Navigating through changing times

The Minnesota Newspaper Association 141st convention was last week from Wednesday, Jan. 23, through Friday, Jan. 25.

At it a bunch of newspaper people gathered to look at each other's products, pick up new ideas and network. It was also an opportunity to listen to "the experts" conduct sessions and talk about how they do what they do.

Now working for my third newspaper, I finally took the time to partake in my first convention on Friday morning at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington.

MNA literature

The theme was how the times are changing and what newspapers should do to change with the times and remain profitable. I didn't hear anybody say we need to be more relevant to people's lives, but I'm hoping the speekers I listened to meant to imply it.

One session I attended was "Capturing the moment as it changes before our eyes," presented by a world-renowned photojournalist from Des Moines. Some notable quotes include:

"We're all photographers now," with regards to digital photography.

"The opposite of love is indifference," with regards to people caring about our product.

"I'm doing the same thing that everybody else does- try to keep my job, so I can keep my medical... Oh, you don't have $15 million to buy your own newspaper. I guess you're going to have to adapt," with regard to doing more with fewer resources.

"You're never going to succeed quite so much as you're willing to fail," regarding accepting advances in the newsroom.

"Nothing is more emotionally involving for a reader that seeing something in a still picture," regarding the importance of good photography.

"If it doesn't burn inside you, it will burn you up... You have to be emotionally involved... If you don't have goals, you are going to burn out, burn up or become numb... There's never enough time to do everything."

The next was the luncheon, where the food was much more impressive than the speaker. We ate amazingly succulent lasagna. It was the best. Tom Curley, president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press, spoke about "Hot times for hot news." Noteable quotes from him include the following:

"I think most of us are still struggling defining where we're going and what we have to do to get there."

"We are in a growth industry... We really have to dive into a new information-age stream."

"You can't provide enough training in your newsrooms these days."

"This is a new dynamic, information age."

"Nobody but us is willing to speak truth to power," he said with regard to the emergence of new forms of news media. 

What is truth? What is power? How much is either valued by news consumers today? How does this make us more relevant to our readers and advertisers?

So many questions left unanswered... So much for my first newspaper convention.