By Samuel Rubenfeld
Newspapers will continue to be printed as long as there is a profit in it, according to John Geddes, managing editor of The New York Times, who spoke at the University Monday night.
Geddes’ talk on “The Future of the News Industry” focused on how The New York Times is adapting to a new media environment that includes blogs, e-newspapers, citizen journalists and the decline of newspaper circulation and advertising revenues.
“I don’t really care about newspapers per se,” he said. “I care deeply about the journalism they finance and deliver.”
Geddes said he believes insiders and reporters need to stop the talk of “the end of days.” He said, “You wouldn’t know it from the last year, but the newspaper is still a pretty lucrative profession.”
What makes this period in journalism unique, Geddes said, is the lack of a viable business model to cope with the new technology. However, The Times, Geddes said, “is defined by our journalism.”
The “problem” of news as a business is not new, according to Geddes. “I don’t think trying to pull us out of the commercial world makes any sense,” he said. “Quality comes at a price that may seem unsustainable, but we have to live in the same world everyone else does.”
We need to be able to report what it is like to be in the crowd, and to be able to say where it is going, he added.
During the lecture, Geddes showed the audience a copy of The Times on a tablet PC. The newspaper looks exactly like the print version and it is fully navigable with the click of a button. “It’s the closest thing to reading papers in print,” Geddes said.
There is nothing special about the news industry as a business, according to Geddes. “It’s a product of its environment,” he said. “It exists in constant tension with the commercial interests that support it.”
Geddes said he did not believe political scandal contributes to the current maelstrom surrounding the news industry. The trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Geddes said, will have no impact on Washington coverage, because there have “long been cycles of pressure” between the press and the government. He said this scandal is no different from the others.
Sponsored by the Zarb School of Business, the School of Communication and the University’s Career Center, Geddes has become a part of an increasingly close relationship between the University and The Times. Chief legal correspondent Adam Liptak spoke at the University last year.
Following the talk by Geddes, a student panel consisting of business and journalism majors asked him a series of questions on The Times’ role in the future of news. When asked about the adaptability of the veterans of the news industry, Geddes said there has been surprisingly little resistance from them.
Students were supportive of Geddes’ talk. “He defended The Times well,” said John Commerford, a senior broadcast journalism and political science dual-major. “This is exactly what I expected from him.”
New York Times Managing Editor John Geddes displays a tablet PC, which is linked to a beta-version of a wireless feed of The Times.