#aop3c: Replace editor-in-chiefs with 'content directors', says Mecom CEO

Mecom CEO David Montgomery two years ago questioned the necessity of sub-editors and has now done the same for editor-in-chiefs.

Newspapers would be better served by 'content directors', the outspoken newspaper executive said at the AOP Publishing Summit 2009, in newsrooms where editorial content is better fused with the commercial side of the business.

Offices 'the size of football pitches' are not necessary for an online era without typewriters and editorial staff need to know their commercial teams.

Big changes are being implemented in his Norwegian newsrooms, he said: "This has very serious implications for newspapers - but it challenges work practices of journalists and sales people as well."

"The rules are going to change; the businesses have to change."

While he said there was enthusiasm for change at a grassroots level in his Norwegian newspapers, he also hoped journalists 'are terrified' of the challenges ahead.

Different roles focused on content will 'give journalists responsibility to make much better content' and allow 'a dialogue of participation with their readers', he said.

"We no longer have a one-way street; it's a two-way street where the audience want to talk back to us," Montgomery said. 

"We're on the cusp of breaking through and developing content that will help replace some of the lost revenues from subscription.

"In the future sales people will have to be as wide-ranging across platforms as journalists."

But, the former Mirror Group CEO said: "We're not [yet] in a position to go out and herald a new lease of life for newspapers."

Paid-for content
"The talk, of course, in our industry is charging for content. What is more likely to work is charging for tailored segments of content," Montgomery said, citing lifestyle and business as key areas.

Of Rupert Murdoch's paid-for content plans, Montgomery said 'he's usually right'.

"It takes him a little time, but he'll try many things and I suggest we follow his example," he added.

Mecom, the pan-European newspaper group Montgomery founded in 2000, recently reported a 75 per cent fall in operating profits in the first six months of 2009 and set a cost savings target for €100m for the year ahead. In January it sold its German titles and in February sold some of its Norwegian papers.

In May, Montgomery said the traditional newspaper model was 'bankrupt, unviable, finished'.

Read coverage by Journalism.co.uk at this link and this tweetstream which featured choice 140-character updates by digital journalists and publishers at in the event.

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