To the L.A. Times: What Were You Thinking?!

June, 07, 2010 3:05 pm | On #advertising, hollywood reporter, Los Angeles Times, Lynne Segall, Media, publishing, robert dowling

Last week a friend and colleague, Lynne Segall, was “reorganized” out of her job at the Los Angeles Times. To lose a job is always a tragedy, but when an unequaled revenue generator loses her job it has to beg the question, “What were they thinking?”

All media has only a few mandates: Attract and satisfy an audience, sell subscriptions and sell ads. To be successful all three have to be working.
No one is unaware of the challenges facing media in the ad sales department these days, and when you have an individual like Lynne Segall, you thank your good fortune she is on your team. You don’t push her out. It is simply bad business.
 
I worked with Lynne for 18 years while we were both at the Hollywood Reporter. There is no doubt in my mind of how difficult Lynne can be. She is passionate in what she does, has...
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Where the Trade Papers Went Wrong

January, 12, 2010 5:07 pm | On #hollywood reporter, Variety

Over the holidays, Sharon Waxman, of TheWrap, wrote a piece about how the two Hollywood trade papers are facing their “end game.” Steering clear of the debates about the impact of leveraged buyouts, downsizing and the lack of Academy Award advertising, there is a fundamental reason why the trades have lost their way.

They’ve lost sight of the “community” they were designed to serve.

The entertainment industry is more in need of information and insight than possibly ever. The trades are perfectly positioned to provide this, and should be cashing in. But they’re not reacting to the changes that have seen the entertainment community burst from the constraints of Hollywood into a global enterprise.

Let me explain.
In...
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A Simple Proposal for the Survival of Newspapers

March, 02, 2009 5:48 pm | On #

As a publisher of a five-day a week newspaper, I operated on the theory that news was like the ante in a poker game. You have to have it to play, no one applauds you for having it, but you pay a price if you don’t.

In poker, winning is based on what you do when you are in the game. In the news business, winning is what you do with the news, when you have it.

News no longer enjoys the value it once did, for two reasons: Once someone knows something, it is no longer news, therefore of little to no value; and news is now available free through countless sources -- so why should someone pay for it? It is a commodity.

What do you do if you’re in the news business? Get out of it. There is no upside to news today.

So what should newspapers do? Redefine their business -- and exploit the two technologies that have turned their business upside down....

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Attention D.C.: Hollywood Is a Job-Creation Factory!

February, 10, 2009 5:51 pm | On #job creation, robert dowling, stimulus, washington d.c.
I am always amused by how little the brain trust in Washington DC actually knows about Hollywood and how it works. This ignorance is manifest in their quick rejection of a $250 million tax relief in the yet to be agreed upon stimulus plan.  However great their overwhelming lack of knowledge, it never holds them back from dogmatic opinions that get echoed throughout the country by everyone else who enjoys a similar ignorance. 
 
Years ago I gave a speech where I described Hollywood as a job creation factory.  Job creation! Is that not the essence of the stimulus plan?  I thought the idea was to get Americans back to work so they would begin spending again and could be taxed on their earnings.  That is the very essence of Hollywood. 
 
In the eyes of many in Washington Hollywood is Tom Hanks, Meryl...
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The trades shall rise again!

February, 03, 2009 5:32 pm | On #broadband, digital, industry, technology, the business, trade magazines

What is wrong with the trades? 

 
As a former publisher of the Hollywood Reporter, I am often asked this question. 
 
Massive layoffs, smaller issues, editorial cutbacks, fewer ads and doubts of print product viability all suggest that the trades are in trouble.  So are they, and if so why?  
 
The answer is simple. The trades are in trouble because the industry they cover is in trouble.  The trade papers are nothing more than a reflection of who and what they cover. The trades don't make the news, they report the news.  They do, however, choose who and what they report on. 
 
Go to the Motion Picture Academy library and read issues of both papers going back to their inception and you will find a mirror image of the industry's evolution.  ...
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