RIP Birmingham News, Press-Register, Huntsville Times

Facility in Harrisburg was more modern and cheaper to run, would be my guess.

 

Yeah, it was pretty spankin' new my last few years.

 

In their latest earnings call Gannett management said they were making progress on filling routes. They said only 10% were vacant, down from 14%. But the weather is going to get colder. I bet January mornings in many markets are daunting so we will see how many stay through the winter.

 

Any daily newspaper that still prints is insane. The band aid really needed to just be ripped off for good about 10 years ago. The people who still read the print product are probably not gonna be alive in 10 years. That’s not a growth audience.

 

The reason newspapers have maintained print is because that is where the money still is. Gannett, in their most recent quarter, only generated 36% of their revenue from on-line. Lee, which is the only other publically traded chain I am aware of, had similar results.

The financial question of the next few years for the newspaper industry is as print is reduced or abandoned all together how much of the print readership and advertising transfers to the electronic editions.

Personally, I am pessimistic. The WSJ article on this pointed out that the combined circulation of the three papers had declined from 260,000 to less than 30,000 in a decade. Even if all 30,000 subscribers purchase and actively use the e-edition how much revenue can be generated from such a small audience?

 

Well, in one place it is.

 

But it's not a real newspaper, is it?
It's damn sure not a real newsroom.

 

Nothing better than reading a legal ad, which counties are required by law to post in newspapers, on your phone or tablet.

 

92 pages of fake news today. Weighed more than 2 pounds.

 

The Weekly World News had a lot of content, too.

 

How come none of us ever ran into the Bat Child?

 

I once worked for a county 35 years ago in what was then exurban Denver. The only paper that published in the county was in Castle Rock. Most of the population of the county lived along the northern border which at that time was the southern edge of the Denver metro area. Castle Rock only had a population of about 6,000. The Denver papers dominated the county. But the county building read everything the Castle Rock printed.

The point behind that antidote is that local elected officials still want the endorsement of the local paper. So said officials will not sponsor legislation to get rid of the requirement to print legals in the local paper and risk the wrath of the publisher. Even though I bet 99% of counties post their legals on-line anyway.

If these laws are repeal to require legals to be published I think it would push many small papers over the edge.