I was reading an article in Time (online) about how the Plain Dealer was one of the 10 newspapers that is sure to close or go digital by the end of next year. I am not a huge fan of the daily paper. I don’t get it. Much like the local news, I find that local papers seem to misjudge what is important to me. Add to that the blogosphere and a host of other locations that allow me to find and gather the information and news that is important to me, I am not surprised to see print media suffering. Traditional ways of doing business are no longer valid in a web 2.0 world. Print media is not paid for by the subscriptions or the newsstand price. It is paid for by advertising. As fewer and fewer Americans are relying on the delivery of a printed page to their front door every morning for their news, businesses are seeing less and less reason to shell out the money for advertising in a form that is reaching less of its audience. But that doesn’t mean it is cheaper to print the paper. On the contrary, like the rest of the world’s goods paper and ink are going up in cost. It is becoming more expensive to find and retain talent. With less advertisers to pay that cost, it becomes less economically viable to print a daily paper.
While I am no advocate of the PD or any other paper closing its doors and putting more hard working people out of work, it is clear that we need to rethink the business model of print media. The blog is here to stay. Any idiot (like me) can create his own content and stream it to the world on a regular basis. The cost of broadcasting in this manner is next to nothing. I am just one guy who writes a few articles a week about Cleveland and sustainability. There are thousands right here in town. Want to know about restaurants and what is new in the food scene? There is a blog for that. What about politics? Thousands-maybe hundreds of thousands, and each has its own slant. Want to know about the economy, arts and living, local events? There are plenty of places to find these things on the web, either blogs or websites or notices. Miss that article on the Flats project? Not to worry, with the web publications, it is likely to be available for months-if not indefinitely. You can even keep up with what is going on at home when you travel. And some of these bloggers and online media outlets are making a fine living! Moreover, because many of them have specific audiences, advertisers can easily reach their target audience. If local news media wants to stay alive, it is time for a shift and a new business model. The New York times is available in print. But that may not last. You can download a subscription for much less than having a physical paper delivered. With a digital reader, you can still read it on the subway or at lunch. It is time for this kind of a change-and I am all for it.
I know very few people who read the entire paper cover to cover. There is an entire section for classified ads that goes into every paper. How many subscribers look through all those ads every day? No one is my guess. On line, you can look for just the item you want and with the rise of eBay and Craig’s List, you can see choices from around the country. That section seems to be a waste of good paper that has only a 50/50 chance of being recycled. What about the pictures. Online, you can see images that are crystal clear. You can find higher resolution photos that are suitable for framing. What do you get in the paper? Dots and pixels and many so small they are hard to even see. How much info goes into the newspaper that is of interest to you? Traditional print media requires that everything that may be of interest to anyone be evaluated for print and a decision made. Online does not have the same restrictions. You can organize and rearrange in an instant, while including more or less information as your readers demand. Online distributions also provide you with specific information about the demographics of those who are reading your content, making it easy to evaluate your effectiveness and make changes based on subscriptions.
I think it is high time that print media says good bye. I have long been an advocate of dumping direct mail and junk mailings. I believe strongly in recycling, but not everyone else does. I know of few people that have bothered to call or write because of a postcard that they received in the mail. In order to use less resources, we need to close the loop. One way is make recycling easier, but I think it is time we start thinking about putting the emphasis on reducing rather than recycling. No one will need to recycle newspapers if they are not printed in the first place. Magazines are already available on line, why bother printing copies? Why make flyers and coupons, when you can start a blog or do some more creative marketing.
Tivo and the DVR have made it easier and easier to avoid commercials, but those who are going to do well, are those who are finding more creative ways to advertise their products (like product placement). It is time for print media to reinvent itself. Rather than dying a horrible slow and painful death, the Plain Dealer should be looking at business models like Cleveland.com and its rivals. I get the headlines twittered to my desktop and can easily link to the stories that interest me. Why are we cutting down valuable forests to make paper to print papers that may or may not be read, and that likely will go into the landfill? Nearly every home has a computer and online access, time to frop the print and make the paper available in the inbox, not the paper box. The only downside is that it is harder to do the crossword.
The Plain Dealer would like to note that reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. Or, in the exact word of Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger, “baseless.”
talk about sign of the times. i prefer to get my news online too, though aaron likes having a paper to read. we don’t have a daily subscription bcs. it’s actually too much paper for us, so we just do wed. and sun. on the plus side, i use old newspapers to cover the dining table when we do crafts (or BYOP!), papier mache, or sometimes even use it as gift wrap.
btw, my mom reads the newspaper cover to cover, even if it means reading news that’s 2 days old (she’s a funny lady).
Interesting that you linked this Plain Dealer article, but it is online at the Cleveland.com website…Try and do that with a newspaper. Besides, the current generation likes being able to comment and speak their minds on articles-just look at the amounts of comments to the articles online.
I saw a link on Facebook that showed a news story of the San Francisco Chronicle going online-in the 80′s. At that time it took 2 hrs to download the paper to your computer-a unit that hooked up to a television. My mom still reads the paper, and opens every page, but how much she actually reads and absorbs, I don’t know.
I’m nostalgic and therefore like the idea that magazines and papers will be around forever, but I also see the writing on the wall, or rather, on the screen with inventions like Kindle and the Iphone. Paper writers complain the internet is ruining good writing due to the prevalence of GeekSpeak, L33T and simple bad grammar, however I catch typos and syntax errors every time I read the PD, yet rarely in the on-line “papers” like Spangle or the Times On-Line.
The biggest threat to print media is timing. Daily papers are fast, but not as fast as the instant Internet! The death knell for print media is truly sounding and those who cling to the sinking ship are in danger of getting eaten alive (I thought I’d mix a bunch of metaphors for those who like such things).
Hello there….
I work at The Plain Dealer, and although I agree the times have changed, I disagree with closing the newspaper doors.
Let me ask all of you bloggers something….Where would you get the correct news if newspapers closed their doors? TV and Radio rely on our reporters to get in, dig around, and relay the story. The Plain Dealer has over 200 reporters EVERY DAY getting real news, from real resources, which are all accredited and published.
Bloggers tell half truths……..maybe. And that’s scary, that people can write off newspapers like they mean nothing. I am a blogger myself, but I read and enjoy the newspaper in the morning, and I’m in my 20s.
And one last thing…….Commercials are on TV and the Radio for a reason. They support the programming/shows you are watching. If companies cease all of this, that is just another industry wiped completely out because of our selfish “convenience” needs.
It seems to me, with each year in the passing, we eliminate the human touch from one industry. Blogging is good for opinions, not news. You cannot believe anything you read in print, let alone on a computer screen that anyone can publish.
And one last thing, Mr Stockham.
Reading a newspaper, magazine, etc is relaxing to me. I can pick up the newspaper, read what I want, and not be bothered by dancing ads, pop ups, etc. No matter how hard the website industry tries (I used to work in it), websites will always be cluttered with junk (advertisements that quite frankly, are cheap and undervalued).
The internet is way undervalued. It’s destroying how we do commerce as a country/world. Let me clarify: The convenience for you and I is great; but the business world is suffering. Look at the industries that have collapsed over the last 10 years!!
You know, I could search for a house in California—-by bedroom, bathroom, size, etc…..at no cost to me. I’m happy for the convenience, I really am. But I just eliminated at least 2 jobs right there–the buying and selling agents.
Now I agree, lots of industries HAVE to change their business model, but the internet has completely destroyed industries, leaving many jobless–which means these people now do NOT contribute to the economy as they used to.
I believe the internet services should RAISE prices to $100 per month, just so the costs can be re-cooped. Do you know Mr Stochham, that I can log on and watch the brutal execution of Sadamm Hussein for FREE? FREE??? Yet, my cable box at home, which I pay $50 per month for, only allows me access to certain channels…..That is INSANE.
Undervalued, that’s what the web community is. Soon, all people will be like little drones watching their tv on the computer, going to school on the computer, etc–which will eliminate 1000s of jobs–jobs that cannot be replaced.
Technology can be great—soon I’m sure we’ll invent technology which allows us to build a house ourselves. That will eliminate the builders, architects, etc. Where does it stop Mr Stockham????? Where????
Chris, I do not support getting rid of reporters, just the medium that is used to get the news to the general public. Like it or not, we are raising a generation of kids who are completely connected. They have access to more information in a few minutes than we had in weeks. While I get much of my news from blogs, I admit that s lot of this is just headlines. I use them as a resource for headlines and follow links to deeper stories when I need more facts. I follow many of the Plain Dealers news stories, but I get through Cleveland.com and the headlines come through twitter. The blogs that I follow are definitely biased and heavily opinionated in some areas-but after watching news coverage of the last general election, so are many of the major news channels on television. As a blogger, I just say what I think. I know that most everyone else is doing the same. Blogs are not meant to replace news outlets. However, the traditional newspaper business model of print and daily distribution is a poor one in these economic times.
40% of landfill waste is paper (by some accounts). Most news outlets are using virgin materials. Cleveland doesn’t have curbside recycling in all areas of the city. For sustainability reasons, it makes sense to rethink the paper business model. Economically, the business of physically printing a daily does not make sense anymore. As the price of resources continues to rise, print and delivery of a daily is becoming harder and harder to make viable. This is more than my opinion, as many major newspapers are shutting their doors-Seattle PI for example. We in Cleveland are not as tech savvy as San Francisco, so we have some time I think. There is an upcoming generation that can get local and national news (real reported news) online at a moments notice, or delivered via reader directly to their computer. I am no fan of losing the Plain Dealer, but if we just close our eyes and ignore the facts, then then the PD is destined to lose its market share completely to those who are working harder to keep up with the times. I would rather see the PD adopt a newer, more effective business model than shutter its doors completely.
Ahh the wheels of progress my friend. The railroad was great for getting people and goods across the country, but it killed the stagecoach industry! Email is eliminating the need for the Postal Service. What you forget is that for every job lost by the internet (say the Travel Agent) there are 2 more added to replace it (like the Web Developer, the software engineer, or server technician). The world is not a static place and while we would like it remain the way we see it, and are happy with it, it goes on with us or with out us. We must simply try and keep up.
You are not the only one who likes the relaxation of the printed media-esp the full color glossy of a magazine. But do not forget that printed media is an advertisement driven revenue model. Advertisers are getting more choosy when it comes to where to spend their dollars, and given the rise of the internet, most are choosing this as their main advertising stream. That is why so many are in a financial crisis. The dancing pop ups are pain, to be sure, but there are applications you can add to your browser to eliminate them. Advertising and marketing firms are creating a whole new subset of jobs, whose sole purpose is to find a way to get advertising through to the consumer. These days software has made traditional print media a difficult business to maintain. I hope that the Plain Dealer can keep up.
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