The New York Times “NYT” is a US-based global media organization that includes newspapers, digital content companies, radio stations, and other investments. Established continuously since September 1851, this public institution had revenues of $2.9 billion in 2008, and it had 9,346 full-time employees. The NYT’s significant businesses include The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The International Herald-Tribune, About.com, and several non-print media businesses. In addition, New York operates several websites and sports networks in New England (NYT Annual Report, 2008). The NYT invests in providing quality journalism, supports delivering quality journalism, and aims to become the world’s leading news source. Therefore this proposal on how the company can address its challenges to compete favorably like other well-established media houses like the BBC.
The Challenge The New York Need To Address
Based on existing literature, New York media is experiencing some of the biggest challenges facing the media industry. For example, public expectations of the media industry have changed dramatically with the influx of technology. Advances in this technology have increased access to living and on-demand reports. Audiences are now consuming media and news across all devices and platforms, not just TV. It also consumes various forms of media. New York, the New York Times published a self-research report in 2014 detailing organizational weaknesses in the digital marketplace. The report revealed that organizations’ digital subscribers lag behind competitors like The Washington Post and Buzzfeed. The rate declined from 74,000 in 2013 to 22,000 in 2013″ (Thompson et al., 2020). The number of digital subscriptions was an existential threat to organizations whose other revenue streams—digital advertising and print subscriptions—were also declining.
As a result, the challenges of mass media are unavoidable. The media is in charge of creating a wide range of materials. Media content must be carefully designed to be processed differently depending on the device the customer is seeing it on. Content that works well on one platform, like long-form television or Netflix, may not work well on another, like mobile or social, where users want more snackable content. It is vital to becoming mobile and socially friendly to remain competitive and keep an audience.
According to the news media, the public today anticipates continual coverage and real-time news updates. Therefore, media outlets must offer round-the-clock coverage and maintain a staff of experts at the news desk. Viewers want flawless on-demand access to videos, programs, and movies across all of their devices when it comes to post-production for more entertainment-focused material. Because of this, the media must make sure that viewers can easily and quickly obtain essential news and analysis about the globe, as well as the best entertainment material, posing various difficulties for media professionals.
Another challenge for The New York Times is fierce competition from established international news media. Media providers and news organizations need to act quickly and offer a simple user experience to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Regarding news, viewers want up-to-the-minute coverage and switch media as soon as reports arrive. When it comes to entertainment, you need an easy-to-navigate interface with rich content selection on demand. Netflix leads the game due to its ease of use combined with its content library. To stay relevant, the company must continue innovating and personalizing its services to its audience. It is also mandated to comply with necessary guidelines, such as the FCC, to ensure content is accessible to all viewers.
Another problem that affects The New York Times media is trust and loyalty. The proliferation of false news and fake media is generating headlines, and media businesses need to work on establishing trust with their audience. A reporter’s career can be ended, and the credibility of the entire network is damaged by inaccurately reporting a fact or distorting what is being stated. Networks must exercise extra caution and take all necessary steps to gain and keep the public’s trust when politics are more polarized than ever. This division has also attracted a devoted following, with viewers on the extreme right and left remaining devoted to the news outlets and programming that impact their values and political convictions. Fox News, CNN, and NBC. Viewers pick and stick with their favorite networks based on their coverage. Acquiring new audiences or moving someone from one network to another has never been more challenging.
With so many news outlets, the same subject is frequently presented from various strategic perspectives. Others contend that the news is skewed in order to further the goal of the broadcaster or its reporters. This is the polar opposite of how news should be delivered. When views are portrayed as facts, their veracity is called into doubt, and the media has the potential to erode public confidence. So, how can media professionals and networks sustain audience trust while still engaging current and attracting new audiences? The New York Times needs to improve its social platform’s ability to earn the trust of all stakeholders, strengthen security protections, enforce compliance standards, and manage support requests to deliver a positive user experience. It is necessary to understand that there is. Therefore, artificial intelligence can be leveraged to provide a great way to reduce workflow and moderation complexity. This necessitates the development of algorithms capable of detecting problematic information in near real-time based on specified rules. AI may not be ready to tackle complicated jobs with contextual decision-making, but it remains the finest technology alternative accessible to today’s media companies.
The Proposed Strategy for the New York Times
The New York Times needs to find ways to address some of its challenges. Some of the suggestions include the following:
Advancing Technology
Due to the number considered subscribers of the company compared to other media, the company needs to consider how to make the digital subscription approach work to gain subscribers. This indicates that The New York Times lacked a clear innovation strategy to lead its digital transformation. Pisano (2015) suggested that organizations such as Yahoo and others have found innovation complex because of a lack of innovative solutions. Therefore, Mark Thompson developed an innovative strategy of better-written and reported news stories that could make interested readers pay for them. The New York Times emphasizes expert and authoritative reporting by journalists.
In addition, the organization introduced sections on daily lifestyle, real estate, food, culture, and entertainment that traditionally were not news journalism. These innovations in content saw digital subscriptions grow from 1.8 million to 8.3 million in 2021 (Thompson et al., 2020; The New York Times website). The company may adopt the use of artificial intelligence as well as machine learning, like on Facebook and other social media. Using machine learning, Facebook has been modifying its material to conform to specific users’ expectations. The management of material dramatically benefits from machine learning and AI algorithms. AI-based solutions can address inappropriate material, and there have been significant advancements in this area to address content moderation and monitoring. New York Times must modify its posting filters and train computers to identify and eliminate inappropriate information. The main applications of artificial intelligence in media include video, games, audio, and graphics(Krumsvik, 2012).
The workforce and leadership
The New York Times must recruit and hire the most exemplary newsroom staff and journalists to actualize the digital subscription model. Human resources are essential to digital transformation organizations. In this respect, The New York Times has hired a healthy mix of journalists, editors, and editors. The New York Times’ ability to attract the best talent is essential to the organization’s strategy. However, The New York Times 2021 in their annual report indicates high demand for the best talents, especially journalists and other talents working in digital product development, especially by the competitors with more significant resources to offer better compensation packages than The New York Times (The New York Times, 2022). Therefore, the organization needs a strategy to attract the right mix of staff to achieve its long-term goal of getting a more paying audience to subscribe to its services (The New York Times, 2017). Though the organization has improved its training efforts over the years, more changes are needed to enable journalists to work with different digital platforms(Pandey & Pal, 2020).
The New York Times needed a significant leadership change to transform its business model. According to Thompson et al. (2020), the move to digital subscriptions requires organizational responsiveness and flexibility. It requires open-minded leaders who can create a shared vision. The CEO’s job is not to impose a shared vision but to guide employees in realizing that shared vision. According to The New York Times, the organization’s triumphant entry into digital journalism largely depended on the unique vision of various department heads. All division members enthusiastically share and support these visions (The New York Times, 2017). This suggests that managers working for The New York Times should develop their divisional vision shared by everyone within the division. Transformation requires changing process leadership to have a vision for the future and convince employees and other stakeholders that change is good. The New York Times should consider transformative leaders who can create a shared vision and inspire and motivate others to embrace the company’s vision. (Engelberg, & Parsons, 2011).
The New York Times will need to hire professionals such as visual journalists, graphic editors, and reporters to shape the content and format of its reporting as the organization moves into a multimedia role (New York Times, 2017). Hiring more workers makes the workplace fairer and more inclusive (Pandey & Pal, 2020). According to Meredith Kopit Levin, CEO of The New York Times, focusing on recruiting and hiring diversity to hire more women, young journalists, and people of color will benefit readers and international audiences. In particular, The New York Times strives to ensure that journalists covering the news reflect the organization’s audience. Therefore, as a manager in any department, B. Design and product development are essential to prioritizing diversity during recruitment campaigns (The New York Times, 2017). This should extend to freelance journalists in news and opinion sections such as commentary, book reviews, style, and travel articles (The New York Times, 2017).
Motivation
Additionally, The New York Times’ drive to transform its business model should motivate its executives and others to adopt a digital subscription model. As mentioned, digitizing news requires teams to acquire new skills and abilities (The New York Times, 2017). Digital transformation usually requires, among other things, employee training and learning. Therefore, New York Times executives must motivate employees to learn and embrace proposed changes in the workplace. Leaders should explain why change is essential to them as an organization and as individuals to encourage employees to implement changes in their work environment. This is what the current literature considers essential to the success of any digital transformation process. The New York Times executives can use strategies to engage employees, including funding workshops, seminars, and training to encourage an “attitude change” among all employees toward the digital subscription business model (Pandey & Pal, 2020).
Marketing
The New York Times should embrace vigorous marketing to safeguard its brand and reputation as a media house known for projecting quality content and independent journalism. As previously mentioned, the New York Times brand is vital to growing digital-only subscribers(Engelberg & Parsons, 2011). Therefore, besides promoting different subscription options to customers, The New York Times needs to promote itself as a company whose business is built upon quality content and independent journalism. This will be essential to the organization’s current strategy of growing digital subscriptions. According to The New York Times 2021 annual report, the company’s brand image could be damaged by negative publicity or the perception that the media company’s journalism is unreliable (The New York Times, 2022). The New York Times management should continue promoting the core values of quality content and independent and reliable journalism.
In conclusion, the New York Times must maintain its relevance by innovating and tailoring its services to its readership. For instance, the organization must have a defined social media and marketing plan. To guarantee that material is available to all viewers, it must also comply with essential regulations, such as those set forth by the FCC. They must also pay attention to staff and leadership. Typically, an organization’s executives and workers must accomplish its objectives to succeed. A business has to hire top-notch staff members and managers who can inspire workers to be more productive. The New York Times must also advertise and publicize its initiatives to safeguard its name and reputation from situations that can erode consumer trust in its news and content.
References
Engelberg, J. E., & Parsons, C. A. (2011). The causal impact of media in financial markets. the Journal of Finance, 66(1), 67-97.
Krumsvik, A. H. (2012). Impact of VAT on portfolio strategies of media houses. Journal of Media Business Studies, 9(2), 115-128.
Pandey, N., & Pal, A. (2020). Impact of digital surge during Covid-19 pandemic: A viewpoint on research and practice. International journal of information management, 55, 102171.
Thompson, C. N., Baumgartner, J., Pichardo, C., Toro, B., Li, L., Arciuolo, R., … & Fine, A. (2020). COVID-19 Outbreak—New York City, February 29–June 1, 2020. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 69(46), 1725.
Wang, J. Research on the Communication Strategy of Sino-US Trade War from the Perspective of Framing Theory——Take People’s Daily and The New York Times as Examples.
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