How long before Newspapers die?

You can't be serious! Local news, community events, etc. on Craigslist and eBaty. Get outa here

 

Didn't say that.

I've forgotten more about newspapers than you know, son.

 

Yeesh! get a room, you guys!

 

Well, at least Chuck McGill still gets home delivery.

 

Then how come the newspapers that have not given up, like the ones in Nebraska, are thriving??? How come the ads in the actual print product are still the main source of revenue for newspapers? There is still a market. However, newspapers have made so many mistakes and have so many "morons" (probably the wrong word) running the show that they are dead (cept in places that never stopped believing like Omaha).

 

Then again, probably not.

 

They're either not or won't be soon. The print revenue goes down every quarter. The only reason it still remains the "main" source of revenue is because online growth is meager. But the gap is closing and closing fast.

McClatchy's first-quarter earnings report stated that print accounts for only 32.8 percent of revenue. A decade ago it was 89 percent.

 

Online ad sales are not going to sustain the operation. That's why when newspapers go all online they'll be tiny little companies who can sell their downtown properties and move into a little side-mall for it's 5-10 online newspaper employees.

 

Funny you say this. I actually saw a daily newspaper that had moved into a strip mall not very long ago. It was right next to a Subway and a dry cleaner or something. It looked like a place that could have passed for a hair salon or an old Movie Gallery or Blockbuster store. Looked sad, tired and pathetic just like the paper they produced.

 

Yep, I know of one town's daily that's been around since before Lincoln that's parent company sold the old downtown building and moved them to the east side of town in a shopping center with a grocery store.

 

Good community papers are doing very well. But, there are things that will lead to the decline of those, and it isn't necessarily the internet.

For starters, ad revenue (retail, classifieds, legals, obits) is still doing great at community papers, which provide hyper local news you can't get anywhere else.

However, circ revenue is slightly declining depending on the particular issue. If the mayor molests a child and it's on the front page, or there's a huge catastrophe or team wins state title, then that issue flies off the rack. If you have a boring design on the front page, then you might not sell that many papers no matter how good the writing is.

As the older generation moves on and/or retires from newspapers, then newspapers may go by the wayside. The younger generation is geared more for web and social media and no one studies good newspaper design and no one in the industry ever thinks outside the box. Newspapers should have thought of the Craigslist and eBay ideas instead of playing catchup. Newspapers should have been innovative in social media instead of playing catchup.

Newspapers should think more of a tabloid size, or magazine-style issues, instead of thinking people will forever go get a bulky six column, 22-inch newspaper that now has poor design and not enough to keep their attention.

Newspapers have survived radio, original tv, color tv, cable, satellite and now, so far, the internet. There's still a need for news. It just depends on how the owners decide on how to cover and present it.

 

Great post. Design quality is a big pet peeve of mine. In general, editors need to spend less time with their nose in the AP Stylebook and more time thinking about their graphic design.

No one will notice the lovely consistency of your abbreviations if you don't give them a reason to pick up the paper in the first place.