Keeping pace with change

At a time when the financial advice industry is being challenged by economic head winds and dramatic, if not seismic, shifts in investor attitudes and behaviors, so too is the business of putting out a weekly newspaper.

And just as financial advisers are scrambling to adapt their practices to new and at times seemingly conflicted business models, editors and publishers are frantically trying to figure out how to inform, engage and (gasp) even entertain readers over the Internet — all while turning a profit.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel a little daunted by these and other challenges as I step into my new role as editor of InvestmentNews.

Although I am excited by the prospect of leading the digital transformation of our newsroom, the old-fashioned journalist in me (and at 48, I am, indeed, old enough to have one or two old-fashioned points of view) will always hew close to the values and traditions that continue to define good journalism. Those values and traditions, of course, include adherence to the truth, loyalty to our readers, independence and a willingness to serve as an impartial monitor of power.

A TRUE CALLING

You see, like the business of providing people with financial advice, journalism is as much a calling as it is a profession.

Like many journalists of my generation, I was inspired to enter the newspaper business after Watergate, particularly by the portrayal in the book and movie “All the President's Men” of the two intrepid Washington Post reporters who cast light upon the truth and toppled the most powerful leader in the free world. Many years later, when I got my first paying journalism job — covering local government meetings for a daily newspaper in Brockton, Mass. — I felt that I was doing what I was meant to do and that I was living the journalist's dream.

And, in fact, I was.

Just as the nation looked to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to tell the truth about what was going on in the White House under President Richard Nixon, my newspaper's readers were looking to me to tell the truth about how plans to build a big shopping mall in their town would affect their property values or their drive to work. And they were looking to me to stay on top of an electric company that owned a nearby nuclear power plant to make sure that it wasn't cutting corners that might put them at risk.

Fortunately, I am still living the journalist's dream.

A TRANSFORMATION

As editor, one of my main priorities will be to continue the digital transformation of our newsroom. At InvestmentNews, the walls between print and web are coming down — both literally and figuratively.

Last week, for example, we reorganized the physical layout of our newsroom in New York to better reflect our commitment to delivering relevant news and information in any manner our readers wish to receive it, whether that involves our print edition, our website, smartphones, tablets or other delivery platforms.

As part of that reorganization, our entire web team was moved into a part of the newsroom that traditionally has been occupied by our print team.

I am now seated next to online managing editor John Goff. For better or worse, John now must contend with endless inquiries from me about what our online readers are “consuming” and how that content can be developed for our other delivery platforms.

Of course, there is more to InvestmentNews' digital transformation than a few rearranged office cubicles. In the weeks and months ahead, we will be taking many other steps to improve how we gather, prepare and disseminate the high-quality news and information you have come to expect.

Editors like me, and advisers like you, must keep pace with a changing landscape for serving our constituents. But if we each focus on our main mission — I on delivering high-quality news and information, and you on imparting solid and honest advice — we will not only survive but prosper.

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. is the editor of InvestmentNews.

Twitter: @fredpgabriel

Related Topics: Just Thinking