Dec

21

A Few More Reasons Why Newspapers Still Don’t Get It

December 21, 2008 | by Keith | Categories Internet, Newspapers | 6 Comments

I was reading Jason Whitlock’s latest column in the Kansas City Star today and my thoughts again turned to why the newspaper industry is failing, and how the barons who run it continue to not see the forest through the trees.

I love Whitlock, but his reasoning that newspapers need to survive is flawed.  If newspapers are to survive, they need to stop running their businesses as news papers.  When are they collectively going to realize that the printed news sheet, at a faster rate each day, is fading out of relevance?  And that they need to consider themselves as news organizations, not news papers?

Papers will tell you that they have websites that keep readers up to date with the latest news and that these are being well received by readers.  Agreed, but papers now need think of their online presence as the priority and their print editions as secondary.  Most papers, with websites, are not doing this.

I give credit to the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News in announcing last week that they will be cutting back on home delivery of the paper to only three days a week.  They appear to be weaning subscribers off the print teat that has restricted these news organizations over the last few years.  Others should do the same.

Even though just about all major newspapers have websites, they seem to treat those readers with less respect than those who subscribe to the print editions. 

As an example…I usually work on this site early in the morning, before I begin my real job and shepherding my daughter off to school.  When I compile my sports media columnists links on Friday morning you have no idea how many stories I miss because they are not posted on their newspaper website at the time I am assembling my post.  Often I will go back to see that a story is posted on a newspaper website well after 8am (check out the time stamp at the top of the article).  What service is this to readers?

Why is it that when an editor sends a story to the press that it is not simultaneaously sent to the website?  Haven’t we come to a time when there should only be one keystroke to make this happen?  Other newspapers have no problem accomplishing this.  To those who don’t, if there excuse is that they want their print subscribers to access the content before their online readers, then congratulations, you will soon be out of business.


Comments

6 Comments so far

  1. EasySEO on December 22, 2008 4:36 am

    Hey I just did find your blog. Good Stuff! Don’t have time now to read trough all the topics but I will come back later to read more.

  2. George on December 23, 2008 2:56 am

    Then you have the almost exclusive case of the Albuquerque (NM) Journal who does not let anyone access their website for any detailed content beyond headlines unless one is a subscriber to the daily newspaper. With the demise of the competing Albuquerque Tribune newspaper earlier in 2008, information about the news and happenings occuring in New Mexico’s largest city is limited to bloggers and other content providers with limited or no journalistic resources, access, and contacts…

  3. T.J. on December 23, 2008 11:45 am

    Most newspaper websites tried a pay wall like Albuquerque and it failed miserably (as I’m sure theirs is). The NY Times used to be a pay website, too. It doesn’t work in any market except maybe the absolute smallest, and that subscriber base is so small the numbers don’t work.

    If you look at the bigger papers, they’re starting to get that the print edition isn’t going to last. Some bigger papers still have website newsrooms and print newsrooms that are completely separate. The Washington Post, for instance, is finally integrating, but their web people aren’t even located in D.C. (mostly for union reasons, though). It’s just a matter of time before papers realize the web is the only place their readership has grown in nearly 30 years.

  4. John Newsom on December 23, 2008 12:43 pm

    “Haven’t we come to a time when there should only be one keystroke to make this happen?”

    In theory, sure.

    In reality, it’s multiple keystrokes because every story must be ported from print to Web with varying degrees of human assistance.

    We use DTI for the print product and Drupal for the online version. (Our blogs, meanwhile, are run on Movable Type.) Getting DTI and Drupal two to work together – let’s say it’s a shotgun marriage that works some nights better than others.

    It’s a little like writing in MS Word (or Notepad), then pasting it into whatever Web publishing software program you use.

    And don’t get me started on photos.

    No, I don’t know why there isn’t one publishing program that does all of that as well as handle the ads for both print and online.

    Actually, I think I might have answered my own question.

  5. sanford sklansky on December 25, 2008 1:07 pm

    I agree with you about the news paper websites. However I think it is rather depressing to see a big town newspaper go to only 3 delivery days. As much as the internet is out there there are still millions of people that don’t have access to a computer or can’t afford to pay for an internet connection.

    While I read plenty of things on line, I like the feeling of having a paper in my hands.

  6. Keith on December 26, 2008 5:36 am

    Sanford,

    I agree with you completely. I tend to read more of the news when I have it in my hands.

    I believe by the time my generation passes (I am approaching my mid 40’s), paper will be a thing of the past.

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