The big story today is Ford Motor Co.’s decision to close more than a dozen factories and eventually lose about 30,000 jobs. It’s sad no matter how you slice it. Lots of lives disrupted.
I’ve been thinking about Ford’s reckoning for another reason. A couple of years ago, we did a survey that asked readers this question: If the Journal were a car, what type would it be? If my memory is correct, the leading answer was Ford, and many of us interpreted that as a vote in favor of our solid reliability. Which is good and all that. But it does make you think if that is enough or was it ever enough.
Ford’s problem is the problem of all institutions as they try to adapt to the marketplace and to changes in technology and consumer expectations. We feel it keenly here. The drumbeat of the Internet, the shrinking shelf life of News, the new definitions of news and community. They’re all changing how a newspaper is put together and what it contains or ought to contain. It’s exciting and frustrating. A journey and destination.
Your host is Ken Otterbourg, the managing editor at the Winston-Salem Journal. It's a forum to discuss the media, from
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