I saw this memo today on Editor and Publisher. The memo was from William Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group. The goal of the memo was to provide clarity on their finances and give some insight on their future plans.

One comment stuck out to me….

Unfortunately, gone are the days where we can operate as a collection of standalone newspapers. We must leverage our collective resources and position ourselves to reinvest in our business going forward in order to provide the tools and resources to ensure success in the future. And, we are starting to do just that, with significant investments in the sales, marketing and research arenas.

It sticks out to me because not only is it important that each newspaper group works better together to take on future challenges but it is equally important that we do the same as an industry.

The Yahoo Consortium is doing it. The NAA is doing a great job sharing. I’m just wondering if we can do more?

If you are a vendor dealing with newspapers and your plan doesn’t include ways for newspapers to leverage technology to reduce expense, develop a new audience and most importantly develop incremental revenue, you may be barking up the tree for the next few years. If your product isn’t priced based on the revenue potential it provides and you can’t point at examples,  you may need to look deeply at your business plan.

I was recently in a meeting with an executive who said ” I just reduced my staff by 11%, said good-bye to a colleague that helped put us on the map and retired an editor with a lot of life left in his career” He then told me he received an estimate for an online advertising product that would cost him more than the colleague and editor combined without any proof on the return.

He is a friend and he closed the conversation with “How do I explain that?”

He was impressed with the tools but didn’t have a clear thought on how they fit into his current plans and the vendor didn’t provide anything to help.