Innovation and critical thinking are vital skills to use amid disruption in the media industry, according to Jeff Cunningham, a lifelong entrepreneur and professor of practice at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School.
Cunningham, who is also a professor of practice at the W.P. Carey School of Business, has been involved in myriad different companies and ventures throughout his career, working mostly on the business side of journalism. Among his most notable jobs are publisher of Forbes and American Heritage magazines, founder and editor-in-chief of Directorship Magazine, and senior executive for BusinessWeek.
“He started out as a writer and he says he gave it up because he thought that other people could do it better,” said Micheline Maynard, director at the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, when introducing Cunningham at this week’s installment of the Must See Mondays series. “I don’t think so, but he found another path. He basically went into the business side of publishing. And he did pretty well.”
Cunningham began his speech by encouraging journalism students to pay attention to the namesake of the room in which he spoke — the Cronkite School’s First Amendment Forum.
“What’s interesting to me is that he [James Madison] put the freedom of the press in with freedom of religion — which was in some respects the stimulus for the founding of America — and freedom of speech, which nothing could be more important to us personally,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham dedicated his speech to the memory of James Foley, Steven Sotloff and those assassinated in the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Cunningham encouraged students to appreciate the rights granted them in the United States Bill of Rights, noting the significance of the concept of freedom of the press, especially in regards to the recent tragedies in France and Syria, where journalists were killed for exercising their right to free speech.
“Who would even think that the freedom of the press belonged in that First Amendment, in that group? Jefferson, the founding fathers, did,” he said. “The point of that is that great leaders engage with journalism.”
In 1998, after working with Forbes and American Heritage Magazine, Cunningham encountered a key turning point in his career.
As businesses first began experimenting with using the Internet as a media tool, Cunningham joined PointCast, which was one of the first companies to combine media with the Internet.
“It had all the news content providers … lining up to have their news featured on PointCast,” Cunningham said. “It was kind of like being a showroom, and you wanted your trophy there.”
Even Rupert Murdoch clamored to buy PointCast, but the founders held out, Cunningham said. In the end, however, the company went out of business.
“There are lots of lessons to be learned in disruption,” Cunningham said. “Sometimes the disrupters get disrupted.”
Cunningham went on to run several other early Internet companies in his career. He advised students that, in order to achieve exceptional success in a career, they should leave time for leisure.
“Type A people are wonderful. But I can assure you this, that they will be working for a Type B,” he said.
Cunningham drew his speech to a close by reminding aspiring journalists of their duty to uncover the truth, even if it is not what is widely accepted.
“Journalists have a duty to correct the narrative … your advantage is that you understand technology,” he said.
He reminded millennials who are aspiring journalists that they have a difficult task ahead of them, and that the only way to truly avoid becoming victims of technology disruption is through innovation.
“One of the benefits here, being in Cronkite today, is the understanding that your ability to one day create or participate in the creation of great journalism is the only antidote to disruption,” Cunningham said.
Jalen Fong, an audience member and a freshman at the Cronkite School, said the best advice he took away from Cunningham’s speech for his career was to remain fearless, even in the face of change.
“He adapted with society,” Fong said. “With change comes risk, and I believe he made the most of his opportunities.”
Contact the reporter at Faith.Anne.Miller@asu.edu.
