Republic shrinks again; CNN on newspapers

By Len Gutman on January 4th, 2009 In Media

deathofprintWe had a double whammy this morning on the state of newspapers, first with the news that the Republic is “rolling out changes” again and then with a fascinating discussion about the state of the newspaper industryon CNNs “Reliable Sources” show.

First, the Republic. Randy Lovely announced in today’s print edition that the TV guide is shrinking, the weekly Viewpoints section now will appear in the back of Valley & State each Sunday, and like the Monday edition the Tuesday edition will also have its tiny business section hidden behind the Valley & State section. Said Lovely: “In the end, you will receive the same amount of content, just packaged in fewer separate sections.” Read: saving money on production costs.

Later on Sunday morning I was watching “Reliable Sources” and host Howard Kurtz had a great discussion about the future of print journalism with Phil Bronstein, Jim Warren and Leonard Downie, all print media moguls. It was fun to watch these former editors walk the fine line between bashing their own industry and holding on to some semblance of hope for the future of print. I could not find the video, but the link above goes to the transcript of the show. The editors segment begins about two-thirds of the way in.

This nugget from former Tribune editor Warren was eye-opening, especially given that his former company is bankrupt:

“You know, to a certain extent, but it’s a big marketplace out there. And the fact that not everybody reads “The Washington Post” and “New York Times” is not necessarily all that bad.”

 

Republic shrinks again; CNN on newspapers

Comments

Angelo Fernando Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:15 am

Len,

That tombstone image made me wonder if those of us who indulge in digital media would really NOT miss print. I would. Call me old fashioned but despite my RSS reader, I want that newspaper on my driveway every morning to inform me about things I may not be smart enough to opt-in for. I want to be able to browse the newspaper and magazine racks at the bookstore.

I don’t believe the ‘newspapers are dead’ theories just because a few shrink and tweak their business model. They need to be messing –OK, experimenting– with the product (the news, not the paper) so let’s give them all the support they need.

Robyn Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:25 am

There’s an article of similar content on Time.com addressing the plight of newspaper publishing.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860829,00.html

Emily Soccorsy Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 10:28 am

History tells us that communications inventions tend to shrink the market of the former giants — but they do not disappear completely. Newspapers will do the same.

There are enough of us tactically obsessed newspaper readers out there to create a nice niche for some time to come. And right now, the demographics of those readers (I would hazard a majority of which are affluent Baby Boomers with money to spend and educated Generation Xers) are still attractive to advertisers.

Even if the Republic shrinks its weekday editions, I would mount a pretty aggressive argument about the strength of the Saturday and Sunday papers for both their ad and news content.

The trick will be continuing to provide a worthy news product. What I hear from devoted newspaper readers in this market and beyond is concern over the content — some about the amount, more about the quality. It is a very difficult balancing act to offset print and production with the time and compensation needed to write a quality article. (Because of online the chiefs at the Republic need to constantly answer the question their readers will ask themselves, “Why should I pay for this?”)

I believe the Republic can still do a good job with a smaller news hole. They will have to, to become that Valley newsprint niche product for local newspaper readers.

Luanne Mattson Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 10:59 am

I agree, Angelo. I also like to have the paper hit my driveway in the morning. RSS feeds are great, but may skew our views. And, in getting the news from RSS only, you may miss something that’s going to affect you directly.

There should always be a place for print media… In scanning the entire newspaper, I invariably come across something that intrigues me and gets me asking more questions. Thanks to the folks in print media like the Arizona Republic, the Associated Press and others. I hope they can continue to bring me valuable news every morning in “dead tree media” form.

Pat Elliott Says:
January 5th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

One of the key reasons I majored in electronic journalism (instead of print) at the University of Missouri was the school’s view that the future of journalism would be digital distribution systems.

The changes, to me, have seemed slow to come and one of the key limitations is that the available form factors, even those that claim to be designed for readers such as the Kindle, are products developed by and for geeks.

Someone who truly understands people who love to read and understands that we want the ability to scan content from cover to cover to pick and choose what we read, could make a small fortune and also boost revenues for the media industry.

Kathy Kerchner Says:
January 6th, 2009 at 12:11 pm

I think (I hope!) that newspapers can survive in some way, shape or form.

BTW, when I listened to the podcast the quote seemed to be: “And the fact that not everybody apes (not reads) “The Washington
Post” and the “NY Times”is not necessarily all that bad.

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