Comments on: Anniversary Reflection: Collapse and Rebirth http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/ Chronicling the Decline of Newspapers and the Rebirth of Journalism Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:27:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: tom mangan http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1262 tom mangan Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:33:18 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1262 OK, so we cut our newsroom from 170 to 45 ... how on earth do we produce a competitive product w/that many people? Especially when they're producing all this time-intensive video you want? Sounds to me like the operative necessity would be gathering eyeballs rather than gathering news. Take away the union contracts and you have operational flexibility to create a sweatshop nobody would ever want to work for. Good luck with that. OK, so we cut our newsroom from 170 to 45 … how on earth do we produce a competitive product w/that many people? Especially when they’re producing all this time-intensive video you want?

Sounds to me like the operative necessity would be gathering eyeballs rather than gathering news.

Take away the union contracts and you have operational flexibility to create a sweatshop nobody would ever want to work for. Good luck with that.

]]> By: paulgillin http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1261 paulgillin Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:38:40 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1261 I hope you're right, Tom, but what survives will be a tiny shell of what these institutions once were. Few companies have the stomach to downsize by 70% or 80%, which is what most newspapers need to do. Having a lot of union contracts doesn't help. I think we'll see a lot of consolidation first, then titles in cities like Boston and San Francisco will go online-only and that trend will spread throughout the country. The demographics are all against most newspapers surviving in printed form beyond about the next decade. I hope you’re right, Tom, but what survives will be a tiny shell of what these institutions once were. Few companies have the stomach to downsize by 70% or 80%, which is what most newspapers need to do. Having a lot of union contracts doesn’t help. I think we’ll see a lot of consolidation first, then titles in cities like Boston and San Francisco will go online-only and that trend will spread throughout the country. The demographics are all against most newspapers surviving in printed form beyond about the next decade.

]]> By: tom mangan http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1260 tom mangan Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:33:49 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1260 Paul, I think you've got a correlation is causation error happening here. Your RIP list is mainly weak sisters in JOAs that should've disappeared decades ago, and your pointing to ad declines as if to say "this proves I was right" leaves out the fact that the collapse of the housing boom kicked every paper in the ass in the past year, but a housing collapse will not happen every year. Also, newspapers have gotten rid of a bunch of bad circulation in the last few years that overstates the rate of decline. I definitely think the good old days are over and that right now newspapers are getting their comeuppance for years of ignoring the obvious, but the beast's will to survive is probably much stronger than you suspect. Paul, I think you’ve got a correlation is causation error happening here.

Your RIP list is mainly weak sisters in JOAs that should’ve disappeared decades ago, and your pointing to ad declines as if to say “this proves I was right” leaves out the fact that the collapse of the housing boom kicked every paper in the ass in the past year, but a housing collapse will not happen every year.

Also, newspapers have gotten rid of a bunch of bad circulation in the last few years that overstates the rate of decline.

I definitely think the good old days are over and that right now newspapers are getting their comeuppance for years of ignoring the obvious, but the beast’s will to survive is probably much stronger than you suspect.

]]> By: paulgillin http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1259 paulgillin Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:50:16 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1259 I agree with you up until your last point. History has demonstrated again and again that institutions that are disrupted by radical change never adapt to leadership roles in the new world. Microsoft is only the latest company to face that. People do want news, and it won't be provided entirely by bloggers and camera phones. There will be professional news organizations, but they'll look very different from the newspapers of today. Look at TechCrunch and Huffington Post as examples. The rules are all different, and the culture at newspapers just won't be able to adapt to them. I agree with you up until your last point. History has demonstrated again and again that institutions that are disrupted by radical change never adapt to leadership roles in the new world. Microsoft is only the latest company to face that. People do want news, and it won’t be provided entirely by bloggers and camera phones. There will be professional news organizations, but they’ll look very different from the newspapers of today. Look at TechCrunch and Huffington Post as examples. The rules are all different, and the culture at newspapers just won’t be able to adapt to them.

]]> By: Ash http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1258 Ash Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:12:02 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1258 So do you envision a future where the mainstream consumes their general news from millions of bloggers, wikipedia, twitter, etc? I think your doomsday scenario is pretty sensational (not surprising because your occupation is new media evangelist). Sure, print newspapers may die. But I think a lot of existing big news organisations will migrate successfully to an online model. People will always want news, and seek out blogs etc for info on niche, in-depth content. But for general news, I think online newspapers will thrive and the ones that do well will probably be the existing brands and professional reporters/reporting style. So do you envision a future where the mainstream consumes their general news from millions of bloggers, wikipedia, twitter, etc?

I think your doomsday scenario is pretty sensational (not surprising because your occupation is new media evangelist). Sure, print newspapers may die. But I think a lot of existing big news organisations will migrate successfully to an online model.

People will always want news, and seek out blogs etc for info on niche, in-depth content. But for general news, I think online newspapers will thrive and the ones that do well will probably be the existing brands and professional reporters/reporting style.

]]> By: paulgillin http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1257 paulgillin Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:07:20 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1257 Thanks, Jim. We've also added your blog to our blogroll. It was an oversight that it hadn't been added earlier. Thanks, Jim. We’ve also added your blog to our blogroll. It was an oversight that it hadn’t been added earlier.

]]> By: Jim http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1256 Jim Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:16:56 +0000 http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/2008/03/31/anniversary-reflection-collapse-and-rebirth/#comment-1256 As a daily checker of your blog I want to thank you for the great information and links you provide. I often link to articles on your blog and it is a permanent link on my list of links. As a recently bought out reporter with 30 years experience, the articles and suggestions here are direct hits. So keep up the good work and we'll keep watching Jim freefromeditors.blogspot.com As a daily checker of your blog I want to thank you for the great information and links you provide. I often link to articles on your blog and it is a permanent link on my list of links.
As a recently bought out reporter with 30 years experience, the articles and suggestions here are direct hits. So keep up the good work and we’ll keep watching
Jim
freefromeditors.blogspot.com

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