Lance Turner’s on it again with this link to a study about the relationship between newspapers and innovation by Vickey Williams entitled “All Eyes Forward.”  As I’ve written here on many occassions, it’s apparent that newspapers are having a very difficult time making the move from print to online thereby resulting in massive layoffs and declining revenues.  In short: newspapers haven’t figured out how to harvest the billions of dollars in online advertising dollars.

According the study, it also appears that less innovative newspapers are losing their young talent too.  Notes the study, “Newspapers have a history as top-down organizations where senior management huddles in conference rooms to decide what everyone else will do. Innovative ideas usually die on the vine or in bureaucratic red tape. And that’s frustrating for young folks who want to be change agents at newspapers and make a difference.”

Turner’s right, again: “Of course it’s this new talent, these young journalists, who already understand the online realities that newspapers must confront and might very well hold the key to newspapers’ survival. Not properly tapping this valuable resource is a mistake any employer — particularly newspapers — can’t afford to make.” (emphasis added).