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A lot is being said about the recent news of Rob Curley leaving Washington Post Interactive and heading to Las Vegas after what appears to be an experiment in local news and information that, to date, has failed.
For an industry already full of depressing headlines, this one probably hurts the media industry ego the most since our most recent glamour boy couldn’t make a cool experiment work at what is arguable one of the few Mecca’s of U.S journalism.
Curley admits it’s the first time he and his team have had a project called a “flop” as The Wall Street Journal did last week.
Curley also admits the fault lies with him when it comes to the experiment, LoudonExtra.com. The biggest fault is that his team didn’t do enough outreach in the community, which is rule No. 1 when it comes to local news and information.
But I think the fault goes even deeper than that. For all the good and bad about him, Curley is famous for taking new, difficult strides in the media industry. His successes with online projects in Kansas, Missouri and Florida are well documented after the fact.
Yet Curly rarely gives insight into the how and why on anything he or his team does as it’s happening. And he rarely blogs about his success or failures, with about one post a month on average.
I don’t fault a person for being busy. But what would have happened if six months he had blogged about the LoudonExtra.com experiment and admitted it wasn’t going well and asked those of us who follow for advice?
Who knows? Curley didn’t blog about LoudonExtra.com until after the Wall Street Journal wrote the article and likely felt the need to respond.
Will Sullivan of Journerdism, who I read regularly, states the obvious when he says innovation at newspapers won’t succeed if the organization doesn’t support it. But it also seems to further make excuses for Curley by blaming the big, bad WashingtonPost.com.
99 percent of innovation is failing, then dusting yourself off and trying things a different way. If people in your own company aren’t interested in helping you succeed, then maybe it’s time to move on.
Sure, WashingtonPost.com didn’t do enough to promote LoudonExtra.com, but Curley didn’t do even the most basic task to ensure the experiment could succeed: try to engage the community. If he would have done that, he wouldn’t need to rely on promotions from the parent company.
Failing at an experiment, knowing that you give it your best shot, is commendable. Given the current state of the media industry, if you don’t give it your best shot, there’s a good chance the Wall Street Journal is going to write about it.
Jason Kristufek’s We Media blog, Jun 2008Note: The final appearance of your post may be different, depending upon your blog’s style sheets.