(Michael P. Smith)
Kellogg students invited me to moderate one of the panels at the excellent student-led Digital Lifestyle conference. My panel, appropriate to me, consisted of executives from old media companies:

Maria Thomas
Vice President and General Manager, NPR Digital Media
Patrick Lafferty
SVP Marketing & New Product Development, Discovery Travel Media
Chris Waldron
Executive Producer, Turner Broadcasting and Cartoon Network
Michael Junior
VP eProduct Development, McGraw-Hill

I asked a question about what would keep their companies from fulfilling their strategies. Their responses were similar to what I have heard from newspaper and broadcast executives. And also very similar to what I heard in the content hall at the 3GSM World Congress. To paraphrase: Where are we going to find the workers who have the talent and creativity to compete in this new digital world?

We have a couple thousand answers at Kellogg and Medill.

The Media Management Center completed its first seminar for the chief creative officers of global advertising agencies. Eighteen agency executives – most of them creatives – participated in the two-week module as part of their curriculum for an executive MBA in Creative Leadership.

MMC is partnering with the Berlin School for Creative Leadership in offering the media management module. To learn more about the program, inquire with the Berlin School.

(Michael P. Smith)

The constant drum beat of stories about newspaper decline obscures the facts that newspapers are growing and readership is up – even in the United States.


Consider these facts from the World Association of Newspapers:

--Globally, combined paid-for and free newspaper circulation increased 9.95 percent over five years, and 2.36 percent over one year, in 2005, the most recent period for which full-year figures are available. North America showed a five-year circulation increase of 0.70 percent and was virtually stable over one year. Europe showed a 2.12 percent increase over five years and a one-year increase of 4.18 percent.

--The total number of paid-for daily newspaper titles worldwide jumped over the 10,000 mark for the first time in history, to 10,104, a 13 percent growth from 2001, when there were 8,930 titles.

--Free daily newspaper circulation more than doubled from 2001 to 2005, from 12 million copies in 2001 to 28 million in 2005, an increase of 137 percent.

--In Europe, combined paid-for and free newspaper circulation increased 14.24 percent in the five years to 2005, and 3.31 percent over one year. The number of new titles grew 15.86 percent over five years, and were stable over one year.

--In North America, newspaper circulation increased 0.7 percent over five years, and marginally declined 0.04 percent over one year. The number of titles declined 0.84 percent over five years but increased 1.21 percent over one year.

What does it mean that titles increased in the United States? There has been a quiet revolution in new daily launches. The WAN data is from its annual World Press Trends.