Comments on: The Future of Newspapers http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html Dispatches from a Small Business Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:39:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Software http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23652 Software Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:50:53 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23652 Thank you for another great post. I look forward to many more entries with high quality info. <a href="http://www.rain-clouds.com" rel="nofollow">craigslist software</a> Thank you for another great post.
I look forward to many more entries with high quality info.

craigslist software

]]> By: Doug http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23233 Doug Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:04:07 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23233 I think you're right on target. Too many papers, like the Orlando Sentinel here, have tried to be national news sources for local markets but can't compete with true, readily available, national sources. And the phenomenon of objective media is not just recent, it's ridiculous. These are people, not robots, and while I'm sure many of them try to be neutral I'm equally sure most fail. That's okay. They should should stop pretending they don't have a point of view and instead, tell us what it is. Partisan reporting, with ideas that must compete and stand up to hostile attacks, is more informative anyway. If impartial reporting, investigation and analysis really were the best way to get the truth, shouldn't we apply that principle to the court system and eliminate the highly paid, highly partisan lawyers we use now? (I know that could be a popular idea, but I doubt we'd really be better off just letting the DA present his impartial findings to the judge who then renders a decision.) I think you’re right on target. Too many papers, like the Orlando Sentinel here, have tried to be national news sources for local markets but can’t compete with true, readily available, national sources.

And the phenomenon of objective media is not just recent, it’s ridiculous. These are people, not robots, and while I’m sure many of them try to be neutral I’m equally sure most fail. That’s okay. They should should stop pretending they don’t have a point of view and instead, tell us what it is.

Partisan reporting, with ideas that must compete and stand up to hostile attacks, is more informative anyway. If impartial reporting, investigation and analysis really were the best way to get the truth, shouldn’t we apply that principle to the court system and eliminate the highly paid, highly partisan lawyers we use now? (I know that could be a popular idea, but I doubt we’d really be better off just letting the DA present his impartial findings to the judge who then renders a decision.)

]]> By: boqueronman http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23232 boqueronman Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:01:27 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23232 The legacy news media's inability to adapt to a rapidly changing news production, delivery and reading environment has a lot to do with the slow but steady hardening of barriers to entry. The news business has been characterized by an ever decreasing number of locally owned and operated news outlets as the older, smaller fish were consumed by the larger fish, and, in many cases, non-news business specialist companies who were just interested in diversification. This made it harder and harder for the news consumer to feel like the "local" news source was actually talking to him or her. The second large barrier to entry was the conversion of the journalist profession from one that often recruited subject matter specialists to one where a "degree" in journalism was required. The result is a plethora of "reporters" who, first, have been trained to seek to "change the world," an inherently utopian leftist concept and, frankly, to find a partisan political and cultural agenda they like and write down why you too should think this way too. All of a sudden the internet came along and almost instantaneously the transmission of information and opinion was radically democratized. The problem that affects the industry is that the big money sees no real investment opportunities in this hyper-competitive environment, at least at ROIs they'd be interested in, and that the formation of organic distributed networks around a broader base will take a long time. The legacy news media’s inability to adapt to a rapidly changing news production, delivery and reading environment has a lot to do with the slow but steady hardening of barriers to entry. The news business has been characterized by an ever decreasing number of locally owned and operated news outlets as the older, smaller fish were consumed by the larger fish, and, in many cases, non-news business specialist companies who were just interested in diversification. This made it harder and harder for the news consumer to feel like the “local” news source was actually talking to him or her. The second large barrier to entry was the conversion of the journalist profession from one that often recruited subject matter specialists to one where a “degree” in journalism was required. The result is a plethora of “reporters” who, first, have been trained to seek to “change the world,” an inherently utopian leftist concept and, frankly, to find a partisan political and cultural agenda they like and write down why you too should think this way too. All of a sudden the internet came along and almost instantaneously the transmission of information and opinion was radically democratized. The problem that affects the industry is that the big money sees no real investment opportunities in this hyper-competitive environment, at least at ROIs they’d be interested in, and that the formation of organic distributed networks around a broader base will take a long time.

]]> By: NormD http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23225 NormD Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:45:19 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23225 I have no formal data, but I stopped subscribing to several magazines after they became overtly, annoyingly political. These included Newsweek, Scientific American, New Scientist and Skeptical Inquirer(!). I subscribe to the San Jose Mercury News for local news, and would cancel it in a heartbeat if I had a good alternative. I subscribe the the WSJ, but mostly for the editorial pages, the news sections are biased towards the left. It makes no sense to me why any business would go out of its way to insult and annoy its customers. This certainly is part of the reason print media is failing. I don't like bias bias of any sort. I want information, facts, discussion, lively debate even heated argument. Biased reporting is just so boring and uninteresting. I would love something like the WSJ with a local/state section. Is this possible? I have no formal data, but I stopped subscribing to several magazines after they became overtly, annoyingly political. These included Newsweek, Scientific American, New Scientist and Skeptical Inquirer(!). I subscribe to the San Jose Mercury News for local news, and would cancel it in a heartbeat if I had a good alternative. I subscribe the the WSJ, but mostly for the editorial pages, the news sections are biased towards the left.

It makes no sense to me why any business would go out of its way to insult and annoy its customers. This certainly is part of the reason print media is failing.

I don’t like bias bias of any sort. I want information, facts, discussion, lively debate even heated argument. Biased reporting is just so boring and uninteresting.

I would love something like the WSJ with a local/state section. Is this possible?

]]> By: jt http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23224 jt Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:04:07 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23224 Unfortunately, the Times, Globe, and other MSM papers (at l;east the ones I know reasonably well) also do a terrible job of being relevant to their *local* markets. Even we ignore their political agendas, these papers tend to be clueless about what the top issues are for people who live in the suburbs and less-fashionable parts of modern metro areas (hint: an occasional local color story doesn't do the job). I don't think there's an easy answer to this problem, but it's worth noting that the big growth in newspapers in the last few decades has been in the suburbs. And the suburban chain papers mostly seem to be quite healthy. Do some market research, hold focus groups, acquire a few winners for their expertise--all the basic bag of tricks that *real* marketers use to position themselves for new markets. Then the big dailies just might survive. However, I don't expect any of them to try this approach. Unfortunately, the Times, Globe, and other MSM papers (at l;east the ones I know reasonably well) also do a terrible job of being relevant to their *local* markets. Even we ignore their political agendas, these papers tend to be clueless about what the top issues are for people who live in the suburbs and less-fashionable parts of modern metro areas (hint: an occasional local color story doesn’t do the job). I don’t think there’s an easy answer to this problem, but it’s worth noting that the big growth in newspapers in the last few decades has been in the suburbs. And the suburban chain papers mostly seem to be quite healthy. Do some market research, hold focus groups, acquire a few winners for their expertise–all the basic bag of tricks that *real* marketers use to position themselves for new markets. Then the big dailies just might survive.

However, I don’t expect any of them to try this approach.

]]> By: DrTorch http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23223 DrTorch Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:17:47 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23223 Some interesting comments and thoughts here: http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-newspapers-are-failing http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-newspapers-are-failing-pt-2 Some interesting comments and thoughts here:

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-newspapers-are-failing

http://www.splicetoday.com/politics-and-media/five-key-reasons-why-newspapers-are-failing-pt-2

]]> By: kelly http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23220 kelly Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:51:32 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23220 Oh, you subscribe to the Arizona Republic? Oh, you subscribe to the Arizona Republic?

]]> By: Link http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23218 Link Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:39:18 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23218 When the New York Times bought The Boston Globe I thought they'd be doing a much deeper integration of both papers. My understanding is that they did some back office consolidation but left the papers mostly separate, and so gained little benefit from one company owning both papers. When the New York Times bought The Boston Globe I thought they’d be doing a much deeper integration of both papers. My understanding is that they did some back office consolidation but left the papers mostly separate, and so gained little benefit from one company owning both papers.

]]> By: Michael Miller http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23217 Michael Miller Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:04:14 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23217 To your first paragraph-I had to chuckle when Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez both expressed their deep concerns for their friend Barack's personal safety. Hugo even went so far as to call him comrade. To your first paragraph-I had to chuckle when Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez both expressed their deep concerns for their friend Barack’s personal safety. Hugo even went so far as to call him comrade.

]]> By: Ken N http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/the-future-of-newspapers.html/comment-page-1#comment-23215 Ken N Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:01:13 +0000 http://www.coyoteblog.com/?p=9031#comment-23215 It is fascinating trying to work out what the new model for newspapers will be, or if there will be one at all. On figures I have seen the business problem is the collapse of advertising in many markets. Advertising pays for the content of the paper - the cover or subscription price barely covers cost of printing and distribution. No-one has discovered a way of selling enough ads online to pay the cost. The difficulty of national papers is usually that most press advertising is local - especially retail. When I last looked the NYT had mostly department store ads. The WSJ could be different. It is fascinating trying to work out what the new model for newspapers will be, or if there will be one at all.
On figures I have seen the business problem is the collapse of advertising in many markets. Advertising pays for the content of the paper – the cover or subscription price barely covers cost of printing and distribution. No-one has discovered a way of selling enough ads online to pay the cost.
The difficulty of national papers is usually that most press advertising is local – especially retail. When I last looked the NYT had mostly department store ads. The WSJ could be different.

]]>