Posted 10:59 am Monday, October 26, 2009
Tyler Morning Telegraph, KYTX CBS 19 Announce Media Partnership
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By BRIAN PEARSON
Business Editor
It started as what was jokingly referred to as a "blind date," with representatives of the Tyler Morning Telegraph and television station KYTX CBS 19 newsrooms gathering for a September retreat at a rural restaurant.
The infant idea was to see how both media teams could work together to better satisfy the public's ever-growing news appetite.
Business Editor
It started as what was jokingly referred to as a "blind date," with representatives of the Tyler Morning Telegraph and television station KYTX CBS 19 newsrooms gathering for a September retreat at a rural restaurant.
The infant idea was to see how both media teams could work together to better satisfy the public's ever-growing news appetite.
Today, 47 days after that initial gathering, the community's oldest news entity and the 5-year-old CBS affiliate are announcing an unprecedented news alliance.
Under the partnership, the Tyler Morning Telegraph and KYTX will work together under the motto: "More people in more places covering the news that matters to you."
As a unified news force, KYTX and the Tyler Morning Telegraph will be able to expand content on multiple platforms for TV viewers, newspaper readers and online users. Together, they plan to draw from each other's strengths and create new and specialized content for both entities.
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Nelson Clyde, Tyler Morning Telegraph publisher, said the partnership represents the biggest news splash to hit the Tyler area since brothers L.M. Green and J.P. Green launched the Tyler Courier in 1877.
"We felt like it was important to extend our reach in the community and the region," Clyde said. "News junkies in East Texas are going to get the best news product ever conceived in this market as a result of this partnership."
John Gaston, KYTX CBS19's vice president and general manager, said the venture broadens and deepens news coverage.
"It puts more people in the field covering the news for East Texas, especially Smith County readers and TV watchers," Gaston said.
Gaston said the partnership also allows the two teams to better focus on niches and specialized information.
"I believe the opportunity lies in providing more and more specialized programming and information, whether news or sports, to viewers and readers," he said. "I look to the day when we're able to combine, on a regular basis, programming that is jointly prepared by the Tyler paper and the television station and we mutually broadcast it to the betterment of East Texas news consumers.
"I think we're only limited by our own imagination."
Like Clyde, Gaston said a partnership such as this underscores the need for change in today's media at a time when the public has an insatiable hunger for news.
"You have to acknowledge that it's a changing media business," he said. "It really doesn't matter what area you're in -- radio, print, television.
"The way people get their news and the way people get their entertainment programming is changing. You have to be able to adapt to the changes and the needs of the viewers."
The events leading up to the partnership started Sept. 9 with an afternoon retreat at the Kiepersol Estates Restaurant east of Bullard.
Representatives from both sides got to know one another and began brainstorming ideas.
"We felt like it was really important for our news people to sit down and get to know each other," Clyde said. "In that retreat, everybody just had an opportunity to get to know the personalities on each side, to understand a little more about how each business operates, what our priorities are and have a greater understanding of where a partnership could have more strength than two entities operating separately."
From the beginning, the focus was on how the two entities could jointly create an expanded news front.
"The idea of more people in more places bringing news that matters to you is really the combined strength of the news teams in both organizations, the Tyler Morning Telegraph and CBS19," Clyde said. "We believe that combined power is going to offer the most complete news product in East Texas, and our news people are as excited as I've ever seen them."
The news representatives continued meeting for weeks before targeting today for the announcement and partnership launch.
Clyde said a critical key was buy-in by the two news staffs, which were more accustomed to competing and scooping than sharing.
"Clearly, we have viewed each other as competitors for a long time," he said. "Now, I think in the new world we live in, where news is a continuous flow of information, we see this as a complement to each cycle building on the other."
An example of that will be the KYTX Ten@10 broadcast referring to a story in the next morning's newspaper. In turn, the Tyler Morning Telegraph will promote what's coming up on CBS19.
Meanwhile, the two entities will maximize their reporting resources to deepen and broaden story coverage.
"With this strategic alliance, the concept of a scoop is less critical than how do we get this in front of the most eyeballs," Clyde said. "That's the beauty of the partnership for the end user, for the reader and the viewer. That's the most exciting thing I can imagine out of this."
He said viewers and readers will play a pivotal role in partnership development.
"Typically our customers -- our readers and the viewers out there -- are the ones who are the innovators," Clyde said. "They'll come to us and say, 'Here's where we want more.'"
"Today's consumer has a greater appetite for news than at any other time in history. So this is a great opportunity for our organizations to build on that, to deliver, to be customer-driven. I can't wait to hear from our customers about how they think we can do better, to deliver more news to them, to be customer-focused, be customer-driven and deliver a product that is absolutely rooted in excellence."
Clyde said the partnership and news-philosophy shift represents one of the biggest changes in Tyler Morning Telegraph history.
"We've been in continuous family ownership and management in this market for 100 years now, since my great-great-grandfather bought this newspaper," he said. "We are privileged to be in that position. We see ourselves as more of a startup now than as a 100-year-old business.
"And being in a startup mentality, we looked to CBS as a cutting-edge provider, having the HD capability and having the right news staff to complement our group, so as this relationship builds, we're providing a cutting-edge product. We want to be the best. We want to do this with excellence, and we believe that this is the path to do that."
An announcement of the partnership was made to the two newsrooms earlier this month, and Clyde said he expected skepticism and reluctance.
However, both news staffs quickly embraced the partnership, he said.
"We believe the ownership of this concept has taken a firm hold in the newsrooms," he said. "I've seen news people excited in ways I haven't seen in my entire career. I just think that the reader and the viewer are the ones who benefit because we're going to give them an outstanding news product.
"We had to have total buy-in for this to work. They picked this apart. And I believe after they picked it apart and embraced it, they came away with a passion beyond anything John Gaston and I initially envisioned in our conversations."
Dan Delgado, KYTX CBS19 news director, said the partnership slogan -- "more people in more places covering the news that matters to you" -- says it all.
"Now we have a partnership that allows us to expand on that story," Delgado said. "It's more stories and more depth.
"No one benefits more than the viewers and the readers in this situation."
Tyler Morning Telegraph Managing Editor Dave Berry said, "The newspaper's partnership with KYTX CBS19 is a real 'total news' approach to covering news in East Texas. The alliance we have created is already enhancing our news coverage efforts, in print, online and on-air, ... resulting in more news for our readers and viewers.
"It's a new and exciting direction for us, and it will take hard work and dedication. But it's a direction that makes sense," Berry said. "We're committed to making this a success, as are our friends at CBS19."
