Alabama Media Group Digital Transformation

  

    Communication digital strategies are evolving fast in today's world. Many newspapers have turned all digital, which shows how much people have developed in the digital era. Alabama Media Group is a highly innovative local media company. They operate many sites such as AL.com, the AL Education Lab, This is Alabama, People of Alabama, and the Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile editions of The Lede. Alabama Media Group (AMG) has over 100 journalists focusing on telling impactful stories that have helped towards their accomplishments of being rewarded two Pulitzer Prizes and 21 regional Emmys. The key actors in this organization are Tom Bates (Former President), Kelly Ann Scott (Vice President of Content), and Elizabeth Hoekenga Whitmire (Vice President of Audience.) 

    The overarching issue I will be examining is how the Alabama Media Group decided to shift to all online, because of the loss of revenue in print newspapers. In November 2022, AMG made the decision to discontinue the print edition of all newspapers after February 26, 2023. However, the groundwork for this decision was laid over a decade ago when the company noticed a gradual decline in the sales of newspapers. In 2012, AMG shifted to only publishing newspapers three times a week. When this happened AMG then created AL.com, which is an online news source for people all across Alabama.

    Tom Bates the former president of AMG explained the steps into making their decision to go digital and the first one is that they had to reframe the organization as a media company, not a newspaper. AMG is committed to always being able to provide for their audience in the best way that they can. “We’re deeply committed to the local communities and doing high-quality journalism, but I think we’re somewhat platform agnostic and excited about the storytelling you can do digitally.” - Bates. AMG said that its digital ad business has increased in sales by 67% since 2017, with an audience that extends beyond just Alabama. (Slusser, 2023). The second step Bates and his team took was to develop a portfolio of brands and products for multiple revenue sources. AMG created unique brands to relate to their audience in and out of Alabama. Their plan was to start small and then move quickly. Elizabeth Hoekenga Whitmore, VP of Audience, said news organizations can often find new opportunities for growth by listening to their audiences. The third step implemented was to reorganize the staff structure and generate internal support. Since AMG transitioned into digital-only all the staff had to become trained on the digital side of news. As a part of the transition, AMG had to lay off 110 people, 74 in print production, and 36 in print sales. The Vice President of Content, Kelly Ann Scott, said the employees accepted the transformation because everyone’s main goal is to stay on track with their mission of “changing law, lives, and minds.” (Slusser, 2023) The next step was to create a product that meets the needs of their print readers. AMG created The Lede which is subscriber-only and an e-edition of the newspaper. The last and most important step was to make sure they were communicating with their audience regularly. The Alabama Media Group is all about audience feedback and wants to provide its best content for them. Bates, the former president of AMG, also said, “This decision also allows us to invest in more local coverage, more investigative reporting, and more initiatives like our education lab, which aims to improve our state’s K-12 education system,” (Press, 2022)

    I believe the Alabama Media Group exhibited everything professionally with their transformation into going all digital. Tom Bates couldn’t have portrayed leadership any better than he did at the time. This was a huge and risky decision for Bates and his team, and he handled it well and even had steps to back it up in his process of going digital. Tom Bates had a vision for the digital world and turned it into a reality, which is exactly what a good leader consists of. I believe Tom exhibited a Theory Y leadership style because of how closely he paid attention to what the audience was saying. He communicated with them regularly and accepted feedback to help further the goals for AMG. The transition of going to digital after years of being printed was planned out flawlessly. The team had a step-by-step process of what they needed to do so things would run smoothly.

    The Alabama Media Group had to shift to an all-digital platform to keep up with the media landscape in today’s societies. Print newspapers have been going out of business over the past few years, and AMG had to act fast to begin their plan of action. According to ComScore, AL.com is one of the top 10 local news websites with over 11 million monthly users. AMG’s decision was strategic and helped meet the audience’s preferred source of news media. Another claim is that AMG is now able to reach a wider audience by going all digital. The digital ad sales increased by 67% and reached consumers out of Alabama. The social media presence of AMG also has a huge following of 3.4 million followers.

    The main problem of this case is the fall of print newspapers, which put AMG in a tough spot of what do they do now? Well, Tom Bates and his team made the executive decision to go all digital. Another problem the case had was how AMG had to let go of 110 employees. They were let go because they were all in the printing department. AMG also had to shift their focus to training their current employees to digital. This would ensure a smooth transition. According to the structural contingency theory, changes in a company’s environment shape decisions about the type of production and the nature of the work. AMG had to reshape their whole brand to be only digital and stay in touch with their primary audience. New technologies are being introduced every day and it’s important for companies to change with the times. Another theory that one could apply to this case is the Diffusion of Innovations theory developed by E.M. Rogers. This theory explores how new ideas, products, or technologies spread through society. The shift from an all-print paper to an all-digital media shows how fast technology is spreading through our society.