I was in Detroit on business Monday and thanks to many too many hours in the airport, I picked up the Free Press (where I once interned) and the Detroit News. I was shocked at how thin they were in every sense of the word: few pages and not much in them. We in New York don’t see just how desperate the situation is becoming for metro papers in much of the rest of the country because we have more than five of them in the area. Detroit should be luckier than most with two. But the two of them don’t add up to much.
Jeff:
Here in the Midwest, we have a couple of newspaper chains that have swallowed up dailies and dominate coverage south of Chicago. Both have slashed staffs and their papers are so thin you can almost see through them.
One newspaper recently announced plans to eliminate 150 out of 300 jobs. The publisher, managing editor, and editor all announced their retirements. Other neighboring papers are losing publishers and staff, as well.
To remain relevant, newspapers must embrace online or face extinction.
I quit reading newspapers on a regular basis a few years ago. Fifteen years ago one of our local dailies Florence (SC) Morning News was all wire stories, nothing local. The quality of information of my surrounding newspapers Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach just do not have the news that they had 20 years ago. I believe newspapers have lost their market through apathy rather than competition. When I read a local or regional paper I want information I can use – whats happening at town hall? school districts? local sports? Papers in my area seemed to have lost interest in persuing corruption in politics or championing causes. They are the same as every other channel of news – bland.
Newspapers could get this market back. They do not have to be thick, just filled with great content. They need to define themselves as news organizations that sell ads than a publisher with ad revenue.
Most newspapers south of Chicago have been bought by Gannet and it is true they all read alike. But the Detroit Free press, also owned by Gannet, still has the fourth largest Sunday circulation of any paper in the US. What keeps the Detroit News in Business is beyond comprehension. However, the economic state of Detroit and Wayne County is depressed and I believe the two newspapers are reflecting the economic realities of the region. The Big Three could now be called the small two-and-a-half. There is not alot to brag about Detroit now days.
Danny L. McDaniel
Lafayette, Indiana
Even in Tampa, where we have two huge and successful metro newspapers, I can feel the pinch. The paper I grew up reading and thought I would one day work for is going down hill; the columnists are slowly being phased out and AP wire stories are taking over. Kids in Jschools across the country are worrying about where they’re going to work once they’ve graduated. Worst of all, they’re often not learning the cyber skills they need to get by, even in multimedia classes.
It gets to be burdensome reporting on everyone leaving and the thinner the paper gets the less there are that are leaving, so that actually was good news that you discovered! Nice to have you in town; the city built on the great lakes (water way) with the three greatest corporations the world’s ever known, all located in the same place at the same time. Could you write a blog post on what went wrong?
I grew up in Cleveland. For much of my childhood, we had a two-newspaper town: The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Cleveland Press. When the Press folded, it seemed incomprehensible to me that a major metropolitan area could not support two newspapers. I tried my damndest to understand the economic issues involved, but that was cold comfort at best. In the years since, the internet has exploded around us and changed everything, everything–not least with the newspaper itself. “The Newspaper” as I knew it–and grew up with, craved, relied on –is not and never will be the same. So, is a thin newspaper better than none at all? Maybe. Unless it first breaks your heart with memories of how newspapers used to be.
Jeff, the Detroit papers are operated by a JOA, which is the worst organization for having two good newspapers. Things were better before the strikes, but since then things have really gone downhill.
And then a year ago, KR sold the Freep to Gannett, which sold the News to Singleton.
Hey, you used to work for Advance. There are lots of Advance newspapers in Michigan that are worse. And the internet stuff in the state is dreadful. How come we don’t have an Advance website like the one in NJ or NOLA?
We subscribe to the Sunday Free Press, and about two years ago, they asked if we’d like the rest of the week free. So we still get the paper every day and only pay for Sunday. I’m surprised it’s still limping along.
Spencer, I wonder if there are enough readers are like you who (probably) crave well-researched and well-written local or even hyper-local news to support news gathering organizations these days. I have no stats to back this up, but my gut tells me that residents are tuning out even quality journalism in their areas and logging on for more national tabloid fare. Still, my hope is that more content from more people in more places can only help the best reporting rise to the top.
Jeff,
Good that you finally got to Flyover Country and discovered the imminent demise of many metropolitan print newspapers. We at Free Republic have been chronicling this for about two years now. We call it the Dinosaur Media DeathWatch.
Walter Abbott
Remember when you called the Republican presidential hopefuls “fraidy cats” (Where do they find intellectuals like yourself to use such big words?) for not wanting to appear on CNN?
Now that CNN has been caught letting Democratic operatives ask questions, would you care to reconsider? Or are you afraid that you will look rather maudlin in your defense of your liberal MSM peers?
David – It’s dillution
1>of financial ad dollars to many variations of print, air and wire feeds
2>of the public mindset – ie: the ability to tune in to favorite feeds
The problem with “embracing online” is that a print customer is worth $385. The same online customer is worth $35. So if a newspaper embraces online they magically put themselves out of business. The only hope is to charge the hell out of the people who really want print, and offer hyper-local (i.e. unique) online experiences in local markets. We’re going to be down to three national newspapers companies soon. Just like all other industries
I believe that so many people are out of work, that they are just dropping unnecessary expense. I was raised in the down river area and its sad to see the demise of a once a great city. I worked for the auto industry. when everyone was employed. It seems there is a huge dark cloud hanging over S.E. Michigan that just won’t move. The auto companies didn’t think people would move to the foreign markets. Well they did, and now they just can’t catch up. I could go on and on, but I won’t.
Thanks for letting me rant.
Well – thin is in, right? It’s fine by me if the bloggers win. They are going to win by doing t he job that the press utterly failed to do for the past 8 years – that is – being the third and most important part of the iron triangle that keeps an eye on what big bad government is doing. We have very few people doing that today. There are few Cronkites, Morrows, etc.
A great example of this is the reaction that people had to Rosie when she spoke her mind on The View. Barbara Walters – someone I used to have a tiny bit of respect for – came back on not with passion but with an offering of milk-toast for the snoozing audience.
We need real journalists – people who do it because they care. We need real reporting – reporting that tells it like it is. If all the press can muster is the thin crap in the local papers – then they are absolutely entitled to lose their franchise to print all the news that’s FIT to print.
Alas poor newspapers, we knew them well!
Welcome to the future traditional media, your demise is inevitable, adapt or perish.
@cooler heads: The Advance site in Michigan is mlive.com