SARANAC LAKE - Tom Curley plans to spend a lot more time in the Adirondacks now that he's retiring as head of the Associated Press.
Curley, who owns a home on Upper Saranac Lake with his wife, Marsha Stanley, spoke with the Enterprise over the phone Monday from his office in New York City. Earlier in the day, Curley announced he would step down as president and CEO of the AP after nine years on the job.
Curley, 63, spent his tenure working to transform the news cooperative for the digital era. He oversaw the launch of new multimedia platforms, led a search for fresh sources of revenue and vigorously protected the AP's newsgathering efforts in a wide-open online marketplace.
Before coming to the AP, Curley was president and publisher of USA Today and senior vice president of its parent company, Gannett.
He talked with the Enterprise about the growth of digital news media, how newspapers can adapt to the changing times and Adirondack issues. Below is an edited transcript of that interview.
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ADE: How long have you lived on Upper Saranac Lake, and how much time do you spend there?
TC: Since 2003, and I guess I've been able to get there, depending on the year, from about 10 days to 20 days. And Olympics and election years are the quadrennials; I'm just not able to. But the other years it's been a little bit better.
ADE: What kind of things do you enjoy while you're up here?
TC: I love it all. We've been coming to the Adirondacks for 35 years, and it's been my dream to spend some time up there. My goal is to get lost in the north woods. Whether it's paddling, hiking, climbing, skiing or biking - those are all my passions. The goal is to get there and stay there as much as we can.
ADE: How would you describe the change in the makeup of the Associated Press, which is owned by its members, during your tenure?
TC: It's certainly been a tumultuous time in media, and all the legacy media are making massive adjustments. Our members, who are our owners, have had to confront major technological change. The readers are finding it easier to get access to content on any number of devices, including smart phones.
ADE: You've been at the helm during a historic crisis between the AP and its member newspapers. Was there any time - maybe when you raised its rates and papers were dropping the service - when you thought this whole thing was going to fall apart on your watch?
TC: No, never. We haven't raised rates, and people weren't leaving the AP. There certainly were some pressures and some discussions, but the papers never left the AP. Trying to keep it together has been a fundamental purpose and still remains that, but people didn't leave us. What they wanted us to do was cut their rates a little faster than we did.
ADE: A few papers, like the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, actually stoped printing during that intense period. Was there fear that things would change even more than they did?
TC: No. I'm one who believes the greatest change is ahead. I also think newspapers will be around for a good number of years, especially those papers that know how to stay relevant and focused on their readership. There was a profound shift in the amount of revenue, mostly through classified advertising, that shifted away from newspapers. A large percentage of that revenue was profit. So they took a huge profit hit in a very short period of time. The global economic crisis that began in September of 2007 and then extended in a big way in 2008 and 2009 really accelerated the secular change. But in terms of the change and the new technologies' impact, those changes lie ahead, but I still think newspapers are going to be around for years to come.
ADE: Where do you see both journalism and the business of journalism going in the next 10 years?
TC: The first one is easier to answer. As there has been a growth in the number of forms of distribution through the Internet and the digital changes, the power of journalism has actually risen. More information is available and there's more chaos out there, so the importance of journalism has actually risen. The power of good journalism, the journalism that makes a difference and tells people what they need to know, has never been greater. In terms of the business, it's about revenue, and the way you get revenue is being relevant for the audiences that you serve. That has to change. People are getting their news by way of smart phones, and they're finding out that they don't have to wait to get the content, so we have to adjust in terms of the types of news we make available on an instant format, and the stories we're telling on a more delayed form, whether it's 24 hours later, or in a longer form.
ADE: Should newspapers charge for online content? Is there a model out there that works?
TC: It's not so simple. If you're looking at a local newspaper, it's tough to imagine you can replicate an audience as large as the one you have now by putting up a pay wall or charging for Internet content. On the other hand, I think you have incredible amounts of special information that people would pay for on a one-time basis, whether it's important photos from your history, or important information about how to do this or where to go, let's say, in the Adirondacks, or would pay for deeper content in a particular area such as high school sports. I think putting up a general pay wall would be a dangerous approach, but we have opportunities around specific content pieces that we have and we need to figure out how to package them and how to promote them and sell them.
ADE: What do you say to the journalism students who are hoping for careers in this business, but are seeing little chance for upward mobility in newsrooms and are seeing some papers laying off their staff?
TC: Well, there's more opportunities being created now than ever before in history. It's true that revenue is leaving some of the traditional forms, such as newspapers, and there has been a compression in the job market. But frankly, we're talking about a steep recession here that's affected the global economy, and newspapers have taken a disproportionate hit. How to create jobs is a huge question. But if you look at the audiences for journalism, they've risen. The marketplace has grown, and there's more places it's being practiced than ever before in history. You've got to look at the overall job creation, and with Internet companies or others that are making content available, there's really been an uptick in the number of jobs. The bigger picture is rosy, and I think it's a growing market.
ADE: Do you think the shift to new media platforms has been more difficult for papers in rural areas?
TC: Probably in most cases it has been harder. There is a huge need for technical skills and understanding. This is a serious change and requires very serious talent and resources across the board. On the other hand, some of the best innovations I've seen in my career happen at the smaller papers. The reason is they're closer to their readers. They know what they're doing, and they get incredible feedback quickly. A lot of the metros still are not as familiar with their audiences as they need to be.
ADE: How has the AP done financially during your time at the helm?
TC: We did really well until the global recession hit, and we gave back $80 million to the newspapers in terms of reduced assessments. We had to adjust back, and now we're growing and we're looking at 2012 being a growth year and 2013 being a more significant growth year. The key challenge for all media companies is to find new revenue. That's what it's all about.
ADE: What are some of the serious, big stories you think are going on in the Adirondacks these days?
TC: The growth issues. The Adirondacks desperately need jobs. The tax problem and how that gets played out. There's a lot of pressure on these communities. There's certainly not the growth that is needed, and how to go about delivering a future where the people of the Adirondacks can stay there and maybe a few more of us can afford to move in. It's an economic story, and how that plays out will determine the future. There are a couple of stories I've followed, small things and big things. The environmental impact of highway salting procedures would be one of the more micro stories. The macro story, told through the prospect of growth at Big Tupper, is another critical story. There are always amazing weather stories every year. All that interests me. And I like to follow local sports, too.
