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Great analysis on the death of newspapers - anonymouse1 - 09-22-2009
http://www.newsreview.com/chico/content?oid=1234759
When I think about the fate of daily newspapers and the future of journalism, I immediately think about the first California Newspaper Publishers Association awards ceremony I attended back in the early 1980s. My paper in Chico had won for Best Weekly Newspaper, so I went down to the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego to accept our award.I was excited.
I’d been publishing alternative newsweeklies in Santa Barbara and Chico for 11 years at that point and knew dozens of alternative-newspaper publishers. But I hadn’t yet met any daily publishers. I had this idea that they would be like modern Renaissance men—skilled at business, but also well-versed in politics and the arts. Mostly, I thought, they’d be passionate about the role their newspapers played in their communities and in the life of the country.
Boy, was I disappointed. The subject that seemed to rivet publishers’ attention most was golf. And when some of them discussed their newspapers’ operations, things got even worse.
On the whole, they seemed to dislike their employees, especially the union representatives. They described their printing presses as “iron” and the papers as “product.” And the remark I was stunned to hear over and over was something like, “Sure, we support our editorial product—we need to put something between the ads.”
The experience brought home to me how leadership must stay aligned with mission or an industry will fail. Publishers of dailies had begun to prioritize profit, not journalism. That’s because economic and political forces had established ground rules that allowed this to occur. Decisions about how many reporters to hire, whether to open a bureau, how many papers to print, which stories to cover—all these choices were made within the context of these forces.
This shouldn’t have come as a shock to me. After all, economic and political influences had shaped how we had been creating alternative newspapers for decades.
It has recently dawned on me that this context has been mostly missing from the current discussion about the future of journalism. As the daily-newspaper industry continues to decline, it’s important to understand that these same forces will determine how journalism will develop as we move into a post-daily world.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - Jack D. - 09-22-2009
>“Sure, we support our editorial product—we need to put something between the ads.”
This is the problem with TV and radio too. Too many ads and not enough concern for the individual subscriber who is the ONLY reason these stations exist. When there are no more viewers/listeners they can run ads 24/7 and won't have to bother with all that pesky filler content called entertainment.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - Doc - 09-22-2009
I stripped classifieds and made ads for both a little local and later a major regional newspaper when I was a kid.
The disdain that the owner and management felt for their employees was palpable. Reporters (and others on the upper floors) were not treated much better than the cellar-dwellers, but usually had the benefit of natural light in the room. The only ones who got any respect from above were in ad-sales and they were so drunk that they really didn't care.
It's a tough business. I think that one reason it's glorified is that anyone who can survive a few months at a newspaper is guarantied one tough SOB. They've "been to the wars."
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - BernDog - 09-22-2009
My brother-in-law is the online editor for our local daily, which is a corporate-owned monopoly. I'm sure he'll find this take interesting. Thanks!
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - sekker - 09-22-2009
Walking dinosaurs.
Only the most brutal SOBs are even still around in this business.
When there is a good business model with market growth, we'll see innovation instead of contraction.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - ztirffritz - 09-22-2009
It is the same problem as the music industry. They think that their business is selling CDs/Tapes/Records. Really it is about selling music. Newspapers sell news. It just happens to have been in the form of paper for quite a long time. Probably not much longer though.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - Rolando - 09-22-2009
ztirffritz wrote:
It is the same problem as the music industry. They think that their business is selling CDs/Tapes/Records. Really it is about selling music. Newspapers sell news. It just happens to have been in the form of paper for quite a long time. Probably not much longer though.
Wrong! In any advertising supported system, the customer is the advertisers, the product is you and me and our eyeballs and dollars, everything else is just a cost of business.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - deckeda - 09-22-2009
Rolando has it right. Readers aren't customers for the business. Advertisers are. The News divisions within a news organization (major distinction there) will cater to readers, sure, because the News Dept. isn't the Advertising Dept.
Publishers have far more than news on their minds because news organizations are far more than news. There's Advertising, Business, Marketing, IT, various hourly workers, union workers, real estate too.
News production and the craft of journalism costs money. Most things cost publishers money. Advertising and precious else brings in money. Revenue from readers (newsstand sales or subscriptions) have NEVER been sufficient to offset costs-not even in the glory days.
Newspapers are dying because advertisers are going away, fast. Normally, advertisers go away after readers do-and so that's been the assumption here. But the opposite is what's happened to newspapers.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - Ombligo - 09-23-2009
deckeda wrote:
Newspapers are dying because advertisers are going away, fast. Normally, advertisers go away after readers do-and so that's been the assumption here. But the opposite is what's happened to newspapers.
Deckada is dead on correct..
I've worked for newspapers for 29 years and been through a few up and downs in the industry. I've worked for chains (Knight-Ridder, Morris and Media General) and now am a senior photo editor for the largest paper in our state, which is also very highly respected publication on the national level. We are independent with no share holders to please.
Our circulation has held it's own and even grown during the last several years. That would normally be seen as a good thing, but now there are new thought processes at work.
We have to look at the cost per subscriber. The subscriber or reader is not where a newspaper makes money. Circulation is a break even at best, and generally you lose some cash on the deal. But advertisers value a paid circulation, it means people want your product enough to pay for it.
But as Deckada points out the advertisers have gone, and many are not returning. Craigslist has destroyed the classified ad sections, that is 30% of a papers revenue stream.
For those that think the printed product is going away -- it won't be anytime soon. No publication is making enough revenue from their web product to survive. The printed product is still the cash cow generally giving a publication between 85% and 95% of it's gross profit.
Newspapers are a business and must make a profit to survive. Journalists are dedicated to getting news to those that want it, but we can't do it for free or worse, pay to give it to you.
There will be more publications failing but many more will survive.
Re: Great analysis on the death of newspapers - btfc - 09-23-2009
I see newspapers surviving, but smaller and leaner, more local, and more effectively interfaced with other media forms.