Customer Reviews

Strategic Newspaper Management

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is fairly solid overall, although it is now out of date in many parts and there are a few bloopers (such as the defunct Miami News being referred to as the very much ongoing Miami Herald on p. 57).

This book's major problem, and it is gigantic, is that almost all of the examples used in the book are from the largest 100 daily newspapers in the United States (and that's being generous, the top 50 would probably cover it). Such major metro daily newspapers account for only about 8% of the U.S. daily newspaper industry, and less than 1% of the entire U.S. newspaper industry. The author may think he has somehow covered the entire general circulation newspaper industry by including Chapter 14, called "The 'New' Weekly Newspaper," but it also is not about the 92% of daily newspapers that are not major metro dailies. And Ch. 14 is strange on its own: it purports to take an individual journalist who wants to own his/her own newspaper through the process of buying a weekly newspaper for $4.5 million. First, almost no weekly newspapers on the market cost that much, certainly not in 1996 when this book was published. Second, almost no individuals or couples looking to buy their own weekly newspapers can afford to buy one that costs $4.5 million. Third, Fink uses a multiple of discounted gross sales as the basis for the purchase price, even though the newspaper industry had largely switched to multiples of cash flow before over several years before this book was published.

As another reviewer has pointed out, this book definitely is intended more for the journalism student than for the newspaper manager already in the industry. So, again, why does Fink focus on major metro dailies and $4.5 million acquisitions? The average journalism school graduate gets his/her first job or two, and first management position or two, at weekly newspapers or small-to-medium-sized dailies, and is a long way from a $4.5 million business venture.

At least two of the three people who have reviewed this book previously would like you to believe they have actually purchased and read this book. `Strategic Newspaper Management' is not what its title and price suggest -- a solid, in-depth guide to the business of newspaper management. What it is an overpriced, superficial textbook aimed at freshmen wondering if they should ``go into'' journalism and what jobs they might fill at a newspaper (reporter? ad salesperson? maybe, someday, a circulation manager?)Take it from an experienced newspaper manager, this book is not going to help you navigate the thorny economic, political and ethical issues facing newspapers today. It's not going to entertain you, either.

I would like to echo the comments by "reader from Atlanta," although I am deducting a point for a lack of illustrations and color. The book goes beyond the standard facts and instruction of a quality text book and spins a complex and emotional yarn which takes the reader on an eventful journey. With newspaper strategy as its backdrop, the book becomes a picaresque jaunt not unlike the work of Daniel Dafoe (Moll Flanders, especially). Whether it is the sleaze of a Rupert Murdoch or the sensible grayness of the New York Times, the cast of colorful participants never fails to entertain and enlighten. One of the the book's many key battle scenes, the depiction of the sordid affair in Gwinnett county between media juggernauts the New York Times, Co. and Cox Newspaper's Atlanta-Journal Constitution recalls both Braveheart and The Civil War. In this quest for the demographically attractive Gwinnett County readers, Fink provides vivid details into why this is much more than just a fight for market share. It is a metaphor for life itself. Keep in mind that Fink does not let his creative pen overshadow practical knowledge for the potential media professional. Ch. 12 - Press Law and You - is a tour de force on how legal concerns are closely tied to the daily practices of all print media ventures. It is this dichotomy - wild, literary brilliance and down and dirty pragmatism - which makes Strategic Newspaper Management required reading.

Hey pal: You'll never get a better insight into the comings and goings of the newspaper business than you will from this book. Based on real life examples, the author, a former VP for the AP, details how the industry works and why it works. As one example on competition, the author turns to the bloody battle waged between the New York Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, explaining how and why -- yankees be damned -- the AJC came out on top. Definitely worth the time of anyone -- student, teacher or professional -- who wants to know more about newspaper management.

Gosh, this was the most remarkable pageturner I ever read. Fink's way with words continues to astound me to this day, long after I've read a number of his bestsellers. At the end (and I won't reveal the surprise, lest others have yet to read it), your eyes will be filled with tears and your mind so filled with disbelief that you'll start reading it all over again. This book changed my life.