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Speaker 1

00:00

To the next round. ♪♪ Journalists, the heroes that we root for in movies like All the President's Men, The Great Muppet Caper, and most recently, Spotlight.

Speaker 2

00:12

We gotta nail these scumbags! We gotta show people that nobody can get away with this, not a priest or a cardinal or a freaking pope!

Speaker 1

00:21

Now remember, Spotlight actually won Best Picture at the Oscars this year, meaning newspapers finally received the recognition that we normally reserve for subjects of such importance as the incredible bravery of real-life Hollywood filmmakers, the incredible bravery of fictional Hollywood filmmakers, and the incredible bravery of wanting to fuck your daughter's friend. But 1 of the things that made Spotlight so powerful is the knowledge that The newspaper industry today is in big trouble. Papers have been closing and downsizing for years, and that affects all of us.

Speaker 1

00:51

Even if you only get your news from Facebook, Google, Twitter, or Ariana Huffington's block quote junction and book excerpt clearinghouse, those Places are often just repackaging the work of newspapers, and it is not just websites. Watch how often TV news ends up citing print sources.

Speaker 3

01:09

According to the Chicago Tribune... According to the Detroit Free Press...

Speaker 4

01:12

According to the San Francisco Chronicle...

Speaker 5

01:14

According to the Times-Picayune... The Boston Globe...

Speaker 6

01:16

The Orlando Sentinel... The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Speaker 7

01:18

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review. The Detroit News. And the Houston Chronicle reports.

Speaker 8

01:22

The Los Angeles Times reports. The Oklahoman reports.

Speaker 3

01:24

The Hartford Current reports.

Speaker 1

01:26

The Salt Lake Tribune reports. It's pretty obvious, without newspapers around to cite, TV news would just be Wolf Blitzer endlessly batting a ball of yarn around. -...and it is not just news outlets.

Speaker 1

01:38

Stupid shows like ours lean heavily on local papers. In fact, whenever this show is mistakenly called journalism, It is a slap in the face to the actual journalist whose work we rely on. I'll give you just 1 example. 2 years ago, we ran a piece on state lotteries, and a not insignificant portion of it was built on the work of Harry Esteve, a reporter at The Oregonian.

Speaker 1

02:00

Here is a clip we used of him talking about this series on camera. Here I am quoting 1 of his Oregonian stories directly, and here I am doing it again. You probably didn't notice it at the time, because you were too fixated on my bold choice of shiny gray tie with checkered dress shirt. The tie says, Mafia Funeral, The shirt says, High School Debate Tournament.

Speaker 1

02:20

And the face says, I am not confident enough to carry this lock off. But the point is, we used a lot of Harry Esteves' work in that piece. And we try to add new information to our stories. Our researchers work incredibly hard.

Speaker 1

02:35

But the media is a food chain which would fall apart without local newspapers. And the problem is, print ads are less popular with advertisers than they used to be. And online ads produce much less revenue. I'll show you.

Speaker 1

02:49

Between 2004 and 2014, newspapers gained 2000000000 dollars in online ad revenue. Unfortunately, in that same period, they lost 30 billion dollars in print revenue. So that's like finding a lucky penny on the sidewalk on the same day your bank account is drained by a 16-year-old Belgian hacker. And this has led to cutbacks in newsrooms.

Speaker 1

03:12

Again, look at The Oregonian. It used to be a big moneymaker. In fact, in 1993, their editor talked about how proud he was of its record of success.

Speaker 9

03:21

I've been at that paper more than 40 years, and every year I've been there, I've seen our staff increase, I've seen our salaries increase. Not a year's gone by that an employee at the Oregonian, full-time employee, has not been a beneficiary of a raise.

Speaker 1

03:36

Now, that level of confidence is almost tempting fate. He's like a citizen of Pompeii saying, what I love about this city is how volcano-proof it is. Not a year goes by without us not having to have our horrified reactions captured in ash forever.

Speaker 1

03:51

Unfortunately, the Oregonian circulation has since dropped, and in 2013, just as Harry Esteve was working on his lottery series, their parent company, Advanced Publications, dropped a bombshell.

Speaker 6

04:03

This picture, tweeted out from inside the Oregonian, shows staffers listening as editor Peter Badia broke the news some had feared. The paper will split in 2. Stop seven-day-a-week home delivery and lay off some employees.

Speaker 10

04:16

This is a strategic move to really focus everybody on what that digital future is, and what our digital products and services can be.

Speaker 1

04:27

It's true. They became a digital-first company. And digital-first sounds like a high school euphemism for seductively sucking on a finger.

Speaker 1

04:35

I put my finger in his mouth, we totally got to digital first. It was like, ew, but it was also like, hot. And That meant big changes. A local weekly, the Willamette Week, got their hands on a PowerPoint presentation for the Oregonian staff, outlining the fact reporters would be expected to meet a quota of 3 blog posts a day, and on any post of substance, they would have to post the first comment.

Speaker 1

05:01

And what better way to win the trust of your readers than posting, -"First!" underneath your own article. -$1,000,000. -$1,000,000. -$1,000,000.

Speaker 1

05:09

Those rules were widely criticized and have since been relaxed, but extra digital demands being placed on journalists is now common throughout the industry. Just listen to Washington Post editor, Marty Barron, who you might remember as the guy Liev Schreiber played in Spotlight. He describes his concerns about the average workload required of journalists.

Speaker 11

05:28

They have to do their traditional reporting, They have to participate in social reporting, they have to participate in social media, they have to produce a wire service that's available 24 hours a day, they have to be responsible for video, you name it. They're involved in it. It's a lot to ask.

Speaker 1

05:42

That's true. And if journalists are constantly required to write, edit, shoot videos, and tweet. Mistakes are going to get made.

Speaker 1

05:49

Perhaps that is how the Boston Globe wound up tweeting following a shooting in Tennessee that the FBI had investifarted about 70 leads. Clearly, If they had more time, they would have written, hashtag Investifarted, because that's how you drive the conversation. Hashtag Investifarted. Now, at the Oregonian, at the Oregonian, those digital demands came just as almost a quarter of the newsroom was laid off.

Speaker 1

06:19

And over time, even more staffers left the paper, including State House reporters, a two-time Pulitzer winner, and Harry Esteve. So his work bolstered our lottery piece, and now the lack of his work has bolstered this journalism piece. So, you can't say that we don't use every part of the Harry Esteve. -♪ ♪ -♪ But here is where it gets frightening, because while the Oregonian rebuilt its statehouse team, other papers have been forced to simply go without.

Speaker 1

06:46

A study of over 200 papers found that between 2003 and 2014, their number of full-time statehouse reporters declined by 35 percent. And that's not good. Because while there are some great web outlets, some of which do cover local government, There aren't nearly enough to replace what has been lost. Just listen to David Simon, who before creating the TV show The Wire, worked for years at the Baltimore Sun.

Speaker 4

07:11

The day I run into a Huffington Post reporter at a Baltimore zoning board hearing is the day that I will be confident that we've actually reached some sort of equilibrium. You know, there's no glory in that kind of journalism, but that is the bedrock of what keeps, you know, the next 10 or 15 years in this country are going to be a halcyon era for state and local political corruption. It is gonna be 1 of the great times to be a corrupt politician.

Speaker 4

07:34

--Well... --You know, I really envy them. I really do.

Speaker 1

07:38

He's right. Because not having reporters at government meetings is like a teacher leaving her room of seventh graders to supervise themselves. Best case scenario, Britney gets gum in her hair.

Speaker 1

07:50

Worst case scenario, you no longer have a school. -...and look, it is clearly smart for newspapers to expand online, but the danger in doing that is the temptation to gravitate toward whatever gets the most clicks. Which is why news organizations badly need to have leaders who appreciate that what's popular isn't always what's most important. But that is not always the case.

Speaker 1

08:13

Look at Sam Zell, a billionaire investor and living garden gnome. 9 years ago, he took over the Tribune Company, which owns newspapers like the LA Times, the Orlando Sentinel, and the Chicago Tribune. After acquiring the company, he spoke to the Sentinel's nervous staff outlining his vision. And listen to 1 particular exchange with a journalist.

Speaker 1

08:34

His last 2 words are perhaps the most illuminating.

Speaker 3

08:37

My attitude on journalism is very simple. I wanna make enough money so I can afford you. It's really that simple, okay?

Speaker 3

08:46

You need to, in effect, help me by being a journalist that focuses on what our readers want, and therefore generates more revenue.

Speaker 8

08:55

But what readers want are puppy dogs. I mean, we also need to inform the community.

Speaker 3

08:59

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I can't.

Speaker 3

09:04

You're giving me the classic, What I would call journalistic arrogance Deciding that puppies don't count hopefully we get to the point where our revenue is so significant that we can do puppies in Iraq. Okay? -$$TRANSMISSIONS $$TRANSMISSIONS $$TRANSMISSIONS

Speaker 12

09:22

And, $$% you. -$$TRANSMISSIONS

Speaker 1

09:24

$$TRANSMISSIONS $$TRANSMISSIONS Oh! Whoa, whoa! Sam Zell just created an inspiring new motto for the Sentinel's masthead.

Speaker 1

09:32

All the puppy news that's fit to print, and maybe some Iraq news too, if we can afford it. Fuck you. Now, the good news is, Zelle no longer owns the Tribune company. The bad news is, their latest attempt to balance business pressures with journalistic responsibility has not been confidence-inspiring.

Speaker 1

09:50

Just this year, its publishing arm, Tribute Publishing, was rebranded into something much, much stupider.

Speaker 13

09:57

This is the future of journalism. This is the future of content. It doesn't get much better than that.

Speaker 13

10:01

If you care about media and technology, this is the place to be.

Speaker 1

10:04

♪ ♪

Speaker 13

10:07

TRUNK stands for Tribune Online Content.

Speaker 1

10:10

Yes, TRUNK. They have chosen to call themselves TRUNK, which sounds like the noise an ejaculating elephant makes. Or, or more appropriately, the sound of a stack of print newspapers being thrown into a dumpster.

Speaker 1

10:26

And if you are wondering how Tronc's business model will be different, get ready to have your minds tronced.

Speaker 8

10:32

1 of the key ways we're going to harness the power of our journalism is to have a optimization group. This tronk team will work with all of the local markets to harness the power of our local journalism, feed it into a funnel, and then optimize it so that we reach the biggest global audience possible.

Speaker 1

10:50

-♪ ♪ -♪ What the f*** did she just say? They're going to feed journalism into a funnel? Oh, We're just gonna take content and simply cram it down your throat like you're an abused goose.

Speaker 1

11:05

And the corresponding visuals make even less sense. What is happening here? It looks like a bunch of digital sperm impregnating a trunk egg. But what seems at first like a banal corporate rebranding speech quickly goes off the rails with their next big idea.

Speaker 8

11:23

Artificial intelligence is going to allow journalists to do their jobs more efficiently. Finding the right photos, the videos, the databases, the things that you would package your stories with. Right now, that's a manual effort.

Speaker 8

11:35

With artificial intelligence, you can create a system that automatically is doing that for you.

Speaker 1

11:41

Okay, okay, okay. Putting aside the news robots, I would like to take a moment to break down what may be the most meaningless graphic ever created. If you take a look, on the left, there is the phrase, reading habits.

Speaker 1

11:54

But once those reading habits undergo X, they become increased consumption. It almost feels like a test, and the first employee to raise their hand and say, that doesn't mean anything, becomes king of the news. And look, it is easy to make fun of Tronc. I could happily do it for another 20 minutes.

Speaker 1

12:15

But the truth is, publishers are desperate. No 1 seems to have a perfect plan to keep newspapers afloat. 1 option seems to be to pray you get bought by a billionaire benefactor who could afford to swallow losses. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, and since then, they've done some spectacular journalism, and the reporters seem pretty happy, despite some of his stupider ideas, like, and this is true, a game that would allow a reader who didn't enjoy an article to pay to remove its vowels.

Speaker 1

12:45

-...which is just absurd. -...which is just absurd. Taking out all the vowels makes every word sound like the name of an app. I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1

12:55

Turkey is a nation in crisis. Turk is a dating service that helps you fuck long-haul truckers. But there are potential downsides to having a rich owner, especially if there is a concern that they could meddle with the paper's coverage. Just look at what happened to the Las Vegas Review-Journal last year.

Speaker 1

13:15

It was acquired by Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate and Republican mega-donor. He's a big deal in Vegas, and his businesses are at the center of a lot of stories the Review Journal covers. But while Adelson and the paper's editors have strongly denied that he interferes with news coverage in any way. The editors have admitted that they put any articles about him or his business through a special review process to make sure that they are fair.

Speaker 1

13:41

Although, listen to an ex-deputy editor describe his experience of that process.

Speaker 7

13:47

In this review process, things are changed, things are added, things are removed. There's no explanation for why and there's no appeal. More than once, reporters have asked if they could have their name taken off the story and have been told, no, that's not allowed anymore.

Speaker 7

14:02

There are things that are done because it's known that this is the way Sheldon Adelson wants it to read. And it can be something very minor, or it can be something very, very big.

Speaker 1

14:12

Now, if that's true, that is very compromising. There could not be a worse owner of a paper in Vegas than Sheldon Adelson, with the possible exception of Cirque du Soleil. Because they wouldn't even give you a newspaper, you just have a fistful of glitter thrown in your face by a 90-pound man in a thong.

Speaker 1

14:31

And look, look, none of this is to say that there aren't people producing great work in local newsrooms right now. Many are, at the Oregonian, at the Review Journal, even at fucking Tronc. But, they are doing it despite their current conditions. And the truth is, a big part of the blame for this industry's dire straits is on us, and our unwillingness to pay for the work journalists produce.

Speaker 1

14:53

We've just grown accustomed to getting our news for free. And the longer that we get something for free, the less willing we are to pay for it. And I'm talking to you, the person watching this segment on YouTube, using the Wi-Fi from the coffee shop underneath your apartment. You're killing us!

Speaker 1

15:10

But sooner or later, sooner or later, we are either going to have to pay for journalism, or we are all going to pay for it. Because if we don't, not only will malfeasance run amok, but the journalism movies of the future are going to look a lot more like this.

Speaker 12

15:28

In a city built on secrets... I'm hearing there's corruption in City Hall. Only a newsroom willing to stop at nothing can uncover the truth.

Speaker 12

15:36

And it might go all the way to the top. All the way to the top? They knew. And I think we can prove that they knew.

Speaker 5

15:46

Yeah, I'm just not sure what kind of clicks we're going to get on that. Anybody else?

Speaker 14

15:51

I've got a thing about a cat that looks like a raccoon. Or it could be a raccoon that looks like a cat. Wait, I'm not sure.

Speaker 5

15:56

Now we're talking. Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5

16:00

That's great. Let's figure that out. Okay, great. Maybe an online poll.

Speaker 12

16:01

It's political corruption in Boston.

Speaker 5

16:02

We'll come back to that if we have time, but...

Speaker 12

16:04

I like the rat cat. The rat cat. That's great.

Speaker 12

16:07

Rat.

Speaker 5

16:07

Let's blow the roof off that.

Speaker 12

16:09

It's the movie critics are hailing as genuinely deflating and depressingly accurate. The Oregonian Raves. Ugh, who needs a drink?

Speaker 12

16:19

4 reporters. Actually, I'm taking a buyout. 3 reporters.

Speaker 15

16:25

Technically, I'm not a reporter. I'm the director of social media strategies, but I consider myself an important part of the editorial.

Speaker 12

16:32

2 reporters.

Speaker 5

16:33

I'm also leaving. I'm being replaced by whatever the f*** this is.

Speaker 1

16:38

-♪♪

Speaker 12

16:40

1 reporter and some kind of burnt orange ex chase the story of a lifetime. How far does this thing go? I can't tell you.

Speaker 12

16:48

Are we talking all

Speaker 1

16:49

the way up to the mayor's office?

Speaker 2

16:50

I've got kids, man. I've already said

Speaker 1

16:52

too much. Hello. Hey, comment,

Speaker 5

16:54

comment, comment, comment. Hey, sorry to interrupt.

Speaker 1

16:56

Hi, how

Speaker 5

16:56

you doing? Buddy, I got to talk to you about your Twitter. It's like a ghost town in here.

Speaker 5

17:00

What's going on, man? We talked about this. 8 tweets a day.

Speaker 1

17:02

Look, I'm in the middle of...

Speaker 5

17:04

T-Bone, how many tweets? 8. That's right, okay?

Speaker 5

17:08

And we're not counting retweets.

Speaker 12

17:09

He wasn't just up against the most powerful voices at City Hall. I need answers! And you're the only 1 who can give them to me.

Speaker 12

17:15

He was up against the most powerful voices at his newspaper's parent company. We gotta show people that no 1 can get away with this. We gotta nail these scumbags. Let me stop you right there.

Speaker 12

17:25

Hopefully we can get to the point where we can do Raccoon Cats and City Hall. But we're not

Speaker 1

17:32

there. So, f*** you.

Speaker 12

17:35

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raves, actually, we had to get rid of our full-time movie reviewer 9 years ago, so we haven't seen it yet. And the Las Vegas Review-Journal says, for fun and excitement, look no further than Sheldon Adelson's casinos and resorts. I don't care about you people.

Speaker 12

17:53

I still believe in newspapers.

Speaker 5

17:54

I hear you, but technically, you don't work for a newspaper anymore. You work at a multi-platform content generation distribution network now.

Speaker 3

18:01

The Rack Cat. Is it adorable or scary?

Speaker 14

18:04

You know what? It's, like, it's cute.

Speaker 5

18:05

Could it be scary, though?

Speaker 14

18:06

We could make it scary.

Speaker 5

18:08

Get some likes, get some clicks, get some retweets, get some forwards.

Speaker 12

18:11

I'm talking about corruption in City Hall.

Speaker 5

18:13

No, we're gonna get back to you.

Speaker 12

18:14

The Archdiocese.

Speaker 5

18:15

I gotta keep it moving. I gotta keep it moving. We just need a story we can funnel.

Speaker 5

18:19

Okay, bud? You know. Yeah, there you go. Like a little piggy's tail.

Speaker 12

18:24

Funnel vision!

Speaker 5

18:25

Exactly. Think of like a witch's hat. Upside down, though. I work for the Chronicle.

Speaker 5

18:30

Actually, we rebranded. Yeah. You work for Chorp. Yeah.

Speaker 5

18:35

Chorp. What the

Speaker 1

18:36

f*** is Chorp?

Speaker 5

18:38

Hey, there you go. That's a good idea for a story.

Speaker 12

18:40

Stoplight. He tried to break the story. He was told to pump the brakes.

Speaker 5

18:45

Oh, hey, Tommy. Hey, got great news for you. I'm gonna take you off that whole, city hall thing.

Speaker 5

18:50

Have you worked the raccoon cat beat with Chloe here?

Speaker 8

18:53

Cat raccoon.

Speaker 5

18:54

What'd I say?

Speaker 8

18:54

Raccoon cat.

Speaker 5

18:55

Anyway, I really want you to dig on this thing, okay? You know, dig like a, raccoon cat. Yeah.

Speaker 5

19:00

There you go.

Speaker 3

19:01

Ah, Chorp! Mmm. Mmm.

Speaker 3

19:04

I need to get a gun.

Speaker 12

19:07

Stoplight. Coming soon to a mid-sized American city newspaper near you.

Speaker 1

19:15

You You