After my piece on the perpetually stagnant state of the freelance writing rate appeared in the first issue, a fellow scribe asked whether I had ever heard the saying ‘burning your bridges.’ I rather doubt whether my second piece on the lack of management skills within the printed media went down much better. So I have resigned myself to the fact that, before too long, there will be bridges burning all around me.
Not that I particularly care.
It’s high time somebody told a few home truths. And who better than an unsalaried maverick who doesn’t have to worry about losing a job he never had in the first place?
Business is always claiming that it welcomes new and disruptive ideas, but when you come up with a few you realize that the last thing most businesses want is someone upsetting the equilibrium. The odd thing is that I don’t just write this stuff for dramatic effect. I really do believe that a culture of excellence and incentivisation could work in the newspaper and magazine world. However, I am realistic enough to realize that anything that might jeopardize the director’s access to a large share of the annual profits would be unlikely to meet with universal acceptance.
In the first issue of this magazine, various media luminaries were asked about their reading, viewing and listening habits. Clare O’Donaghue, the editor of Femina, replied, “I skim (there’s really nothing to read in it) the Sunday Times”. This may come as something of a shock to the many people who work hard to bring out South Africa’s largest circulation newspaper. At the latest count there were two main sections, three business sections, a magazine, the Lifestyle section, the Metro section and possibly a copy of Sport or Travel magazine (if you happen to be a subscriber). Out of all this bulk is there really nothing to read? Do we poor columnists slave away each week trying to think of an original angle on a well-worn theme only to have our work shredded and put at the bottom of the cat’s basket? It would be easy to dismiss Clare’s comments as preposterous were it not for the fact that she is repeating what many people are saying, including those who buy the Sunday Times. Because there is no real challenger in the Sunday paper market.
I am frequently told by readers of my ‘Out to Lunch’ column that they only buy the Sunday Times to read Bullard, Mulholland, Gwen Gill and Ronge.
I suppose, as one of the handful of star columnists, I should be flattered. But I am strangely embarrassed when I hear this because I believe there is plenty to read in the Sunday Times. The problem is that it has now become fashionable to say that there is nothing really worth reading in the paper. I know sensible people who refuse to buy a Sunday newspaper for that reason. The danger of this sort of talk, though, is that it can create a quite unjustified negative brand image.
The more people say there is nothing to read in the Sunday Times, the more people will buy into the idea. The obvious solution would be to embark immediately on an advertising campaign confronting this popular misconception in a humourous way. Another good idea would be to ‘promote’ some of the superb writers on the newspaper in the same way as radio stations ‘promote’ their star presenters. Put their names and faces on billboards and busses, for example, and brag about their talents.
The lesson? Change the consumer’s perception of the product before the consumer’s perception leads to a fall in circulation.