(Michael P. Smith)

I am being gently chided by friends in the business for comments I made in an industry report about leadership. I suggested in an interview that newspaper leaders have to believe in their product - the core product the way readers do - and exude a confident-yet-informed optimism in their leadership and communications.

(This is where media bloggers I respect say that I am an ostrich.)

I also said that you cannot manage decline. This coincides with an INMA column (membership required) by Len Kubas and Chris Kubas that questions whether newspaper executives really are convinced that newspapers can be saved from eventual decline. They ask where exactly is the confidence in the core product:

One of the biggest challenges facing our industry in most of the industrialized world is not the Internet or decline in circulation or readership. The challenge is the loss of confidence by some publishing executives, and their belief that print newspapers are no longer relevant in today’s fast changing media world.

In calling for publishers to rebuild confidence in the core, they write:

Newspapers have the resources, the talent, and core competence to restore vitality to the print product while simultaneously growing the internet or digital side of the business. It is not an "either-or" situation, but a strategy that recognizes that a healthy future depends upon strong print operations.

There are examples in the western world where a leader with optimism and confidence in the core has actually turned things around. One example often cited is the Guardian in the United Kingdom. Here at MMC we salute the efforts of the Globe and Mail in Toronto and the Spectator in Hamilton, Ontario. At INMA, I learned of the turn around at the Sydney Morning Herald.

Robert Whitehead, director of sales and marketing of Fairfax Media, was frank in reasons why the Morning Herald turned things around. The most important cause, he said, was a change at the top. A new CEO came in believing in the core product and believing that the newspaper could again be successful. He established a set of tactics that led to their success:

• He introduced a grow-the-newspaper mandate.
• He introduced a clear decision-making process.
• He set circulation growth targets.
• He put marketing and circulation together.
• He ended branding campaigns.
• He established clear print and digital product guidelines for growth.

While this was going on, the newspaper concentrated on serving its customers. New flexible subscription programs were implemented. The newspaper became very involved in public service campaigns.