Values and cultural changes in media content, managing and motivating an aging workforce, teams in a newsroom setting, setting local broadcast standards, decision-making by journalists
Michael Smith is Executive Director of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. Professor Smith holds joint appointments at the Kellogg School, where he teaches MBA students in the Media Management major, and at Medill.
Smith has led research and projects on Generation X and Generation Y for the Media Management Center that are used internationally by numerous media companies. He also helped create the Readership Institute, the national newspaper research center, which is a division of the Media Management Center. In the mid-1990s, he founded the Editorial Leadership Initiative, a national research project aimed at helping editors become more strategic managers while preserving the values of journalism.
He is the senior researcher on two current initiatives -- the national Women in Media project and conferences and the Color of Leadership national survey of women and minorities in leadership positions in the media. He continues to conduct seminars on the changing role of the publisher and the role of the newspaper in the community.
Smith has written extensively about his research. His book “Values, Culture, Content” has been translated into several languages. He has written several other books including, “The Changing Reader” and “The Newsroom Brain.” He is a contributing editor to the Spanish-language journal “Hora de Cierre” (“Deadline”).
Smith joined Northwestern after spending more than 20 years as a journalist and editor. He was a beat reporter, copy editor and magazine editor at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel; managing editor of the Boca Raton News; and sports editor, executive news editor and features editor for the Detroit Free Press. For two years, while assigned to the corporate staff of Knight Ridder Inc., he served as an internal editorial consultant and change agent. In 1982, he shared in the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.
Smith has a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Ball State University and an MBA from Kellogg.
Newspaper Management
Smith has led research and projects on Generation X and Generation Y for the Media Management Center that are used internationally by numerous media companies. He also helped create the Readership Institute, the national newspaper research center, which is a division of the Media Management Center. In the mid-1990s, he founded the Editorial Leadership Initiative, a national research project aimed at helping editors become more strategic managers while preserving the values of journalism.
He is the senior researcher on two current initiatives -- the national Women in Media project and conferences and the Color of Leadership national survey of women and minorities in leadership positions in the media. He continues to conduct seminars on the changing role of the publisher and the role of the newspaper in the community.
Smith has written extensively about his research. His book “Values, Culture, Content” has been translated into several languages. He has written several other books including, “The Changing Reader” and “The Newsroom Brain.” He is a contributing editor to the Spanish-language journal “Hora de Cierre” (“Deadline”).
Smith joined Northwestern after spending more than 20 years as a journalist and editor. He was a beat reporter, copy editor and magazine editor at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel; managing editor of the Boca Raton News; and sports editor, executive news editor and features editor for the Detroit Free Press. For two years, while assigned to the corporate staff of Knight Ridder Inc., he served as an internal editorial consultant and change agent. In 1982, he shared in the Pulitzer Prize for local reporting.
Smith has a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism from Ball State University and an MBA from Kellogg.
Areas of Expertise
Media ManagementNewspaper Management
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Research Interests
Teaching Interests
Media ManagementFull-Time / Part-Time MBA
Understanding the Media and its Content (formerly MEDM-912) (MEDM-432-0)This course counts toward the following majors: Media Management
As the first class for most media management majors, this class serves a dual purpose: to introduce issues and trends in media management, and to explore the role of content in the media. The first portion of the class develops an understanding of the media, their size, business models, and roles and purposes. The course covers traditional media, such as broadcast and print, as well as new electronic media and emerging technologies. The class also examines the role content plays in strategy implementation -- how content affects business decisions and how business decisions affect content. Students are taught five frameworks for understanding and evaluating content and media platforms. They also are asked to determine in what ways content contributes or inhibits competitive advantage, especially in a rapidly changing technological environment. Content ranges from personalized information to mass messages, and includes news, advertising and entertainment.
Media Strategy and Implementation (MEDM-911-0)
This course counts toward the following majors: Media Management
This course has two primary goals: to teach students who are already familiar with the basics of traditional/industrial strategy about media strategy and how to assess it in multimedia firms, and to instruct students in developing and implementing actionable strategic plans for the media. The course curriculum is divided into four overlapping components: How the differences between media and traditional enterprises impact media operations and business models, how major trends are shaping the media landscape, how to develop smart strategies for media, and how to best implement those strategies. This course will educate students on the major strategic challenges facing each of the main media platforms (from the Internet and print to feature films and videogames), and evaluate the strategies of numerous multimedia firms such as Comcast, Disney, Apple/Pixar, and Hearst-Argyle Television. Two key learning features of the course are the class project and guest speakers. The project gives students the opportunity to work on a concrete strategic media problem confronting a real media organization. The guest speakers -- typically top level executives from major media organizations -- give students the opportunity to discuss media strategies with the people who live them everyday. Past guest speakers have included the CEO of Hearst-Argyle Television, CEO of The Tribune Company, executive vice president of New York Times Digital, president of Fox Television Networks and CEO of Disney. This course is designed for students who already have a basic understanding of strategy and want to understand media strategy, who want to work in or with the media and who may aspire to one day hold senior positions in media management.
Media Management Strategy Project (MEDM-914-0)
This is a capstone experiential learning class in which students study a strategy or management problem confronting media companies or industries and propose solutions. It is meant to draw on learning from the media management and related courses. The project and deliverables will depend on the problem chosen. The course is intended for students focusing on media, technology, advertising, integrated marketing communications and journalism.
