Editors are still baffled by Bill Gates' assertion, made at the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America on Tuesday, that Microsoft has no plans to hire away local reporters for its publishing concerns. He didn't quite deny his role as an upstart media mogul, but Gates ruffled a few editorial feathers by pretending that Microsoft isn't looking to compete with print media, regardless of its forceful entry into online publishing with MSNBC, MSN, Slate, and now Sidewalk.
Some 10 reporters from the San Jose Mercury News were snapped up last year by Microsoft publishing efforts; more than half a dozen staff members were plucked from the Seattle Times; the high-priced defection of a Los Angeles Times reporter to the great green Northwest caused a huge newsroom stink; while scads of other papers have bid farewell to Redmond-bound reporters. (At Web publications, like HotWired, Microsoft has also been poaching.)
While the hirings to date haven't been local reporters, newspaper people are concerned about what life would be like if Microsoft decides to expand the recently launched Sidewalk entertainment listings to more news coverage. Bob Ingle, Knight-Ridder Inc.'s vice president of new media, posed just such a question at the NAA conference and Gates said flatly from the podium, "We're not (hiring local reporters.)" Maybe not, but Microsoft's hometown papers have certainly begun to feel the pinch of competition.
"Every paper around here feels like they've been raided," said Karen Cater, copy desk chief at the Seattle Times. "It's definitely not competition we're used to." The Times arts and entertainment editor skipped off to head up Sidewalk, with several copy editors and graphic artists following on her heels. Regular freelancers have also been sucked into the Sidewalk machine, leaving holes in the newspaper's staffing.
"Microsoft has every intention of being a media company," said Knute "Skip" Berger, creative director at Quickfish Media, which owns the Seattle Weekly. "I definitely think that projects like Sidewalk are competitive with what alternative papers, and traditional dailies do," he added. As proof of that conviction, his company has taken an if-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em approach and signed up as the first content provider for Sidewalk.
When probed about Gates' no-local-hiring contention, Marty Taucher, senior marketing manager for the Interactive Media Group at Microsoft, made a fine distinction. "We're not hiring people to cover local news; we're hiring people to write about entertainment and arts and stuff like that," he said.
Microsoft's ravenous appetite for editorial content, combined with its well-padded coffers, has already begun to hit traditional media in the checkbook. Salaries have gone up where papers compete with Microsoft, and eventually old media will likely be competing for advertising dollars as well.
At the Los Angeles Times, one reporter was offered more than US$100,000 to become an editor in Redmond last year. The paper, interested in keeping him, countered the offer, and word got out sparking demand for higher salaries throughout the newsroom. The Mercury News had a similar experience when one-by-one MSN culled 10 reporters from the paper's sports and business desks.
"They were offering higher compensation," said Peter Hillan, the Merc's executive business editor. "We have become more competitive as a result, but we're not in a position to offer stock options."
The newspapers' stories draw into question the validity of Gates' message at the NAA: "Don't think of Microsoft as a primary competitor," he told the publishers and editors gathered. "Maybe there will be some overlap ... But you shouldn't get paranoid. If someone starts hiring local reporters, OK, it's time to get worried."
At the San Francisco Examiner, assistant managing editor Steve Cook points out that his paper lost a half dozen staffers to Salon, another four to Net Guide Live, one to MSNBC and a couple to other Web sites. "We haven't lost a lot of people to Microsoft but we have to other new media - and I figure everything that's any good will be swallowed up by Gates in the end."
