Amid a Crisis, A Sense of Mission Rises

I’ve long been a devoted reader of daily newspapers in the printed form. My days start with four: The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Herald and The New York Times.

                  My deliveryman reliably put all four papers on my front porch every day by 5:00am. For that courtesy, I regularly and gratefully tipped him. He worked for a company that had, over the years, taken on the task of delivering not just those four papers but also Investor’s Business Daily and Barron’s.

                  That routine fell apart late last month when the Globe changed carriers. Beginning the Monday after Christmas, a new delivery person tossed the Globe onto the end of my icy driveway sometime after 8:00am. A second delivery person did likewise with the other three papers a little later. The schedule was spotty in the succeeding days. Sometimes, I would get no papers at all, and some days I would just get them late. But my comfortable routine has vanished.

                  Meanwhile, across the Globe’s primary circulation area of Greater Boston, people howled, some complaining they had not received their newspapers at all in the past week.

                  Yesterday, I started a discussion thread about the subject on my hometown’s Facebook affinity page, which quickly stirred up a hornet’s nest. Most contributors aired their own complaints about late papers or non-deliveries of both the Globe and the other papers. Clearly, the Globe has a problem on its hands, a problem of its own making.

                  One wonders whether the Globe’s operations managers know the old maxim, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Now they face the monumental task of fixing what they broke. If they don’t, this problem could fester into a death spiral. I’m not being hyperbolic.

                  Let’s remember – as if anyone needs reminding – how the Internet’s alternative news sources and social media stole readers, and the proliferation of sites like Craig’s List pilfered newspapers’ classified advertising revenue sources.

                  Both led to a significant downsizing of the newspaper industry. Dozens of daily papers folded or consolidated with cross-town rivals in the past decade or so. Hundreds of talented reporters and editors have been laid off and forced to change careers.

                  So why would one of those papers, already struggling financially, make matters worse for itself and risk alienating paying subscribers?

                  Yes, it’s after the fact, but in the realm of communication, the Globe blew it. I learned about the impending change through a note from my carrier in early December indicating that he may no longer be delivering my papers after Christmas due to a coming change of carriers.

                  There was no communication from the Globe whatsoever about the impending change, that there might be some disruption of service, that things would be changing. And shame on them for that.

                  On balance, they might have minimized the damage they’ve done to themselves and their institution with more communication – plus, owning up to their gross misjudgment and poor planning, which to date is still lacking.

Now, the positive…

Though I am unfamiliar with the internal culture of the Boston Globe, nevertheless there is clearly a cohesiveness and sense of mission prevalent within the organization. In that regard, I am impressed in two ways.

                  The editorial team did not shrink from or bury the obvious lead story about this fiasco. Its edition yesterday ran a front-page story detailing the poor decisions and the fallout. (Today’s edition includes readers’ stinging letters to the editor, an op-ed column and a follow-up news story.) That same front page yesterday also ran an opinion piece by one of the paper’s columnists who wrote about his experience delivering papers.

                  As it happened, people from across the organization, including reporters, columnists and editors, pitched in and filled the gaps, getting up in the wee hours of Sunday morning to help hand-deliver the fat Sunday edition to the homes of hundreds of subscribers.

                  It hasn’t ended there. One of the active contributors to my Facebook thread is a reporter who lives in my town. She has offered to hand deliver the Globe to any neighbor who didn’t get it, while providing her own insights into the problem and what the paper is doing to alleviate it. It speaks well of the culture that has been cultivated within the newspaper that people who already have full-time jobs there pitched in like that.

                  Early in my career, I was a newspaper reporter in suburban Connecticut. I remember the camaraderie and sense of mission that permeated the newspaper staff. So I suspect this also exists at the Globe. At the same time, they know how to keep their eye on the ball.

                  As Globe columnist Joan Vennochi soberly wrote this morning, “Journalists know how to tell a ‘warm and wonderful,’ like the story of a newspaper family pulling together in time of crisis. But [subscriber] McClure said he cares little about that tale. He just wants his newspaper on a consistent basis.”

                  Just the facts, ma’am. Check.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the film “Spotlight” yet, do. In addition to getting some insights into the Boston Globe news operation, you’ll also see this sense of mission driving its Spotlight team in digging up one of the most important news stories of our time.