Are newspapers gone forever?

Is someone trying to buy Reuters?


Over the last two weeks it seems like more and more major media organization are vulnerable for takeover by a major corporation.

Another scary trend in media is the buying up of every new idea buy the big corporations. The latest offer that has been through out was made by Microsoft. After years of trying to create a half decent search engine to compete with the likes of Yahoo and Google. Microsoft has decided that if you can't be them buy them when they made a proposal to buy Yahoo for $50 billion. Lets put this into perspective Google purchased YouTube for a mere $1.65 billion and NewsCorp bought MySpace for $580 million. Is Yahoo really wroth 25 times the combine cost of both of these sites? In the long run maybe.

According to a blog on the Huffington Post by James Boyce the host of "Heading Left" on BlogTalkRadio a weekly radio show, a major city newspaper will fold in the next twelve months.

It seems a little hard to consider a guy who has never worked for a newspaper (according to his bio.) an expert on the industry but there are a few things that I agree with in his blog.

It is very pathetic that newspapers which such a rich traditions as the Boston Globe have to offer a $40 rebate on their monthly subscription. It sounds a lot like what many American car companies such as GMC and Ford did a few years ago by offering huge rebates to entice new customs.

Meanwhile Toyota's market share continued to grow while they were selling cars that cost thousands more then their American counterparts. Toyota realized that by making high quality products they could add value to their product and justify their high prices.

The problems with huge rebates is it lowers the value of your product. Rebates are a good short term gimmick, but if you use them for to long customer start to expect them and only turn to you because you are selling a product that they can afford rather then something they actually want.

He is right that circulation has been falling since March 2005 at almost every major newspaper and many newspapers like the Washington Post have posted scene double digit profit declines int he first quarter of this year.

Good content in hide demand now more then ever before, since the Internet has opened up the floodgates of rumors and conspiracy theories as it makes it too easy for every cook to create their own soapbox.

Newspapers are still the place most people go for in depth coverage and the place that TV and Radio station turn to when they want to make it appear like they provide in depth coverage.
The world of Citizen Journalism and blogging is still very unorganized to post a major threat to newspapers. The best blogs are too specialized to have a huge effect on newspaper readership. You still have to read 10 or 20 blogs to get the latest news on the same topics that most newspapers provide. The blogs made be kept more up-to-date and provide links to every article that is ever publish on a particular subject but they can only do so much.

The development of Yahoo paying bloggers could lead to more news web sites and search engines paying blogger to act like freelance journalists to provide intriguing content. Freelance Bloggers working by themselves on a single topic can only do so much.

I believe that what can save newspapers from their not so certain doom is figuring out a better way to more advertise on-line from off. Lets face it no one reads the newspaper for the ads no one ever did!!
But on most newspaper websites it is becoming harder and harder to avoid all the pop up ads that come up every time you click on a article. The ones that jump out and cover the screen so that you can't read what is underneath them or close them are one of the most annoying things that a tel-marketed ever dreamed up.

Newspapers should look for a way to work with advertises to provide personal advertising based on the reading habits of their customers. They need to create ads that compliment their coverage of entertainment and arts rather then annoying ads that making reading the newspaper online such a pain in the neck.

No matter how annoying you make things I am still going to read the paper online just because its easier and cheaper then picking it up from the newsstand every day. This is a fact don't act like your customers are doing something evil or illegal by reading online.

Whatever happen to adapting to what the customs wants instead of resenting it.

Making the advertising less annoying and more person is one way to fix the revenue stream, One way to provide more intriguing content is to focus on local news or even provide a web site for Hyperlocalism coverage. Another way is to ask readers about what they think the newspaper should cover. To use a survey or focus group or just an open call for comments to give them a say in the way that the newspaper set its coverage priorities.

Media layoffs hit new low

the Problem with Big Media


On Monday, April 30th The Associated Press reported that newspaper circulation had fallen another 2.1 percent in the last six months. This downward spiral of circulation has inspired major layoffs from several major national newspapers. In the first quarter of 2007 media companies have announced 4,391 layoffs a 93 percent increase from last year. Newspapers are not the only one's layoff people;
with six percent of the media job cuts coming from the magazine publishing and 12 percent from television.

In the middle of the coverage of the Virginia Tech Massacre NBC breaks its own record for the lowest prime-time viewership for the second straight week with an average of 6.2 million viewers.


Paying to reach everyone through a single dominant platform such as a general interest news outlet is a proposition that makes business sense for fewer and fewer advertisers.

Media organizations assemble and sell audiences, and the broad audience that a value-neutral news reporting operation tends to attract is no longer in demand, online or off.

What can still work, online and offline, is specialized content that appeals to a particular audience. The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times are outperforming other papers.

While a few people are afraid that we are head toward a "Daily Me." where the media fragments into different niches to satisfy the desires of different marketers Google is making context-sensitive ads the industry standard. Every article and every video clip will find its own audience as people use search engines to pick and choose what they want.

No one wants to buy the whole paper if you are not going to read half of it. Why should you sit through a entire newscast when I all you want to know is did the Cubs win their last game?

While everyone else in the media is cutting back and crying over spilled milk Robert Murdoch is still smiling as he looks to add to his empire.

What is he doing now?

After Launching MySpace in China, Murdoch is planning a business-news television channel to challenge CNBC.
To gain a little prestige he is offering to buy Dow Jones, which owns the Wall Street Journal. This announcement rocketed Dow Jones shares up 58 percent.



Is the Media turning into Big Brother?

More newspapers cut jobs

The Denver Post announced that it will buyout about 90 newsroom workers to trim costs. The paper only has about 268 workers in the newsroom so this move will take them down to 178. This comes one-year after the Post bought out a dozen newsroom positions. The Rocky Mountain News owned by Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co. eliminated 50 employees last month and The Baltimore Sun just eliminated 50 positions.

All these layoffs raise the question can small papers still provide the same quality coverage that their readers rely on with 178 people? Job cuts that are this big must have a lasting effect on what the paper is able to cover and how they divide their resources to cover local and national events. Most papers already rely on the big three to provide them with coverage of most international events. So if a paper cannot afford to have a corespondent in Iraq do they need one in Chicago? New York? Washington D.C.?

All these layoffs will probably lead papers like the Denver post to focus more on local events that they can cover better then any other news outlet.

Many news outlets have used layoffs as a way to boost their stock prices but that rarely ever works.

Media General Inc had a net lost in the first quarter of 2007 of $6.5 million and as a result they are cutting 70 staff positions from the Tampa Tribune.

Discovery started April by cutting 200 jobs, with more layoffs to come.

In the case of Le Journal in Quebec, Canada 140 employees were locked out after the company reached an impasse with the Canadian Union of Public Employees at the daily tabloid newspaper.

Media: Fire newstaff Hire Programmers

Here is the Trib. vs. Sun-times ad Mocking the Mac Vs. PC ads



Tribune only recent Triumph Red Eye?


Look for our classmate in video.

Excutives at the Chicago Tribune have announced another round of firings at its Flagship and the Los Angeles Times with both papers hit by declining advertising revenues and a first quarter loss of 4 percent.

Its hard to believe that this latest round of "spring cleaning" by the Trib. has nothing to do with, real estate mogul Sam Zell purchasing the Tribune Media Group. Last year on August 25, the Trib . laid off 250 jobs and another 120 on July 14. In 2005 they dropped 900 jobs on December 7, and over 200 jobs on July 7 2004. So over the last three years they have laid off a total of 1,720 employees according to I Want Media.

While newspaper ad revenue and circulation is down in almost every category you can break it up to according to The State of the News Media 2006. Many people believe that online ad revenue will one day like 2018 surpass print advertising. Lets hope that day comes a little sooner for anyone who still has dreams of becoming a reporter at a major newspaper. Like me. Damn you Tribune Dream squasher.

While the Trib. is worried about the decline stock price since its peak on 12/32/04 at $82 a share some people other newspapers are exploring new ways to use the Internet to cash in on new ad revenue.

Daily newspapers laid off around 600 people during 2005 which is about half of the 1,200 to 1,500 reduction that is projected for 2006 by the state of the media report that comes in March.

there are a few special cases where newspapers are actually transitions from print to web and gaining in profit at the same time.

The Wall Street Journal is a special case with more than 764,000 paid subscribers to its online version, and profits of its extended online operations, including indexes and “Marketwatch,” now outstripping those of the print edition.

The report had a warning about the effect of cutting staff has on the quality of newspapers.

Our sense based on the data is that deep news-staff cuts, however logical a response to tough times, may be undermining the core product in dangerous ways. The practice is certainly eating away at the range and depth of newspaper journalism in many communities.

What is inspiring the recent layoffs in the newspaper industry? not falling revenue but stagnate revenue growth.

The threat to newspapers now appears from nearly every indicator. From 1950 through 1999, for instance, newspaper revenue grew seven percent a year. From 2000 through 2006, by contrast, it has grown by just 0.5%. Then in the first quarter of 2006, growth was even less: 0.35%.

Newspapers people have been hiring Journalist-Programmers who can make their website more user friendly and using their web sites to cover stories from all angles using interactive graphics. On example of a newspaper that has done this is TheNewsTribune.com Tacoma, Washington.

One other thing that might be causing the Tribune to cut its workforce Moody's cuts Tribune rating deeper into junk since the deal with Sam Zell's will give them $8.4 billion in dept. Which means should they evertake out a loan on anything the interest on it will go throw the roof.

Is the future of newspapers Hyperlocalism?

According to the Knight Citizen News Network there are over 450 U.S. citizen media sites providing local news in communities from Juneau, Alaska to Coconut Grove, Florida.

So is this the way newspapers have to go in order to grab new readers and create a brand for themselves? Does this mean that newspaper will cut back on their coverage of international news?

These are the questions that PBS FRONTLINE: news war recently tackled in Part 3 chapter 23.

My take is more local news is a step in the right direction, especially if it is done in a way that encourages readers to send in user generated content to turn the newspaper website into a forum for conversation in the community. Newspapers can use "hyperlocalism" to allow readers to interact with each other through their websites in new ways to combine their resources and make sure important news stories see the light of day that are often ignored.

Focusing on the more local news gives newspapers a chance to stick out among all the media organizations as the best place for news on their hometown. To give readers and advertises that the place to go for local news in Washington D.C. is the Metro - washingtonpost website. Since most major cities like Los Angeles only have one or two major local papers this is an easy way for only paper in a particular city to compete with the other local news outlets for advertising and for an audience. In the battle for local video advertising the newspapers are beating TV stations.

Since hyperlocalism are popping up every day newspaper are now competing with local blogs, and citizen journalism sites as more of their readers move online to get their news. The big fat cat print monopolies have to adapt to the changing market being a good local newspaper is not enough you have to have a great website to act as forum of the community.


The new design for USATODAY.com is attracting more people to register on the site since it give readers a chance to see how many people recommend and commented on a stories and to actually read the comments of their fellow readers. At the very least the other major newspapers should follow the USA Today's lead and give readers a chance to see readers comment on stories and search for the stories with most comments. Focusing on local coverage is one unique way that newspapers can better serve their core audience and argue that in the information age that their is room for local newspapers in American.

The one down side of this is some people thing that only to beef up the local news is to shut down international bureaus and cut foreign correspondents. After all do you really need more then one newspaper reporter in Baghdad covering the war in Iraq at the same time?

My answer to them is yes we need several.

Especially in such a dangerous place where everyone is trying to spin the story for their advantage. The fact is the media have made several mistakes in their coverage of Iraq and the lack of security throughout Iraq makes it very hard for any one reporter to do the hard hitting investigative pieces that will allow readers to see what is really going on on the ground beyond the number of casualties from the latest suicide bombing.

What do the average Iraqis think they can secure the country without the U.S.? Are leaders throughout the Middle East denouncing the violence or are they secretly encouraging and funding it to deliver a blow to the America's ego? You need several reporters competing together to answer these questions from ever angle.

Europe thinks newspapers are not dead.

Those crazy Europeans they think that Newspaper is not dead. Meanwhile all the big newspapers corporations in America with any sense believes that only three papers (USA Today, Washington Post, NY times) are need for the U.S. and the Chicago tribune ain't one of them.

How can newspapers survive in the age of Internet with no classified section? fulling ad revenue for the print edition? And fulling circulation?

Bruno Patino, director of online projects at France's Le Monde said that the Internet would allow newspapers to focus on in-depth investigations as the web site focuses on audiences that demands up-to-the-minute-news: translation: to find who is the dad of Anna Nicole's baby the minute they announced it check the website to find out more about how the Veterans hospital system is failing our soldiers when they return from combat read the first in a series of articles on the website updated every so often as we get it. On the Internet 10,000 words costs the same as 10 words. TV and radio still really heavily on newspaper to provide in depth analysis on major stories and so do the readers of newspapers.

like the U.S. Europe is facing fulling newspaper circulation;

The most recent figures available from the World Association of Newspapers showed that daily paid newspapers in the European Union saw a 0.61 percent drop in circulation in 2005, and a 5.26 percent fall over the five years through 2005.


Europe's largest newspaper Berlin based Axel Springer will spend $2.67 billion to expand its digital offerings both in Germany and throughout the world.

Zach Leonard of the The Times of London said that writers will need to learn to write better headlines since search engines tend to reduce stories to their first 200 characters. The Times also encourages journalists to fill out articles with video and audio content.

Another drawback of reading the newspaper online. the computer reads the headlights for you and it does know about everything that you are interested in unless you add 30 or 40 unique topics to the Google News.

Ad revenue online is rising too:

Advertising online is a strong lure for newspapers. In Britain, for example, online advertising rose 41 percent in 2006 to reach more than 2 billion pounds, giving it an 11.4 percent share of the market, just higher than that of the newspapers. That compared to 7.8 percent in 2005, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau report which was compiled by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Advertising Research Center.

So if you will not throw away your subscription to the Chicago Tribune I will not tell my mother to stop her subscription with the Los Angeles Times. News Paper is not dead we just need to figure out how to move the ads from print to online. In the end content, in dept content is king. this is what makes us unique and what will keep us going well into the 21st century. those pin heads who say only three papers should exists hate capitalism because they are against competition and have lost sight to the importance of local news.

Watch PBS: FRONTLINE:news war: part III Chapter 21 on my precious Los Angeles Times that I grew up with.