold by investors and the stock won’t be listed on any of the stock exchanges. That’s a plus because publicly traded companies too often are managed for the short term and managers judged by how successful they are in boosting the company’s stock price quarter-to quarter.

The Graham family was more mindful than most newspaper owners that fixating on quarterly financial results can be harmful to the long-term health of a company. But even the Post had to have one eye on its stock price. And that lagging price was a factor in its eventual sale. The stock’s price led also to newsroom cutbacks that diminished the paper’s quality.
Many years ago I interviewed a large number of stock analysts and asked them whether publicly traded newspaper companies were good or bad for journalism. They were nearly unanimous in saying it was bad because it forced the companies to pay excessive attention to the bottom line. (“Taking Stock —Journalism and the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company”, Cranberg, Bezanson, Soloski (Iowa State Univ. Press, 2001).) So, does that mean the era of a Bezos-owned Post will be good news for readers? Not necessarily. Bezos has never worked on a newspaper and has no tradition of family newspaper ownership. What he knows about the Post is only as a reader.

I say “only” but that stands for a great deal. What serious readers of newspapers treasure is their reliability and comprehensiveness. Compromise either and their value diminishes.

Jeff Bezos did not accumulate the wealth to buy the Post by being a stupid businessman. He would be that if he makes inroads in the quality of the Post for short-term gain.

Since Bezos has not worked in journalism he has none of the skills needed to manage a newspaper. But there are people with such skill and Bezos ought to know how to locate them. Above all, he needs to convince them of his vision that the best days of the Washington Post are ahead.

 

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