The Costs of Errors
There is probably a lot of handwringing at the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal over the so-called “wafergate” incident…
A story published on July 8, reported that Prime Mister Stephen Harper may have pocketed a communion wafer at former Governor General Roméo LeBlanc’s state funeral.
Three weeks after the fact, the Telegraph-Journal issued an apology and both the paper’s chief editor and publisher were apparently fired.
The Telegraph-Journal is one of New Brunswick’s most prominent and trusted newspapers.
There are people now questioning what led to the story and the motivation behind the apparent firings.
Whatever the motivations may be, I believe the reputation of a newspaper is its most valuable asset. This may or may not have been a factor in the apparent firings, and either way, I’m not personally judging the paper or their staff.
However, from a business perspective, newspapers must protect their brand and reputation.
Some believe that newspapers are dying and that you won’t need a paper to publish information. Anyone will be able to do it online.
However, not everyone is a trusted source and we crave trusted sources.
Newsprint may disappear, but the masthead won’t if the paper is run properly and the journalistic professionalism is safeguarded.
A newspaper’s greatest asset is not the presses, the computers, or the paper it’s printed on, but the reputation of its brand.
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