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May 27, 2009

David Montgomery: Journalists need to be managers

By nikkiwicks

Mecom boss and former Mirror Group chief executive David Montgomery has said that journalists need to become better managers if they want to have a successful future in the industry.

In an interview in the Telegraph today, Montgomery also said: “The industry has to understand that cost-cutting is here to stay.”

He said: “There is a view among journalists that if managers were any good they’d be journalists.

“What I’m trying to encourage journalists to be is managers themselves – to manage their content.

“If journalists want to go on and have a successful future, then they have got to be commercial.

“They’ve got to be managers. They’ve got the skills and the potential to do that, so why are they embarrassed about that?”

Despite the pressure to cut costs, and what he calls a “bankrupt” and “unviable” business model functioning in the industry, Montgomery does remain confident.

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He said: “I have had some anxiety, but the fact of the matter is that newspapers are not going to go out of business.”

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