John Lindstrom is the Publisher of the over 100-year-old influential Gongwer News, Michigan, United States. In this interview with YEMI KOLAPO, he highlights the challenges facing the print and online media in the US, and globally. He also analyses US President Donald Trump’s leadership style. Excerpts:
Increasingly, the media business in Nigeria is getting tougher, how would you describe the industry in the United States?
The media business in Nigeria and the US is suffering from the same thing. It is getting tougher with the traditional media. Though, the radio and television are not feeling the heat as much as the newspapers, everyone is facing similar challenges with revenue. Most of us are alive because of the change of technology. The main source of revenue of newspapers here, for a long time, has been small adverts from people who need to sell off cars or rent their apartments out or hire workers. Each day, newspapers could have hundreds of such advertisements and they are low cost.
Now, advertisers have many options, including twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and facebook, among others.
What are some of the major changes that came with the Donald Trump presidency in the US media industry?
We have had instances where very wealthy people are getting involved in buying newspapers. One of such example is the owner of Amazon, one of the largest corporations in the world, buying up Washington Post, which is one of the most respected newspapers in the country. Doing that, however, he has kept the newspaper’s staff at a good level and it has been impressive. To a large extent, it has been beneficial to the industry. Sheldon Adelson also purchased the main newspaper in Las Vegas. He is also a very big Republican financier. His newspaper was one of the few newspapers that endorsed Donald Trump last year.
If big corporations buy up major newspapers, does it not have any implication on the freedom of the press?
There are lots of concerns about that and there are people that have been watching that very closely. For example, in the US, some cities usually have their elections in odd years. Virginia and New Jersey conduct their main elections for Governor and legislators in odd years. Georgia used to but has switched. The Republicans, since the election of President Trump, have been putting great efforts to ensure their candidate wins in Virginia but he didn’t, as the democractic candidate won, even more significantly. The Republicans also lost in the Legislature election, which has been under a heavy control of the Republicans, and if they are lucky, they will split 50/50 with the Democrats. There is one seat that is still in contention and it is a very tight race, and if it goes to the Democrat, they will have more control of the lower house of the Legislature and that will be an amazing turnaround.
Now, Fox News, which is a very conservative-based broadcast television network, very popular, spent a good share of Virginia’s election evening not talking about the election because the Republicans were doing so badly; they just ignored it. CNN was just covering the election and they were going to cover the election anyway, whether Republicans win or not. It has a lot of concern in terms of freedom of the press. You heard about President Trump calling some news fake because they were not reported in his favour. Fake news, for President Trump, is news that he doesn’t like. He blocks a lot of journalists from covering certain events.
That has happened in Nigeria on a few occasions, although the President might not have been directly involved.
That happens in a lot of places but it has not happened here before now. This is new; we are treading a new ground here and it is a great concern to many of us.
What worries me also is that if governments run newspapers, they won’t allow stories investigating them. The same with the large corporation that may be doing something illegal or unethical; the media won’t be able to do anything on it. That is the real concern. The best system is the independent, financially vibrant media. I know people don’t like reporters but this is an important business because it is needed.
Globally, people believe the online media will take over the main media business in the very near future. What do you think?
The thing about the newspaper is that it is still an effective way of transmitting information. One of the things technology has done is to mimic paper. I have read books online, it is cool, but I prefer paper, maybe because I am old. But when you look at something online, it does not matter what it is, it is hard on the eyes for a long period of time. Paper doesn’t have that; you can read for a long period of time. You never have to worry about batteries draining. It does not fade out in the sun. When reading, you don’t just see an ad popping up in the middle of the paper like it did online. The concentration level in paper is higher, compared with online when some ads distract readers. There Is always a market for paper.
The younger generations are concerned about preserving trees and want to cut down on the use of paper but a study is going on now that sees that as being short-sighted. If the companies producing papers stopped manufacturing and the trees are in the forest for years, a time will come that the land will be sold to developers, who will still cut the trees. But when you have a paper farm, you will always be replanting trees.
How would you describe the revenue generation side of the print media?
Subscriptions in both online and print will be the primary source of revenue. You need the subscription base to show the advertisers how big your readership base is. You use the subscription base to sell to advertisers. My publication is a niche publication as it has a specific target we focus on. For the niche publications, subscriptions are always the main factor. We have seen the growth in niche publications and the only way they can make money is to ensure that their content is controlled. Advertising is still a factor and the thing about it in general is that a lot of companies, instead of doing ads now, have a method of going to consumers. Most producers or sellers now take the e-mail of their customers. My wife receives at least one e-mail a day from stores she has patronised. I also receive about three e-mails every day from stores selling batteries, telling me about sales offers. Advertising is less and less a factor for the print media, but subscription has been a bigger source of revenue.
Do you see a brighter future for media business globally?
People want to know things and some of them want to know for free. It is an expensive business because it costs a lot of money. You need to have people go out to report stories, shoot videos, record interviews and produce. You have to develop sources and that requires people. We have to find a way around some of the free access to news. If you want to know about news, you have to pay for it.
We saw some good responses after the election of President Trump. People went all out to buy newspapers, magazines. We saw some growth, though not universally. I think that as long as people think they need to know things, they would turn to journalism and there will be products out there for them to buy.
What is the most interesting political event in Michigan?
US is one of the few large industrial countries where we always know when the next election is. It is always going to be the first Tuesday in the month of November. In Michigan, 2018 will be our general elections. Though the election is still a year away, candidates are already lined up; fund raising is on. The thing everyone is watching now is what will be the effect of President Trump on the election because his election was extremely controversial. He is not popular at all except for the people that support him and we saw in the last election in Virginia and New Jersey that Democrats did extremely well. In 2018, we see the President trying to change certain things. That is the main critical issue.
The economy has turned around to be in a fairly good shape. We have a number of issues that have been controversial, like protection for several state officials going on trial for manslaughter, relating to lead found in the water in the state. That is going to be a very big issue in this state, going forward. Health insurance is another factor, as people want it
cheap.
We are also concerned about North Korea’s threats to go to war. It is a very serious concern to us because people occasionally rally round the US President at a time like this but I don’t think anyone would rally round Trump now. If we find ourselves in a war, it will be a serious issue.
We are almost a full year into his (Trump’s) administration and there are vacant positions in his cabinet. We have already, a number of high-level resignations from his cabinet. One of his communication aides resigned barely a week after he resumed. This is crazy; this is not how we became the most powerful country in the world
Why do you think people would not rally round the US President?
It is because he is not popular. He is a man who has difficulty with the truth. He is ego driven. He clearly came into office unprepared and found himself involved in a number of political problems. His administration is not very well run. There are still lots of appointments that have not been made. We are almost a full year into his administration and there are vacant positions in his cabinet. We have already, a number of high-level resignations from his cabinet. One of his communication aides resigned barely a week after he resumed. This is crazy, this is not how we became the most powerful country in the world.
Under the administration of President Trump, has there been any case of arrest of journalists for reporting the truth?
No, but we have seen a number of situations where journalists have been detained at some events and later released. One of them is still facing trial but we have not seen like what is happening in China, Turkey or Nigeria where journalists were arrested for reporting the truth. Reporters can’t just walk into events like they used to; they have to register ahead of time and they put you in a particular place to stay. It is a giant pain in the back.
Have you been following Nigerian politics?
Only when I receive mails from The Point Newspaper. Some controversies surrounding the political parties in Nigeria are interesting to us here. Issues like who is in or out and who is leaving this party for another. That has been quite interesting.
Do you think Americans would want another experience with Trump after his first term?
It is hard to say. I was as surprised as most people when he won. Democrats made a lot of strategic and tactical errors and Hillary Clinton was not the most popular candidate for the party. Trump led in Michigan by 10,000 votes, which is the smallest ever recorded in the state. Democratic turnout was not up to 50 per cent of the turnout it witnessed
in 2012.
Democrats assumed too much; they didn’t go to the right areas in Michigan. They should have gone to areas where people who need jobs are, which was where Trump went. That was the message Trump used. Democrats failed to develop a campaign team and the right message, other than saying Hillary Clinton is not Trump, while Republicans were saying they would make America great again. Democrats didn’t have a long-term winning strategy. No doubt, Trump is not popular because he does things to offend people. A president should not involve in petty and personal
issues.
Don’t you think his actions can be linked to age?
No, that is just how he is. He is doing things he used to do over the years. It is just that he is doing these things now as the US President.
