Wertheim Model Analysis: The Print Media Industry and New York Times

This case study examines the declining revenue of the print media industry in the United States, with a specific focus on the challenges faced by The New York Times (NYT). The analysis employs the Wertheim Problem Solving Model to diagnose the core issues, which include the shift of readership to digital platforms and the increased competition from online news sources. The report details the six steps of the Wertheim model, starting with comprehending the case situation, defining the problems (decrease in print revenue), identifying causes (digital competition), generating alternative solutions (enhancing the digital platform, attracting advertisers), making decisions (following innovation strategies), and taking action and following up (recruiting software developers and expanding digital contracts). The study highlights the need for NYT to innovate its digital offerings, attract more readers, and secure advertising revenue to offset losses in print readership. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of innovative strategies and the need for newspapers to adapt to the changing media landscape to remain competitive.

A STUDY OF THE PRINT MEDIA INDUSTRY IN USA
A Study of the Print Media Industry in USA
Name of Student
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Author Note

1A STUDY OF THE PRINT MEDIA INDUSTRY IN USA

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Wertheim Problem Solving.........................................................................................................4
Step: 2 Defining the Problems.....................................................................................................4
Step 3: Causes..............................................................................................................................5
Step 4: Generating Alternative Solutions....................................................................................5
Step 5: Decisions.........................................................................................................................6
Step 6: Taking Action and Following up:....................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The new CEO of New York Times Mark Thompson joined the company in the year 2012, before
he joined the previous 6 years of the company which produced few of the leading newspapers in
USA such as New York Times, Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune among others
were enduring a major loss and the revenue of the company have been on the decline ever since.
Many predicted that the company will have to close its doors because of the constant loss. One of
the major reasons behind the decline of the readership is the digitalization of the industry; the
print media is beginning to lose its significance because the readership has shifted to the online
mediums. After the new CEO was appointed, the company, his successfully shifted the
newspaper to a digital platform and this somehow saved the company from completely closing
down. This report will use the Wertheim Problem Solving Model to suggest an alternative and a
solution to the declining conditions of the company.
Discussion
The Wertheim problem solving model encourages to take real life situations, make certain
decisions about them, then deal with the after effects of the that decision and the final step
involves learning from the mistakes that have been made. It is a form of case study, it allows the
researcher to take into consideration real life situations, experiment with an actual situation
without having much experience in dealing with real life situation. Similar to any science
experiments, the Wertheim model is an experiment for anyone who is interested in dealing with
management cases. In this report the Wertheim model will be used to analyze the debilitating

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condition of the print media in the United States. This model includes 6 steps that will be used to
talk in detail about the problems in the print media industry of the United States (Patel, 2015).
Wertheim Problem Solving
Step 1: Comprehend the Case Situation: Data Collection, Identify Relevant Facts
The main problem area of this case study is the declining revenue of the company that controls
newspapers like New York Times, Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune. These
companies are failing because of the recent wave of digital newspapers and blogs. Huffington
Post, Buzzfeed, these online newspapers are capturing the reader’s attention because of the fact
that all these e-newspapers can be accessed through the mobile phones. In this century, where
technology dominates every part of an individual’s life, the newspaper industry is also shifting
towards a new model of business which is the digital medium. Although with time, these print
newspapers have opened up their digital platform but in that area they have to compete against
the websites of the television channels like ABC, BBC among others. Hence it has become very
difficult for them maintain a steady revenue. The visibility of these websites of New York Times
and Herald increases when they attach themselves to search engines like Bing, MSN, and Google
among others. However, with the increase of the use of mobile phones, the companies like Apple
and Android have more hold over these search engines as they have their own engines like Apple
has Safari. Which means that the newspapers are further behind on competition when compared
to other online news platform and blogs (Patel, 2015).
Step: 2 Defining the Problems
Hence from the above analysis it can be said that the problem involves-the decrease in
the revenue of printed edition of New York times Hence, the overall issue is that, the digital

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editions of New York Times are not capable off outweighing the loss incurred by printed
editions (Patel, 2015).
Step 3: Causes
Market shares accrued by New Yok Times are declining for which revenue is also decreasing.
Again the lack of demand for the digital edition of New York Times due to a high level of
competition faced by NYT over digital media; can also be considered as a major cause of the
problems faced by NYT. This is the reasons why the digital editions are not able to offset the
losses (Patel, 2015).
Step 4: Generating Alternative Solutions
Solution suggested in the innovation report 2014 include strategies to enhance readership.
The previous customers of NYT who have now switched to other online newspapers, or CNN or
Forbes websites and mobile apps; can be encouraged to download the NYT mobile app and go
through the digital editions of their favorite newspaper daily. In order to retain the existing
customers, Dean Baquet has given emphasis on promotion as well as incorporation of talents that
is capable of propelling the demand for the digital editions of NYT. Thus NYT has adopted the
ways of innovation to design an attractive as well as convenient app which will also give the
readers the exposure of reading contents of renowned young generation editors and bloggers. A
major part of the revenue of New York Times comes from advertising. Hence, in order to grab a
substantial revenue from advertising the NYT website should join in the contracts with
companies like Netflix, Amazon prime; so that the advertisements of the web series can help
NYT to earn more revenues. Moreover, web series have a huge amount of viewers. Hence,
people interested in web series will be eager to access the website of NYT, this will again raise
the number of viewers as well revenue of New York Times (Patel, 2015).

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Step 5: Decisions
The solution suggested in the 2014 reports are capable of removing all the loopholes existed in
the digital media commitment of NYT. If the decisions are taken following the suggestions of the
innovation report of 2014, New York Times will be capable of fostering innovation and grabbing
flexible platforms to enhance readership, attract more readers by enhancing the quality of the
content provided. more flexibility in terms of readership. Hence, if New York Times take this
decision it will be beneficial for NYT to enhance the online readership. This will in turn increase
the revenues of New York Times and the increased revenue versions of the New York Times
newspapers will tend to offset the loss incurred due to the decrease in the readership in case of
the printed version of the newspaper (Patel, 2015).
Step 6: Taking Action and Following up:
Hence NYT is all set to recruit more proficient software developers, app designers, in order to
design an innovative mobile application. Again, NYT is also renovating its websites with the
help highly skilled web developers and joining in contracts with amazon, amazon prime, Netflix
and all other digital media outlets which are on demand. NYT also fostering innovation and
promoting talents through more engaging online and offline contents by most renowned editors
of the world (Patel, 2015).
Hence, in the conclusion, it can be said that, the increasing demand for online contents,
the emergence of mobile apps, the competitive strategies adopted by Buzzfeed, CNN, Forbes are
contributing to the decline in the readership of printed newspaper. This problem is common in
both the developed and developing countries. In order to combat with this issue almost all the
printed newspapers are emerging with mobile apps and e-newspapers. Hence the competition is

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increasing day by day. In order to survive and retain its position in the market NYT should come
up with innovative strategies.

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References
Patel, P. (2015). Case 15 New York Times: The Search for a New Business Model.

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