Valley PR Blog

Not ‘Taps’ for Trib

By Dan Wool on October 6th, 2008 In Media

As reported earlier today, the East Valley Tribune is headed for a major re-org and has made major staff cuts. It is indeed very sad. A lot of good reporters out of work is not a good thing — we certianly need more, not less, quality reporting.

But that said, this move also seems smart business. Print advertising has become hyper-local. The Trib owns the Eastside’s major independent hyper-local papers.

In addition, consumers have less time and split their reading between print and Web.

As a result, locals seem to want three things from newspapers these days: local news, sports and entertainment. The Trib does all three well. Seen any of their Sheriff Joe stories? Or read their D-backs or high school football coverage? Or seen Get Out? Now, they are focusing on them. Can readers get the rest of the non-pariel news off the Web? Yes.

In so doing, the Trib acknowledged the truth of the newspaper business. And it’s fighting to save it from digital oblivion. They are in a better position than that other failing Phoenix paper to deal with it, so they are. In this regard, kudos.

In fact, I’ll go against the collective hand wringing and say it here first, I think the Trib’s best days are ahead of them. They’ll be more competitive now.

The new tabloid format has looked great — but it has been awkward to read with the inserted broadsheet sections (Nation, etc.). This is the opportunity to tighthen up and shine.

If Julie Moreno & Co. can get a cohesive look to the paper, slot in the local Eastside freebies a couple times a week (Ahwatukee Foothills News, Chandler Connection, Octotillo Tribune, etc.) and drop it free on my driveway, they’re gonna have a much larger circulation/following and better cross-sell opportunities for advertisers. In so doing, the Trib also has an opportunity to aggregate and cultivate a unified Eastside community over time.

It’s a calculated risk but sometimes you have to tear something down to build it back up. I wish them luck.

Comments

Wow!!! I had no idea this was coming. Although I guess I am not surprised in that I don’t think many metropolitan areas can support more than one daily.

Professionally, I don’t work with the Tribune or Republic that much in my work with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. Personally, I live in Mesa, and very rarely read the Tribune or check their website. How they now compete against azcentral.com/AZ Republic website is not something I can picture happening without something incredible happening. And 142 jobs gone - my heart goes out to those people.

Who knows? Maybe free and specific (Trib) vs. $17/month and broad (Republic) in this economy may be the ticket. Unfortunately, the Trib themselves have to survive the economy.

Hard to tell what will work.There seems to be a lot of experimenting going on.

I’ve been getting one of the Republic’s new magazines in the mail, a crossover from the print vehicle. Last week I got an email (with multiple typos and grammatical errors) telling me the magazine was no longer free and they want $10 to continue the subscription. The publication is dominated by ads and product placements, with little editorial value or substance. There’s no reason to pay for what’s essentially advertising in a new format when better and more custom content is available free online.

Meanwhile, national publications that want to drive traffic to their websites are mailing offers with deeply discounted subscription fees for their print vehicles that almost make them free.

As Dan said, who knows?

A couple months ago I made innuendo to Tribune’s troubles on this blog, but none of Phoenix’s intelligencia picked up on it. They waited until the press release was issued.

Tribune is copying a formula local Independent papers established more than 15 years ago. It may be due to Renie Scibona, one of the wisest managers in newspapers, and now at Ahwatukee Foothills News (my boss at Independent).

Unfortunately in this age of Internet, the formula no longer works for the Independent group either. Their free papers are 1/3 house ads.

Newspapers need to rethink its industry. Like I was taught in my business studies, the problem with stage coach companies was they thought of themselves as stage coach companies, not in the travel business.

So, (PAY ATTENTION REPUBLIC), are newspapers in the communications business or newspaper business? Gannett is suffering. Freedom newspapers are dead nationwide. What defines communications in the 21st Century? Television and radio are still the leaders. Rearing its head is local volunteering to build a brand.

As I write this, I’ve been EXCLUSIVELY on the Internet from 7 a.m. through noon. Right now listening to Internet radio that only offers ads on its site, not on the air like Yahoo music does. Yahoo has the better business model and staying power.

There’s an old saying, if you don’t know history, you’re bound to repeat it. The public did not know they were in a depression until 1932, nearly three years after the nation went into its 2nd depression (first one was 1880s – see about history). When will U.S. businesses wake up?

The good news is about 85% of the nation is employed. You don’t hear that from the media. If it bleeds, it leads.

“As a result, locals seem to want three things from newspapers these days: local news, sports and entertainment. The Trib does all three well. Seen any of their Sheriff Joe stories? Or read their D-backs or high school football coverage? Or seen Get Out? Now, they are focusing on them.”

Except the vast majority of the people responsible for all those things are now gone.

“East Valley Tribune Layoff List Includes Many Longtime Local Journos”

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2008/10/east_valley_tribune_layoff_lis.php

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