John Paton
“John Paton has riveted colleagues and competitors with the blitzkrieg pace of change. Everyone in the news business talks about expanding their footprint online, but Paton has pushed more aggressively in that direction and on a bigger scale than any other major executive.” — James Rainey on Digital First Media’s CEO
* Paton pushes media empire beyond print past
“Without proactive change there is no future for newspaper companies in a Digital age.”
That’s how MediaNews Group, Journal Register and Digital First Media CEO John Paton (right) begins his memo
John Paton
announcing “operational changes, initiatives and management appointments that will put the right leaders in the right structure to effectively implement our Digital First strategy.” He also says the company is extending Journal Register Company’s ideaLab to include MediaNews Group employees.
To start, we are going to equip 25 MediaNews Group employees with the latest tools and give them the time and money to experiment with them. Each member of the ideaLab will be equipped, initially, with a Smartphone, tablet and laptop.
The Company will carve out 10 hours a week from their regular jobs to allow them time to experiment with these tools and report back on how we can change our business for the better. And we will add an extra $500 per month to their pay. Other than that –there are no rules.
How do you become a member of the ideaLab?
In about 200 words or less, what would you do with the tools and time to improve our business? Email me at jpaton@digitalfirstmedia.com or post on my blog.
The full memo is after the jump. Read More
