Greg Osberg discusses his plans for philly.com.
Journalism students and faculty members in the School of Communications and Theater are constantly trying to peer into the future of their trade to determine how to best prepare for what lies ahead.
They’re in good company. Greg Osberg, the new publisher and CEO of Philadelphia Media Network, which consists of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com, is doing the same thing.
Osberg was welcomed to Temple University Nov. 2 by the Philadelphia Initiative for Journalistic Innovation (PhIJI), a program sponsored by the Journalism Department.
On his official first day on the job Oct. 11 (he was hired by the ownership group approximately a year prior to that), Osberg was greeted with several staggering figures. In recent years, the company has lost 25 percent of its circulation, 50 percent of its advertising revenue and 90 percent of its profitability.
“I knew on day one that we had some big challenges,” he said.
Osberg has set the bar high for improvement. His goal is to evolve Philadelphia Media Network into “the most successful regional media company in the United States.”
What makes his objective even more challenging is that there is no proven business model to follow – it has to be created from scratch.
Osberg has already made some significant changes. He no longer wants philly.com to be viewed as a separate entity from the print products. The philly.com staff has moved back into the company’s main office and advertising representatives have been charged with selling ads across both platforms. In the newsroom, reporters are being encouraged to think about reporting for both the web and the newspaper. Osberg said he plans on providing reporters the tools to write and submit their stories from the field.
In January, the company will begin an “incubator” program in which they will house a start-up media company (rent-free) whose product can benefit the website.
“I want us to find the next Foursquare and house them at philly.com,” he said.
Greg Osberg speaks one-on-one with a student following his presentation.
Osberg also wants to establish content-sharing relationships with other media companies across the region to increase its suburban coverage and forge strong ties with the region’s business and academic communities.
It is the students’ generation, Osberg said, that has sparked the need to overhaul the media industry. But it’s also this next generation of journalists who will help get the industry back on its feet. In the future, the company’s reporters will focus on long-form investigative journalism and bringing the local angle on national stories to their readers.
“We don’t know the new editorial mission [of the newspapers] yet, but I can guarantee you that it is going to be different than today,” Osberg said.
Osberg started his career at Chilton Publishing Co. and then moved on to a trade publication before assuming leadership positions at Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report and Buzzwire. He advised students to take any position in the industry they’re offered. “Don’t get discouraged with the brand that you start in. Just get your foot in the door.”
He also encouraged the students to continuously broaden their skill sets: “I wouldn’t advise being a specialist in today’s world.” For under Osberg’s plan, reporters with diverse skills will be the ones who find the most success.