The Journal Register Company declared its own Independence Day Sunday, freeing itself fromo proprietary publishing tools and distributing content with freely available tools.
(Let me declare the conflict up front: the Journal Register CEO, John Paton, is joining the board of our newly reconfigured company, now to be known as the Postmedia Network Inc. But before he joined forces with Paul Godfrey to assemble the bid to take over our newspaper chain, he was generating the Ben Franklin Project for his newsrooms.)
The challenge was simple: Use what's out there to publish, in the process shedding enormous financial obligations to processes that don't add value but add cost. It wasn't a matter of thinking outside the box but in not acknowledging a box existed.
Newsrooms in the 18-paper Journal Register group found some very innovative ways to reach the audience, and while no one can necessarily say those tools offer the sustainable practice, Paton is saying that innovation itself is the sustainable practice --- what guarantees the company's future.
(Let me declare the conflict up front: the Journal Register CEO, John Paton, is joining the board of our newly reconfigured company, now to be known as the Postmedia Network Inc. But before he joined forces with Paul Godfrey to assemble the bid to take over our newspaper chain, he was generating the Ben Franklin Project for his newsrooms.)
The challenge was simple: Use what's out there to publish, in the process shedding enormous financial obligations to processes that don't add value but add cost. It wasn't a matter of thinking outside the box but in not acknowledging a box existed.
Newsrooms in the 18-paper Journal Register group found some very innovative ways to reach the audience, and while no one can necessarily say those tools offer the sustainable practice, Paton is saying that innovation itself is the sustainable practice --- what guarantees the company's future.
