Journal Register & John Paton go Chapter 11

Journal Register is filing for Chapter 11. While we were not surprised, the newspaper industry and his own employees seemed to be. These hard working newspaper teams were always getting fired up by ‘digital first’ speeches given by the boss: Mr. John Paton. (CEO of Digital First Media – Journal Register & Media Newsgroup).

Mr. Paton decided not to attend our packed session in Silicon Valley recently. We both spoke at a California Newspaper Publishers Associations event in San Jose. Understandably, Mr. Paton is a busy man. He does give a fair amount of speeches, receives awards and talks about how Newspapers have a very bright future because of SCALE. (?)

I hoped that Mr. Paton would have attended my CNPA session called: Run your Newspaper Website as a Profit-First Business. John should have sat in the front row….and he should have taken lots of notes. His employees were certainly in attendance…..and they took lots of notes.

You see, Mr. Paton’s newsroom background is both a blessing and a curse. It’s great that he knows his editorial stuff, but John’s limited experience with local selling has hurt both his company, and the industry that follows his every blog post. That’s why the chapter 11 filing does not surprise us. We are saddened by the filing. We are also angry, since it didn’t have to be this way. We hate to see good people…suffer.

I was told that John was too busy to attend my session, which was right after his….right down the hall. It was a long walk, to be sure. Although Mr. Paton did find time to chat up a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News.

Below is a quick clip of my session at the CNPA Summit. It’s the exact opposite of what John Paton served up during his lunch time speech.

This rumor is NOT TRUE…… a well known executive fell asleep in his mashed potatoes, during John Paton’s keynote

ALSO BELOW: Watch John’s speech, as he reads it from the podium….( tele-prompter not included )

1 thought on “Journal Register & John Paton go Chapter 11”

  1. Saw you a few years ago at NYPA Spring Conference in Saratoga…loved you then and love you now…this post has me cracking up, completely inappropriately…..

    So jealous…Paton had opportunity and us little guys could only dream of affording you to come in and overhaul our stuff. Sigh.

    Happy trails and always look forward to your updates!

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