Baltimore City Paper Publisher's Keys to Success

july 27, 2006  11:44 am
At a recent American Press Institute seminar on "MediaPreneurship," Don Farley, publisher of Baltimore City Paper, and Brad Moore, general manager of the commuter daily RedEye, shared their insights on creating a successful "alternative" print product. (A summary is posted on API's Web site.) Among other things, Farley suggests that it is more important to hire passionate employees than experienced employees, and that change should be viewed as opportunity. Most tellingly, Farley says that "if you have to try to be edgy, you're not edgy"; meanwhile, Moore recounts how prior to the launch of RedEye, staffers identified words they "wanted people to identify with [the] new product, including 'savvy,' 'edgy,' and 'engaged.'"