my medium is dying
Bangs, ohio
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I thought maybe when I logged on today I'd find some chatter about the Dispatch layoffs, and how the announcement is proof that print media is dead? Newspapers are part of a failed model of thinking that is dying? Etc., etc.?
Is that in another thread or are you guys really not touching this one?
:(
When I get laid off, I expect outrage, dammit.
jeff_r
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I saw that story. It's pretty dramatic, but not altogether surprising I suppose.
If you're interested in more bad news about traditional media, I recommend following this person on twitter:
http://twitter.com/themediaisdying
The updates amount to a litany of layoffs, job cuts, and failed publications. It's tough. Publishing is getting hammered right now.
frozen twinkies
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that sucks.
45 out of how many?
jeff_r
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According to an article in Business First, between 150 and 200.
Dispatch Printing President Michael Fiorile in an interview Tuesday morning declined to specify how much the paper’s advertising revenue has fallen but said the decline is symptomatic of the industry’s troubles. Classified advertising has been hit the hardest, he said, amid a shift to the Web, while the region’s struggling homebuilding, manufacturing and retail sectors have taken a toll on ad revenue in general.Unemployment levels not seen in more than two decades in the region and across the state haven’t helped either, he said.
“We’re feeling the dip in the economy a bit more than other parts of the country,†Fiorile said.
The Dispatch declined to specify the number of employees in its newsroom, but Fiorile estimated between 150 and 200 employees. Management is working now to notify employees affected by the cuts.
The paper in early 2007 had more than 230 newsroom employees before it offered voluntary buyouts to cut costs. In the past, he said, the paper has trimmed its headcount by not filling open positions.
Columbuzz
Grandview
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I know, right? I'm totally with you.
A lot of good people got laid off or moved around to cover things they presently don't. I'm not too excited, honestly, about the state of the paper. Love them or hate them, the Dispatch is very important to Columbus.
Here are the changes to Dispatch that I know of:
- Reduction in editorial staff.
- Transfer of some editorial staff to other sections.
- I think the Arts section is going away. If it isn't, it will be severely pared down even more from the minuscule coverage it already gets.
- Size of the paper is going down a half inch in width
- Will be getting into mobile advertising
- Partnered with Yahoo! & Monster, will be offering some new features and things through that
- Will be putting out new niche publications and sections (one is already out - Capital Style)
Being in the print newspaper business must suck right now. Especially when the higher-ups keep looking at the bottom line, freak out, and do this kind of crap. I wish they'd realize that we still love our tangible paper! Maybe if they integrated things better, they wouldn't be in this position and piss everyone off.
Maybe the business model has to change, instead of selling one-to-one subscriptions. For too long, that's how they've operated: selling one paper at a time, one subscription at a time, or one monthly online subscription at a time.
Maybe they could partner with Roadrunner, Insight's and Wow's Internet cable and say, "for 25 cents a month per subscriber, we'll provide each of your customers with exclusive access to Dispatch online content." Now they aren't selling to each individual household, but to three companies who are already offering digital content to their subscribers. They could then offer the ability to households to get a Sunday print edition with more and different features than they get online. Maybe they can also offer, separately, to each subscriber the opportunity to upgrade and get exclusive access to all of their properties' online content for $2 a month or whatever.
Bottom line is that they've got to find a different revenue stream beyond advertising, and even online advertising is a difficult sell.
Columbuzz
Grandview
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Trixie wrote >>
I love reading the paper. I do not want to have to resort to reading all of my news on the Internet. I hope the papers survive. I put my money where my mouth is and subscribe to the Dispatch.
Right on!
I'd like to think that with the baby boomer generation as large as it is, print will make a strong comeback very soon once they realize how much they don't want to get their news by staring at digital screens. Although right now they're very tech savvy, but I'm thinking that may change when their eyesight starts going south.
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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my medium is dying wrote >>
I thought maybe when I logged on today I'd find some chatter about the Dispatch layoffs, and how the announcement is proof that print media is dead? Newspapers are part of a failed model of thinking that is dying? Etc., etc.?
You are the main person here to talk about this sort of thing. So good job on getting the conversation started.
gramarye
In Exile
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Columbuzz wrote >>
Trixie wrote >>
I love reading the paper. I do not want to have to resort to reading all of my news on the Internet. I hope the papers survive. I put my money where my mouth is and subscribe to the Dispatch.Right on!
I'd like to think that with the baby boomer generation as large as it is, print will make a strong comeback very soon once they realize how much they don't want to get their news by staring at digital screens. Although right now they're very tech savvy, but I'm thinking that may change when their eyesight starts going south.
Perhaps, but I'm not betting on the return of print media any more than I'm betting on the return of the 8-track. At the very least, any print media renaissance will bring a form of print media wildly different than the hulking behemoths of the 20th century. Heck, in another twenty years, we might be having news beamed directly into our brains or something. Something as suitably futuristic for twenty years from now as the current digital news era would have sounded coming from the lips of any techno-prophet in 1989.
joev
Merion Village
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I really feel for the journalists and others who will be laid off. It's going to be tough for them to find a new job in town. Best of luck!
The thing I can't understand in printing a physical newspaper is the tremendous amount of waste. Newsprint is recylable up to a point, but sending out 1/2 pound of paper to 200,000-odd people every day is CRAZY! Not only that, but very few people read the newspaper cover to cover. There are lots of sections some people never touch, yet they're still printed and delivered daily. That can't be a good business model.
I really do see the end of the printed newspaper in the next decade or two. Newsprint is hugely taxing, both on paper budgets, but also on environmental impact and delivery costs. If you read online, you get the parts you want, and you don't get the parts you don't want.
The problem is that people are used to getting their online content for free. Craigslist has killed the classifieds. The Dispatch can and does charge for banner and skyscraper advertising online, but it's so trackabale that advertisers want to see the clickthroughs, and will pull their ads if they aren't performing. The Dispatch and other newspapers need to get more creative in finding ways advertisers can use the web site to get to the audiences they want to reach. The advertisers who used to buy big display ads in the printed paper are still buying ads. They're just looking for better ROI than the printed newspaper can give them.
I think we might see at least one major newspaper go totally online and start selling itself like NPR does. To read (listen) is free, but can you spare a dime to help the protectors of democracy and information? Could see newspaper companies turn into non-profits, which may not be a bad thing.
my medium is dying
Bangs, ohio
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drew wrote >>
In other news, the sky is blue.
now that's the kind of dismissive attitude i was looking for.
i will use this quote whilst raising my glass and decrying the "internet mentality" and the impending demise of democracy.
seriously, tho. we will always need good writers and editors. it's sad to see them get canned at the same time that "niche" publications like Cap City Style are launched? WTF?
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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If the diversified presence of the NYTimes with it's online traffic, CPM ads, and iPhone apps can't make money, I'm willing to bet the Columbus Dispatch doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of ever being profitable in it's current incarnation.
Core_Models
Columbus
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gramarye
In Exile
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joev wrote >>
The advertisers who used to buy big display ads in the printed paper are still buying ads. They're just looking for better ROI than the printed newspaper can give them.
Which is why that revenue stream is going to continue to dry up rather than coming back.
As for Craigslist killing the classifieds: Craigslist alone wouldn't do it, though Craigslist does have advantages in marginal costs (not needing so much newsprint). Craigslist isn't alone, though. Major locally-oriented advertisers like auto dealerships have online venues for hawking their products now that have fewer space constraints and more searchability than newsprint.
drew
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my medium is dying wrote >> seriously, tho. we will always need good writers and editors. it's sad to see them get canned at the same time that "niche" publications like Cap City Style are launched? WTF?
What is it about the fall of print media that stops good writers and editors from doing good writing and editing?
my medium is dying
Bangs, ohio
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Columbuzz
Grandview
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gramarye wrote >>
Columbuzz wrote >>
Trixie wrote >>
I love reading the paper. I do not want to have to resort to reading all of my news on the Internet. I hope the papers survive. I put my money where my mouth is and subscribe to the Dispatch.Right on!
I'd like to think that with the baby boomer generation as large as it is, print will make a strong comeback very soon once they realize how much they don't want to get their news by staring at digital screens. Although right now they're very tech savvy, but I'm thinking that may change when their eyesight starts going south.Perhaps, but I'm not betting on the return of print media any more than I'm betting on the return of the 8-track. At the very least, any print media renaissance will bring a form of print media wildly different than the hulking behemoths of the 20th century.
True, when they do come back they won't be quite like they are now, but they survived when radio debuted and they said it would kill print. Then along came TV and yet print still continued. Internet has taken quite a while to eat away at it, but advertisers don't ultimately see it as a viable alternative. Outdoor is the place to be, so if you're in the billboard business, you're sitting pretty. People tend to think about the internet as "new media," but I'd like to argue that it's a part of traditional media now. There isn't anything new about it.
Realistically, newspapers are just now (for some reason) figuring out that they aren't the top dogs of information anymore. Any dip with an internet connection can post anything anywhere before a newspaper even knows about it. I think they need to focus even more on in-depth, local content instead of filling the paper with AP feeds that I can pull instantly off my computer. But that actually requires hiring reporters...
I think my whole point earlier is that they can't rely on advertising dollars anymore, so they need to think differently about the business model.
Regarding the journalists: there are an awful lot of talented journalists without jobs right now. If I were a cable or satellite internet service provider, I would snatch them up and produce my own news and charge my current subscribers.
Overall, it totally sucks for everyone who is trained and work in journalism. Imagine being a chef and losing your job because a bunch of people who took a home ec class in high school are now telling everyone else how easy it is to be a chef. It's kind of insulting.
Now, unfortunately, "journalism" is all about banging out a news story before a rival .com, which does nothing but lead to embarrassing spelling and grammar mistakes that ultimately make the entire profession/discipline look bad and ordinary bloggers better.
drew
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my medium is dying wrote >>
drew wrote >>
What is it about the fall of print media that stops good writers and editors from doing good writing and editing?ummmm ... unemployment? right?
Last I checked, writers and editors could write and edit in any media that has, like, words and stuff.
Things change. Good print writers can write well for online publications, provided they have something useful to say. Some of 'em even get paid reasonably well for it.
People who have something insightful to say about the economy - looked upon as useful, getting work. People who write self-absorbed print media articles pissing all over what they perceive to be their online 'competition' and then go on to bitch and moan on the forum their 'competition' provides for them... not so much.
Be useful.
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