Is the newspaper industry doomed? I get asked that question a lot and my answer is typically something like, “The print editions will eventually go away, increase in price or be free.” The sequence is more likely to be that the print editions will increase in price and then eventually go away. Online will be where the news is reported… but whether the newspapers can figure out how to turn a profit in that medium is still to be determined.
Newspapers seem to do so many things wrong. Not just wrong, really wrong. For example, I subscribe to several newspaper RSS feeds and not a single one of the pubs inserts ads into the feeds. As an advertiser, I cringe each day as I read the feeds knowing that thousands of others are doing the same, but arent seeing the ads that I run in the print and online edition. The newspapers I’m referencing don’t even track the number of individuals that subscribe to their RSS feeds. That is insane! Why would you not track something that could potentially add value?
Newspapers do tend to have an underutilized niche. They are typically staffed by extremely talented individuals that have spent years learning how to tell a great story. Maybe it’s time for newspapers to completely change their format. Is there seriously a need for national news in your local paper? If you think there is, please leave a comment as to why. I personally think it is a waste of space. By the time someone sees national news in the newspaper they’ve probably seen the story on TV several times and seen it online as well.
Online should be for news. Print should be for stories.
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I’m with you.
It’s been said that success is finding that which you can do better than anyone else and sticking with it.
Indeed!
Local papers should focus on their niche: local news. I’d argue that, here in Greensboro, our “locale” ought to include more updates from Raleigh.
Cheers to Mark Binker for his hard work at the N&R.
News is different from one person to another. For example, I once spoke to a woman who received the paper every day, but told me she only read the classifieds. That’s a lot of wasted newsprint to her.
Does the industry know its audience? That’s one of my questions for execs. I don’t know if the HuffPost, FoxNews or MSNBC care about pleasing everyone who might read, watch or advertise. They’ve taken aim and fired at their targets. Finding the niches that are big enough in a community to sustain a newspaper is important. But they continue to want to appeal to everyone.
Overhauls to production and operations (especially customer service) are critical, too.
As far as newspapers focusing on local news, many long-time readers, the ones who’ve paid for years, still want the newspaper to look like the NY Times. Do you just write those folks off? That’s a tough one to answer.
Herb – The individuals that have paid for years won’t like change even if it is for the good. They will eventually get used to the new concept and likely grow fond of the change. After all, if a change isn’t made they might not have a newspaper to read at all.
Ryan
The newspapers are dying for a lot of different reasons. The internet and twenty-four hour TV news are no doubt hurting.
I believe, whether true or not, your reporters and editors have lost their credibility. The N &R coverage, or non coverage, of the GPD fiasco was absolutely atrocius. The credibility of the Rhino is equally bad, but Jerry Bledsoe tore your building down one brick at a time. Why John Robinson didn’t respond is a mystery to me. Poor Loraine didn’t have a chance after the Sanders trial. Your paper was almost destroyed. I hope you can survive, but I have doubts.
Wayne – If you polled the number of people that read the N&R I’d have to imagine that the majority couldn’t have a care in the world about the GPD fiasco as we know it. When running a major pub, or oganization, you really have to keep the big picture in focus b/c it’s very easy to sweat the small stuff.
I actually think the Rhino and the N&R had a flaw in the GPD reporting. Why? The stories became more about the reporter than the story itself.
Thanks a ton for your comment.
Ryan
I would respectfully disagree that the majority of N&R readers ” couldn’t have a care in the world about the GPD fiasco”. That’s John Robinson and Keith Hollidays assumption also. I would argue that many of the readers don’t blog or write letters to the editor. But they are very interested in Greensboro politics. Particularly the one thing most people disagree with is ” Political Correctness”. Again John and Keith are oblivious to this as well as most of our city council. Trying to explain this to any of them is comparable to explaining a sunset to Stevie Wonder. All you need to do is look at Duke University for an example of this blindness.
I would ask you if you would want any of those biased ninety-four Duke Professors teaching your children. The ones who signed the petition against the Lacross boys. Think about this- If those boys families didn’t have money, they might be in prison tonight. That’s how dangerous this damn Political Correctness really is
Wayne – I’ll need to bring this conversation full circle, but I will touch on some of your comments.
Stating that a majority of readers probably don’t care about the GPD fiasco that is now several years old is much different than your statement about local politics. I’d also argue that a huge chunk of folks in Greensboro care about local politics. They certainly should, but the poll numbers just don’t show it. And before you say I don’t care about Greensboro Politics, I should inform or remind you that I also write GreensboroPolitics.com.
Now let me bring this back to the public relations and marketing focus of this site. If this discussion came up at the N&R, before any assumptions are made the paper, or any paper/business, should research the question at hand and get some data to make decisions off of. That is even more important when the subject matter is emotionally charged.
Feel free to shoot me an email if you want to chat from a local (Greensboro) standpoint. Email addy is ryan at ryanshell.com.
Ryan
Thanks Ryan, didn’t mean to get too far off subject
Ryan said “They will eventually get used to the new concept and likely grow fond of the change.”
Most will accept it, I agree, but editors and publishers don’t like grumbling.
At respectable intervals, they’re likely to get used to it, even expect/embrace it, ie. the evolution of the computer.