Dec.
 2004

Editor’s note: The following article is an edited version of one of the case studies that appeared in Ifra’s Lessons in Convergence Special Report, published in October. 

Led by its flagship, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, Dispatch Media Group dominates the central part of the Buckeye state.

In addition to The Dispatch (daily, 259,127; Sunday, 371,551), Dispatch Media also owns the following:

*WBNS 10TV, a CBS affiliate and the market’s news leader in broadcast TV.

*Ohio News Network (ONN), a 24-hour statewide cable TV news operation that reaches 1.5 million households.

*1460-WBNS/The Fan, an all-sports AM radio station that caters to fans’ devotion to Ohio State University sports.

*97.1 / WBNS-FM, a music-oriented radio station.

*ThisWeek Community Newspapers, a group of 21 weekly suburban papers with a combined circulation of more than 325,000.

*Columbus Parent, a free monthly parenting magazine with a circulation of 60,000 whose core readership represent two highly coveted demographics, women and consumers aged 20 to 40.

*Accompanying Web sites that each property maintains that cross-promote and share resources. Dispatch.com, the main site, has between 3.5 million and 3.9 million page views per month on its news pages.

Freedom to expand

With the easing of federal antitrust regulations, Dispatch Media was able to allow its units to shake their former isolationist cloaks and work together.

Despite the lack of a universal technological infrastructure, the impracticability of a central media facility, an improving-but-unresolved cultural divide and an understaffed online operation, Dispatch Media is in many ways a textbook example of cooperation and convergence.

First, its decision to embrace convergence was based on a realization that traditional media consumption has been turned on its head in the past decade by the wealth of information sources available to news consumers.

To meet that challenge, Dispatch positioned itself to be the market’s provider of choice by leveraging all its properties and feeding its customers the news they want, when they want it and how they want it.

Second, Dispatch made a conscious effort to avoid viewing convergence as a cost-cutting strategy, even though it may shave costs by more efficiently managing its 470-person news staff.

Third, although there is no formal written agreement, Dispatch units openly share their story ideas. In general, the organization that initiates the story controls how it will be played.

The arrangement is built on trust and avoiding surprises that would undermine that trust.

Finally, Dispatch Media puts journalism first. It is happy to reap the benefits of cross-promotion, marketing and advertising, but sees these as by-products that will naturally follow from providing first-rate news. Dispatch Media achieved buy-in from its employees not by forcing convergence, but by showing the opportunities and success stories that can come with increased cooperation and communication.

Educating staff

To help break down cultural barriers, WBNS, for example, produced “day-in-the-life” segments for both its own operation and The Dispatch to educate broadcast staff about print and vice versa.

A Convergence handbook and an intranet help function provide important details about how each property runs and also provide contact information of key personnel.

That’s helped to lay a foundation upon which Dispatch Media reporters freely share information. Here are some examples:

*Reporters from the weekly newspapers and from both the broadcast and cable television stations routinely write for The Dispatch.

*Print reporters appear on television, often via a Dispatch newsroom camera, and help report for TV packages.

*A print photographer occasionally shoots video packages.

*TV photographers’ video is regularly converted to capture a print-quality still image, and videographers regularly carry digital still cameras on assignments.

*WBNS and ONN share personnel and video feeds.

*Dispatch Interactive streams live video of news conferences online, updates the Web for breaking news and maintains an interactive, electronic edition of The Dispatch, using software from Olive Software.

Mike Curtin, president and associate publisher of Dispatch Media, said the arrival of Jon Schwantes, who joined the company in 2002, fueled the convergence process.

“Convergence was something somebody did in (his) spare time before,” Curtin said. “We’re all busy people in this game. Until Schwantes came in, there was no point person, nobody running the show, distributing the ball, making sure there was a game plan.”

Schwantes, whose title is corporate director of news convergence, came to Columbus after working as associate editor/director of news partnerships for the Dispatch-owned WTHR-TV and Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star.

In addition to being a veteran news reporter and editor for both The Star and the now-defunct Indianapolis News, Schwantes had more than 10 years of TV experience as an on-air panelist and host before taking the convergence helm in an arrangement in which Dispatch and Gannett split his salary.

Schwantes’ journalism background anchored his role as a convergence leader, according to Curtin. “First and foremost he was a newsman,” he said. “To the group on the newspaper side, he was a serious journalist, if you will. I don’t mean to imply anything by that. But the paper is the mothership, the reservoir of the community’s history, so it’s important to get buy-in here, and you can get it much easier if they see one of their own.”

Schwantes downplays his role, but not the culture he’s helped create. “Rather than having one person being the clearinghouse, I’ve tried to facilitate early on and make suggestions about what types of stories that would lend themselves to repurposing and collaboration. It doesn’t have to go through me or any convergence desk.”

Said Ben Marrison, editor of The Dispatch, convergence “is part of our culture, even when Jon’s not here. You’ll hear people saying, ‘Did you call Channel 10, or did you check with ThisWeek?

To gather support among the disparate Dispatch properties, Schwantes dangled a carrot, beginning with the online department.

“They understood the difficulties. We went to them and said, ‘You’re dealing with text, audio and some still images. What if we gave you virtually unfettered access to video?’ A light bulb goes off and they see what’s in it for them. Then they become users and champions of convergence.”

WBNS’ helicopter helped to lure Dispatch photographers. Although the TV station and newspaper began sharing the helicopter even before Schwantes arrived, giving photographers an invitation to ride along during news events is now standard.

Technology and archiving

Technology plays a large role in propelling Dispatch’s convergence, although some gaps remain.

At the newspaper, a bank of four TVs is mounted on a wall at the heart of the newsroom to enable reporters to monitor the news. Each is equipped with a digital video recorder to allow reporters to record and review broadcasts as they wish.

The Dispatch’s conference room is equipped with a large plasma screen that can be used to watch TV or connect to laptops to display graphics or photos during news meetings.

Dispatch is still searching for a central content management application it can use to stitch all of its various properties together, which will mesh with ENPS, an archival and management app used by WBNS and ONN.

Most content is merely e-mailed back and forth.

“A content management system that meets our needs across all platforms would be wonderful,” Schwantes said.

Geoff LoCicero is a news resourcer at Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.