(News)paper Chase: From downsizing to digitizing

The ongoing saga of how to sell the story -- resuscitate the ad revenue lifeline for print media -- is more often than not becoming the story itself.


While the newsprint and newsroom personnel downsize ...

“In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets become no-newspaper markets,” said Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the industry.

[...]

Nearly every large paper in the country prints fewer pages and fewer articles, and many have eliminated entire sections. Bureaus in foreign capitals and even Washington have closed, and papers have jettisoned film criticism, book reviews and coverage of local news outside their home markets.

[...]

The steady trickle of downsizing that sapped American papers for almost a decade has become a flood in the last few years. The Los Angeles Times still has one of the largest news staffs in the country, about 600 people, but it was twice as big in the late 1990s. The Washington Post had a newsroom of more than 900 six years ago, and has fewer than 700 now. The Gannett Company, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, eliminated more than 8,300 jobs in 2007 and 2008, or 22 percent of the total.

online expansion is a window of opportunity for companies looking to transition in the technological age -- to adjust and adapt to, instead of avoid, the digital domain ...

The death of a newspaper should result in an explosion of much smaller news sources online, producing at least as much coverage as the paper did, says Jeff Jarvis, director of interactive journalism at the City University of New York’s graduate journalism school. Those sources might be less polished, Mr. Jarvis said, but they would be competitive, ending the monopolies many newspapers have long enjoyed.

though it may not be greeted with the warmest welcome ...

Many critics and competitors of newspapers — including online start-ups that have been hailed as the future of journalism — say that no one should welcome their demise.

“It would be a terrible thing for any city for the dominant paper to go under, because that’s who does the bulk of the serious reporting,” said Joel Kramer, former editor and publisher of The Star Tribune and now the editor and chief executive of MinnPost .com, an online news organization in Minneapolis.

“Places like us would spring up,” he said, “but they wouldn’t be nearly as big. We can tweak the papers and compete with them, but we can’t replace them.”

the transition is seen as an inevitability

A number of money-losing papers should “have the guts to shut down print and go online,” he said. “It will have to be a much smaller product, but that’s where we’re headed anyway.”

Industry executives who once scoffed at the idea of an Internet-only product now concede that they are probably headed in that direction, but the consensus is that newspapers going all digital would become drastically smaller news sources for the foreseeable future.

Again, the print media needs to break down the barriers between itself and online news media. Print needs to start from the ground up in the digital sphere, and that begins with interacting with online journalists -- and yes, bloggers -- to get acclimated to the new world of online news journalism.

Even Howard Zinn can attest to early Pilgrims' alliance with Natives in the U.S. That collaboration was integral to the settlers survival -- much like an alliance on behalf of the print media with the online news media community is integral to the newspaper's survival.

Naturally, as the settlers gained manpower, capital, a manifesto, and regained enough sanity to remember why they ventured here in the first place, they went from friends to forefathers of a new nation built on the backs of Nativ-- I mean morals and ideals of true Patriots. I see print doing the same; I see print's future relying on a collaboration with bloggers, online journalists, etc., to gain the basic grasp of this new medium. More importantly, I see that as the "cut losses" in time and revenue before rebranding and rebuilding the corporate print news empire online.

Print media needs to start from the ground up. Many companies -- obviously the increasingly paranoid, but rightfully so, New York Times -- take the fear-of-the-unknown route and choose to valiantly play on the sinking ship. There's nothing wrong with humbling yourself and starting from square one; for the print media, they've got nothing -- and so nothing to lose.

Watch this space: especially you advertisers, it's for sale -- still

Call me Casper the Friendly Ghost-Tweeter

I could say it better myself -- but not just yet

What's the solution? These people all need professional help. But since they're unlikely to spend the time they need on the psychiatrist's couch, they'll doubtless end up hiring assistants adept in social media. Ghostwritten Twitters are the hot new Hollywood must-have.

Every tweet will be media-coached. Every blog will be relentlessly edited — and then have typos inserted for authenticity. (Is that why someone pretending to be Rachael Ray consistently misspelled the cooking-show personality's name on a Yahoo blog?) The kids who are pretending to be celebrities on Twitter today will no doubt get paid to do it in the future.

Watch this space: never underestimate the substance beneath the stylish smoke and mirrors, there's jobs to be saved -- and plenty more to be made -- in this digital age ...

The Quarter: Title Mag

The kid's alright ... Title Magazine Editor-in-Chief Catherine Bui stopped by the Motel to let us in on her latest work:


The Quarter is a fourth of a dollar and the Fourth Estate went from promoting public opinion to profiting the private sector -- but a quarter is still a fourth and it's always a pleasant surprise to see the vanity press resurfacing. Now, the point, over at MdM a visitor sent a link to their magazine -- and I had to pass it along. So, here is an introduction to Title Magazine



At it's core, Title Magazine is an independent culture magazine on the upstart. For it's first issue, I was blown away at the clean design, and diversity of artwork and editorials. If only I had this kind of get-up-and-go as a teenager -- or a young adult at that.



Catherine Bui has her finger on the pulse. For a junior in high school this is an excellent example of how to present oneself as an asset to the cultural online media community. Title is a portfolio of visual and editorial pieces. Moreover, it displays a strong grasp of the digital sphere to produce an original online magazine of this calibre. Beyond the personal positioning though, Title is just a great publication for the culture and arts crowds.


I anticipate great things from Catherine & Co. A personal favorite within the inaugural issue was this foray into "Underexposed Photographer," Nick Asokan's work.


In my day, we had school newspapers; obviously, times have changed. It's great to see pockets of passion within the next generation of journalists and future media figures.


Title Magazine is an example of positive perpetuation: Bui's initiative is the kind that makes you, too, want to "Follow your dream."


Watch this space

"Anti-Journalism" 101

Journalists need the work, educators need the break, and students need the media literacy training.



Educators have been teaching students how to read and write what is printed for centuries. Now, in a time of unparalleled transition, ex-journalists are re-entering the classroom to teach students how to read what is in between the print -- and in between the blurred lines of news/entertainment. News literacy is increasingly important in social and personal development -- with more time being spent in front of a television or computer screen over textbooks. Where "the media" is replacing teachers, textbooks, and tutors; former media professionals are becoming teachers and tutors, explaining how to decipher through the tech-books of mainstream news/entertainment.

Some say we are drowning in information and starving for knowledge -- I conquer. However, initiatives like this one at Stony Brook set blueprints for a new media that aims to inform -- not inundate.

Watch this space: more to come ...

Even the paperboy retires at some point ...

Beyond the sarcasm, cynicism, and spin, past the pseudo-pretentious theory on the endless possibilities of the digital age -- every new beginning is some beginning's end.

Over the last few weeks, the newspaper industry has entered a new period of decline. The parent of the papers in Philadelphia declared bankruptcy as did the Journal Register chain. The Rocky Mountain News closed and the Seattle Post Intelligencer, owned by Hearst, will almost certainly close or only publish online. Hearst has said it will also close The San Francisco Chronicle if it cannot make massive cuts at the paper. The most recent rumor is that the company will fire half of the editorial staff. That action still may not be enough to make the property profitable.

Flack is the new Black

See, now who's looking silly for switching from Journalism to Public Communications? I should go on whims more often ...

It took an economic crisis to give flacks the edge ... I'll take what I can get.

Flacks thrive on behind-the-scenes, but let's face it ... everyone wants their 15

Watch this space: and the classifieds

I'll gladly print you Tuesday for a lead today

A daily dose of People Helping People -- though I'm pretty sure the Circus sneak peek was enough good karma to last me through the week. Three times a day I get HARO queries, where Peter Shankman looks to link journalists with sources. As an intern I haven't technically answered any of the queries but ... I'm working on it, and it doesn't mean you can't

Each day, you'll receive up to three emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries per email. They'll all be labeled with [shankman.com] in the subject line, for easy filtering. If you see a query you can answer, go for it! HelpAReporterOut.com really is that simple.

I built this list because a lot of my friends are reporters, and they call me all the time for sources. Rather than go through my contact lists each time, I figured I could push the requests out to people who actually have something to say.

So a few things about this list: First off, yes, it's free.

There's more, but usually "First off, yes, it's free," is the selling point ...