The Chris Mathews Show (you can download/view the show at the link) today lamented the failure of newspapers, citing this week's shift to on-line only for the Seattle Post Intelligencer (check my earlier blog on this company for more details.)  Mr. Mathews even went so far as to demonstrate how he, as a boy, folded newspapers to throw them on stoops when growing up in Philadelphia.  The show made a valiant, if completely unsuccessful, effort to Defend the newspaper business.  Maybe because he feels the not breath of on-line competitors himself!

As 2 print journalists and 2 television journalists discussed what was happening with news, the group was notably absent an advocate for on-line news.  While they discussed the change in behavior of young news readers, all of the panelists were (like me) well over 40.  They talked about how they used a newspaper, but they had no one there to discuss how other news seekers use networking sites or blogs.  There was no blogger on the panel, nor a representative of any notable on-line news sites like Marketwatch.com or HuffingtonPost.com, nor a representative of Google or Yahoo! or any other organization leading the development of on-line content sites.

Mr. Mathews and his guests reminded me of an executive group in a company talking about a new competitor on the scene.  All of them love the existing product, and have processes closely linked to using the current product (they like to get up and read a morning newspaper – but then, they don't have to fulfill an 8:00 to 6:00 job with high productivity requirements).  They talked about "the good old days" when print journalists were the kings.  They discussed how print news used to break stories like the Watergate cover-up (which was 35 years ago).  They guessed at how newspapers might continue to survive, such as by consolidating through mergers and acquisitions, which would allow fewer to survive, but probably thrive – at least that was their hope.  And they confirmed to themselves that if newspapers disappeared it had to be a bad thing – and even threatening to democracy!!  Overall, it was a segment fully dedicated to Defending newspapers, without even the hint of someone who could explain the alternative as a product or a better business model!

By talking to themselves, and their customers, these folks showed their woeful ignorance on the state of on-line news.  Mr. Mathews definitely needs to get more in touch with his (and newspapers') competition.  His panel talked as if those who write about events on-line today don't have or take the time to research their topics — showing his ignorance about how important topics like the delays in producing the Boeing 787 jetliner were ferreted out by bloggers – not traditional media!  And he said that without newspapers you lose "peripheral vision" about the news.  Which ignoredthe role of news consolidation sites and, again, bloggers, and social networks at bringing forward interesting things happening around us to groups with similar interests — things often missed by traditional newspapers with their locked-in reporting methods.

If Mr. Mathews wants to do the topic of failing newspapers justice he should bring on his show people that work in non-traditional news.  Bloggers and on-line site editors.  His competition.  Instead of dismissing them as somehow unqualified (because they aren't like him), he better pay attention to what they do, how they do it, and why they are often able to do his job better than him!  Instead of focusing on his "base" he had better start obsessing about competition. 

And he better start opening some White Space to keep himself and his show relevant – like opening a Twitter account, and creating a web site that's interactive with those in and reading the news (rather than his current vanity site) and blogging himself.  Because if he keeps Defending his current show and position, and the newspapers that are finding themselves too slow and out-of-date in today's market, he's likely to find his show struggling for advertisers faster than he realizes!  His show can fall to the perils of Defend & Extend Management just like any product that pays too little attention to competition and doesn't deploy White Space to evolve its Success Formula.