Chicago Tribune
Polytechnic University
The Chicagotribune.com: Creating a Newspaper for the New Economy (A)
By Professor Nina Ziv [nziv@poly.edu]
Institute for Technology and Enterprise Polytechnic University The New York Information Technology Center 55 Broad Street, Suite 13B, New York, NY 10004 Tel: 212-547-7030 x.201 / Fax: 212-547-7029 www.ite.poly.edu
October 2000
Copyright © 2001, Institute for Technology and Enterprise, Polytechnic University.
I. Background As he sat in his office in The Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago on a sunny morning in August, 1999, Owen Youngman, Director of Interactive Media for The Chicago Tribune, reflected on what it was like to manage the Chicagotribune.com: The big deal is that you get up in the morning and come to work and you are on the bus and you know you’ll make a mistake today. You don’t know what it is and you may not know for a long time. Whereas in the newspaper business, there’s a lot more certainty regardless of what part of the business you are talking about. And adjusting to that reality is different. And so you manage differently as a result. Some things you hedge; others you don’t.1 Youngman, a seasoned veteran of The Chicago Tribune for over 28 years, was used to a culture which valued innovation, but was steeped in 150 years of tradition. He now found himself managing in an environment characterized by constant change, instantaneous feedback from readers, a volatile marketplace, and competitors who had never been on his radar screen. True, in its foray into the online world, The Tribune had been very successful. As a leader and innovator in developing an online newspaper, The Tribune had not only developed a distinctive persona for its online paper but had also been innovative at integrating the digital and physical aspects of the paper and providing unique online offerings for its readers. It had been recognized for its efforts by such prestigious organizations as the Newspaper Association of America (NAA)
The Chicagotribune.com: Creating a Newspaper for the New Economy (A)
By Professor Nina Ziv [nziv@poly.edu]
Institute for Technology and Enterprise Polytechnic University The New York Information Technology Center 55 Broad Street, Suite 13B, New York, NY 10004 Tel: 212-547-7030 x.201 / Fax: 212-547-7029 www.ite.poly.edu
October 2000
Copyright © 2001, Institute for Technology and Enterprise, Polytechnic University.
I. Background As he sat in his office in The Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago on a sunny morning in August, 1999, Owen Youngman, Director of Interactive Media for The Chicago Tribune, reflected on what it was like to manage the Chicagotribune.com: The big deal is that you get up in the morning and come to work and you are on the bus and you know you’ll make a mistake today. You don’t know what it is and you may not know for a long time. Whereas in the newspaper business, there’s a lot more certainty regardless of what part of the business you are talking about. And adjusting to that reality is different. And so you manage differently as a result. Some things you hedge; others you don’t.1 Youngman, a seasoned veteran of The Chicago Tribune for over 28 years, was used to a culture which valued innovation, but was steeped in 150 years of tradition. He now found himself managing in an environment characterized by constant change, instantaneous feedback from readers, a volatile marketplace, and competitors who had never been on his radar screen. True, in its foray into the online world, The Tribune had been very successful. As a leader and innovator in developing an online newspaper, The Tribune had not only developed a distinctive persona for its online paper but had also been innovative at integrating the digital and physical aspects of the paper and providing unique online offerings for its readers. It had been recognized for its efforts by such prestigious organizations as the Newspaper Association of America (NAA)