The News Business is Cratering

[RoBo1988]

The News Business Really Is Cratering

The state of the industry is more dire than ever.

www.politico.com

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

 

[iluvatar5150]

The News Business Really Is Cratering

The state of the industry is more dire than ever.

www.politico.com

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

Quite a few of them, actually. We subscribe to digital versions of the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Banner, WaPo, and NYT. For some reason, we also get the Recipe and Games add-ons for NYT, though I will say I get a ton of mileage from the Games one.

WaPo is so cheap, it’s almost silly to not subscribe. I forget the regular price, but once you try to cancel, they offer it for something like $12/yr.

Now that the guy behind Sinclair Broadcasting bought the Sun, I may have to rethink that one.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I don’t think “the news business” is “cratering.”

First off, SI shouldn’t be included in the discussion because their layoffs and closure come from being in breech of their licensing agreement. Now that it seems it wasn’t a lack of ability to pay but an (at best) oversight or at worst, a “they messed around and they found out” situation.

Secondly, I think this is all because some publishers of news, TIME being one of them, overestimated the longevity and people’s devotion to physical papers and magazines. All the success stories in the article have one thing in common… Going big on digital and video/podcast hybrids. Boston Globe especially went big and hard with online but with the format where they’d produce news segments with video for their website and other sites, then take the audio from it and slap it on a sound bite podcast that updated regularly through the day.

It is universally agreed their choice to go to the people vs allowing people to come to them has been their secret sauce. Even CNN does it now. I hear whole shows that were Primetime specials the night before as audio-only podcasts on Alexa the next day.

The news industry, specifically the paper industry, is going through a normal movement where those who failed to innovate are being culled out.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

The News Business Really Is Cratering

The state of the industry is more dire than ever.

www.politico.com

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

I did, longer than most. Then the literal size was cut down to about half of the previous newspaper size, and the articles were sprinkled in with almost full pages of ads. Then I quit.

The nonstop spamming has now transferred to TV and cable outlets, a lot of it being Pharma. We watched a movie Saturday and I kept track for awhile. It was about evenly spaced - 7 minutes of movie, followed by 7 minutes of spamming (commercials). It's going to die as well, if something doesn't change.

 

[iluvatar5150]

We watched a movie Saturday and I kept track for awhile. It was about evenly spaced - 7 minutes of movie, followed by 7 minutes of spamming (commercials).

Everything about broadcast tv is insufferable and streaming services look like they're slowly headed in that direction. I've started buying films on disc again because the quality is better, the ability to watch it doesn't go away when some corporation decides to not renew the license, and it makes watching a film more of a deliberate choice than just something to do.

 

[wing2000]

I did, longer than most. Then the literal size was cut down to about half of the previous newspaper size, and the articles were sprinkled in with almost full pages of ads. Then I quit.

The nonstop spamming has now transferred to TV and cable outlets, a lot of it being Pharma. We watched a movie Saturday and I kept track for awhile. It was about evenly spaced - 7 minutes of movie, followed by 7 minutes of spamming (commercials). It's going to die as well, if something doesn't change.

It's sad that so many local newspapers can no longer compete with social media "news" sources...or if they are still in business, delivering a product full of adds. For many smaller communities, the local paper provided a sense of community and of course news.

 

[Hazelelponi]

They stopped putting coupons in the Sunday paper, so not regularly anymore.

The small local paper is sometimes nice to read, but the news can often be older due to not printing but once a week so I only pick it up occasionally.

 

[A2SG]

Sadly, print journalism, especially on the local level, has been heading downward for a while now. When my wife entered the field, about 30 years ago, she worked for a local newspaper. She was let go (long story, not because of her work), then went to work for another local newspaper. That paper was bought out by the company that ran the first local, and she stayed with that company through several different ownerships. As the company got bigger, the papers cut staff. When she was the editor of a local weekly paper, she had an assistant editor, and two staff reporters. Soon, that staff was cut, then cut again. Soon, it was down to one (herself), and eventually, not even that. The company ran a large number of local papers, and it got to the point where one person, alone, would oversee several weekly papers at the same time. And they still cut staff, again and again.

Then that company (Gatehouse Media by then) bought Gannett. And, for some reason no one can figure out, Gannett was put in charge. Almost at once, they cut staff to all local papers nationwide and combined several papers into regional papers that purported to cover multiple cities or towns. And cut staff again.

By this point, my wife had been the managing editor of an entire region of papers...and was laid off about a year ago. Now, I think there's two or three people maintaining the entire local newspaper chain. If I'm off on the number, it isn't by much.

The newspapers Gannett puts out, put plainly, stink. Many people from the community my wife was once editor for have told her they hate the new regionalized edition. It rarely reports any actual local news stories for that specific town, and practically everyone has stopped subscribing. Many people from the community have urged her to start her own paper, and she's formed her own company (along with a few other former Gannett journalists) to do just that. She's currently editing another town's online paper as she gets things organized for her own.

So, it looks like local news is going back to its roots, small, locally run papers (primarily online) rather than one large monolith running things for higher profit, leaving less and less staff to actually do the work. And the product suffers.

-- A2SG, personally, I think it's all a tax dodge. And more and more, I'm convinced of it...

 

[Tuur]

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

The local one, for legal notices.

 

[Tuur]

First off, SI shouldn’t be included in the discussion because their layoffs and closure come from being in breech of their licensing agreement.

I thought you were going to say SI wasn't really news. That would work, too.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I thought you were going to say SI wasn't really news. That would work, too.

I mean, it’s one big sports section with human interest stories. Is it my news? No… But I think it qualifies as a news magazine.

 

[RestoreTheJoy]

It's sad that so many local newspapers can no longer compete with social media "news" sources...or if they are still in business, delivering a product full of adds. For many smaller communities, the local paper provided a sense of community and of course news.

Exactly.

 

[RoBo1988]

I mean, it’s one big sports section with human interest stories. Is it my news? No… But I think it qualifies as a news magazine.

Former CNN president Jeff Zucker is interested in SI

Sports Illustrated draws interest from 2 more bidders — including Jeff Zucker’s Front Office Sports: sources

Sports Illustrated’s publishing rights could also get a bid from Minute Media, which in 2019 acquired the Player’s Tribune blog founded by Derek Jeter, sources said.

nypost.com

 

[Laodicean60]

Games add-ons

What kind of games, crossword puzzles?

 

[FireDragon76]

Decline in ad revenue with a move to many companies using online advertising, has hurt newspapers, especially local newspapers. It's having consequences for our politics, as people are less involved with the details of local politics, than in the past.

 

[Ana the Ist]

The News Business Really Is Cratering

The state of the industry is more dire than ever.

www.politico.com

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

No.

 

[Belk]

The News Business Really Is Cratering

The state of the industry is more dire than ever.

www.politico.com

Anyone here still get "the paper" ?

Not a paper copy but I subscribe to several online from a spectrum of viewpoints.

 

[RoBo1988]

Not a paper copy but I subscribe to several online from a spectrum of viewpoints.

I support Citizen Free Press and RCP. There are several on substack I'd like to support, but that starts adding up.

 

[Belk]

I support Citizen Free Press and RCP. There are several on substack I'd like to support, but that starts adding up.

Yes, it can get expensive.

 

[RoBo1988]

Newspapers failed to change; technically, and philosophically.

Most papers, and news organizations lean Democrat, support and run cover for Democrats, mainly through editors shutting down stories. A lot of people shut them off, and now they are paying the price.

There are many good journalists, and writers out there: Catherine Herridge, Sharyl Atkinson, Sasha Stone, Peachy Keenan, Don Surber, Phil Weggmann, Susan Crabtree, Julie Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Emerald Robinson, Glenn Greenwald, Matt Tabbi, Selena Zito, Miranda Devine, Glenn Reynolds, Mary Katherine Ham, Megyn Kelly, Mollie Hemingway, to name a few. Some have been freed from their editorial stranglehold, and are reporting with more freedom.