Year after ContentOne's big debut, reality vs. hype; Web start-up was set to 'upend traditional thinking'

CEO Craig Dubow didn't spare the superlatives when he formally unveiled the Web-based ContentOne news delivery system before influential Wall Street stock analysts in December 2008. "It will, I believe, upend the traditional thinking about content in our industry both in how we gather it, and how we sell it,'' he said.

Dubow (left) told the UBS media conference in New York City that the start-up would "completely change the way we share content across the company,'' according to his prepared remarks. "At its most innovative, ContentOne will allow us for the first time company wide to view our content as a product, instead of a way to fill our products -- newspapers, Websites and TV news broadcasts. We will become content creators for our advertising partners, pricing and selling our content for use by them."

ContentOne would be built from the vastly shrunken resources of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gannett News Service, which had for decades provided Congressional and other national coverage for the company's U.S. newspapers and other sites. Dubow said of ContentOne's timetable that he expected "many aspects of it up and running in the first quarter."

But now, more than a year after Gannett Blog disclosed its existence, ContentOne hasn't maintained the high profile Dubow promised, raising questions about its role in Gannett's still cloudy future amid a rapidly changing digital landscape.

Indeed, at last month's UBS conference, Dubow didn't mention ContentOne at all in his remarks. The only direct reference I could find was in television division President Dave Lougee's remarks; he told the conference that TV stations would work with USA Today "to produce a half-hour nightly show live from Vancouver," leading into the network’s prime-time Winter Olympics coverage next month.

To be sure, Gannett Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis may have been alluding to it when he told the same UBS conference: "In 2010, we will be embarking on a major redesign of our sites that will redefine what a local news site is and drive innovation for both our users and advertisers." He did not give a timetable, however. (Take note, webmasters!)

Asked about USA Today's ties to ContentOne in June, top editor John Hillkirk told Corporate's weekly newsletter, Newswatch: "We're meeting regularly with editors and directors in Gannett Broadcast, ContentOne and Community Publishing to discuss ways we can work together to cover everything from breaking news to the Swine flu scare. As with the Swine flu and March Madness, we'll be eager to share with all the properties our national coverage -- and we're eager to collaborate and share resources."

Meanwhile, Gannett News Service, which was to provide the initial reporting power, lost as much as 60% of its staff in buyouts and other cuts; it had just 16 staffers when it was formally disbanded and renamed ContentOne in mid-February 2009. (It's still the old GNS in name and responsibilities in Corporate's history of Gannett.)

In an unusual move, ContentOne appears to have been separated from Corporate's News Department, which sets broad policy on newsroom development, hiring and other initiatives for the 82-member U.S. Community Publishing newspaper division. Former Fort Myers, Fla., News-Press top Editor Kate Marymont (left) took over the News Department from long-time chief Phil Currie in late 2008. The department had controlled Gannett News Service.

But ContentOne's top job went to Gannett's chief spokeswoman, Tara Connell (below); that shift was completed in mid-summer, when Connell was replaced by new publicist Robin Pence. There were early reports ContentOne would be part of the public relations department, but it wasn't listed among Pence's duties when her hiring was announced in July. (Marymont, Connell and Pence are all vice presidents, indicating they each report straight up, rather than to each other. As publicist, Connell's boss was Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore; does she now report to newspaper division President Bob Dickey?)

ContentOne got its first big rollout in January 2009, when it supplied coverage of President Obama's inauguration to Gannett newspapers. And it was deployed for the March Madness basketball tournament. Yet, illustrating its low profile, the news feed on ContentOne's Facebook page hasn't been updated since Oct. 5.

Since March, I haven't heard of any major ContentOne developments. I was on hiatus from Gannett coverage from July to early December. Still, I kept an eye on major updates via the investor relations department and press releases distributed online.

So, I'm left wondering: What happened to the initiative that was designed to "upend the traditional thinking about content in our industry?"

Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.