Editor in chief of The Christian Science Monitor John Yemma discusses the future of journalism and media in the digital age in Crum Auditorium Thursday. (Taylor Henry/The Daily Campus)

In the William O’Neil Lecture in Business Journalism Thursday evening, John Yemma, editor in chief of The Christian Science Monitor, discussed the changing future of journalism as media shifts from print to online in a digital age.

As editor in chief, Yemma was integral in transforming The Christian Science Monitor, one of the oldest and most prestigious daily newspapers in the country, into an online publication and weekly news magazine.

The Monitor, like thousands of other print publications faced the detrimental problem of dwindling readership.

The Monitor has the reputation for “thoughtful, humane, internationally minded journalism,” but only reached a narrow audience.

“Smart people loved The Monitor, but few people saw it,” Yemma said in the lecture. “Circulation was anemic and profits were puny.”

The Monitor came to rely financially on the Christian Science Church, which, in Yemma’s words, “was not only unhealthy, but unsustainable.”

But the Monitor’s situation is one shared by other publications worldwide.

“While journalists pride themselves in spotting trends, I have to admit we missed a big one,” Yemma said. “That one was the one that directly affected us.”

Yemma refers to that change as the “unbundling of news.”

Traditionally, print media bundles packages of sports, arts and news content to cater to the public.

But with the transition to a digital era, this “bundling” format is costly and no longer appealing to readers.

Instead, readers prefer browsing the Internet and selecting an assortment of news content for themselves.

Even print journalists engaged in this shift.

“At work we bundled news, at home, like millions of others, we learned from the mid-90s on to pick and choose what we wanted to read online,” Yemma said. “News bundling is not dead, it’s just been lifted out of the hands of journalists,” Yemma explained.

“Even as newspapers were prospering in the 20th century, they were coming apart,” Yemma said.

So when readership decreased and profits plummeted at the Monitor, the century old news organization turned to former employee Yemma.

Yemma had been working with The Boston Globe’s website, Boston.com, one of the best models for online journalism. There, he learned about all things digital.

Boston.com grasped one thing that other news organizations missed: “It understood that print readers and web readers are different animals from the outset,” Yemma said.

When the Monitor approached Yemma with the job offer of editor in chief, he was hesitant, but accepted the position on one condition.

“I took the position with the understanding that the Monitor had to become radically different — we had to go web first,” Yemma said.  “We had to become radically different, not in content, not in values, but in presentation.”

Yemma devised a plan to take advantage of the public’s shift in news consumption that would be more profitable and lasting than print media.

His plan is one that could help millions of other print publications worldwide transition into the digital era.

“The Christian Science Monitor may not strike you as the model for 21st century news organizations that are desperate to devise a sustainable, let alone profitable, business model. It is,” Yemma said.

The biggest problem that newspapers face, in Yemma’s opinion, is the “cost monster.”

Costs for all newspapers escalated substantially during the boom years of the 1990s.

Newspapers were hiring more reporters, editors, correspondents and still being profitable.

But now, as profits are going down, costs also need to be cut down. The Monitor has done that.

The Monitor also recognized the opportunity of manpower.

Journalists, Yemma said, are the keys to the newspaper’s survival and “tremendous assets” in the transition to the digital age.

“They can be cunning, they can be capable, they can be cantankerous and they are often really dedicated,” Yemma said.

When news organizations use tools like these, Yemma said they will be prepared to transition into the 21st century of journalism.