Author says moguls combine profitability with journalistic integrity and content

Journalist, author and professor Dan Kennedy said newspapers are not dying during a June 13 National Press Club Book Rap.

Former Club President Myron interviewed the author about his new book, "The Return of Moguls: How Jeff Bezos and John Henry are Remaking Newspapers for the Twenty-first Century," during the event.

Kennedy researched Jeff Bezos’s purchase of The Washington Post, John Henry’s purchase of The Boston Globe, and Aaron Kushner—“no relation to Jared Kushner”—and The Orange County Register.

“These were three outsiders to the industry,” he said. “I wanted to find what was the common theme uniting them.”

These three outsiders purchased newspaper companies and made them profitable without sacrificing journalistic integrity or content, Kennedy said.

He cited the example of Bezos's purchasing the Post when the company was losing jobs under the Graham family. The most important thing Bezos did was resolve the debate of whether or not the paper was meant for a regional or national audience.

“Bezos decided we are going to do national news, on a digital platform, and attract a massive audience,” said Kennedy.

While Kennedy was unable to obtain an interview with Bezos, he said the billionaire managed profitability by leveraging The Post and Amazon together.

“You can now get the WaPo app pre-installed on all Amazon Tablets,” said Kennedy.

Another change The Post and other successful papers have made is turning away from relying on social media to drive subscriptions to the news site; instead papers are attracting news site visits and subscriptions via a daily newsletter, according to Kennedy.

Ultimately, Kennedy said that while these billionaire moguls have purchased large papers he also hopes for the sustainability of smaller independent news sites to save the newspaper industry.

To achieve sustainability in the long-run, Kennedy says, strong independent locally based ownership of newspapers -- although they are not immune from the pressures that have affected everyone -- do an important job for the community.

“You need to stay focused on serving your community,” said Kennedy. “They are not trying to pay off debt that a chain took on.”

Juxtaposing those who are innovating and building the newspaper industry, Kennedy pointed out three newspaper industry players that are only in the business for the profit, sacrificing journalistic integrity: Tronc, Digital-First, and Gate House Media.

“Chain owners dealing with debt, and shareholder pressures, they are behind the eight ball before they are even starting,” said Kennedy.