Pittsburgh Post-Gazette going all digital

A lot of cities are like that: St. Louis is around 318,000 in city proper but metro is 2.8 million.

On a smaller scale, Little Rock just touched 200,000 in the last year or two in city limits but its metro is 738K as of 2017 (and Wankansawyers will say it should be every county but the four northwestern ones). The reason I mention that is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette was among the first to say they'll be all-digital.

 

When does Little Rock go all digital? That's huge, too! Please papers, kill the fishwrap. Go all online.

 

Damn. And to think I once turned down a job at the Pittsburgh Press. How long has that paper been gone?

 

That one has been gone since 1992.

 

A good column by Ken Doctor of Newsonomics/NiemanLab on how publishers are preparing to dramatically cut back on "daily" newspaper print editions:

Newsonomics: The “daily” part of daily newspapers is on the way out — and sooner than you might think

They're calling it the 7/1 or 7/2 conversion — a print edition on Sunday (or Wednesday and Sunday) and online access via subscription the rest of the week.

 

Please, do it now. Let's get the death of newspapers moving faster. Then individual reporters will discover they are able to start their own Websites because those reporters will suddenly have the clout, the knowledge. Power of the press? Gone. Do it, suits and we can get this rolling and laugh our behinds off at you.

 

“Sooner than you might think”? Um. No. People were saying this was imminent 10 years ago.

 

Four years ago our chain had a style/typefaces/etc. re-branding of the print product called "2020."

Print product may not even live to see the end of that year.

 

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is on track to be Sunday print, digital-only the other days very soon (before the end of the year). No firm date has been announced. The digital edition, which already is available now, is a hybrid product that resembles a printed paper but includes videos and links. It's expected this format, which the copy desk will continue to produce as if it were being printed, will continue indefinitely and more bells and whistles probably will be added. The publisher, who seems to actually care about journalism, has said he doesn't want to cut any newsroom jobs.

 

Given that chain's greed, lies and gross mismanagement, it's a wonder it has lived that long.

 

As a copy editor, I'd be thrilled if the future of newspapers is producing print-style "pages" for an e-edition. I truly hope that's the case.

But when every other website/app is going to a Facebook-style "news feed" format, I'm not too confident.

 

I like the 7/2 idea. Your traditional Sunday paper with lots of ads, and then a Wednesday or Thursday edition with the grocery ads, weekend sale ad inserts, and all the weekend preview sports and entertainment stuff. Downsize those print editions from broadsheet to Berliner/midi format (12.4” x 18.5”). Focus the news-side editorial less toward breaking news and more toward longform and analytical pieces. No breaking stuff unless it’s an absolute whopper. Meeting and less important game results can go into the website, app, or E-edition; coverage in print can build off that.

Also, E-editions can be finally rethought, because PDF versions of broadsheet pages are unwieldy unless you’ve set your 1920 x 1280 screen up in portrait orientation). Make it fit into a horizontal HD-aspect screen, so it’s usable on a computer or horizontal tablet screen without scrolling all over the damned place (and printable on letter-sized paper).

Monday editions already lose money (ad revenue + subscription + single-copy sales < cost of newsprint + labor costs + ink cost) at most shops, and Tuesday editions are trending in that direction if not already there. I’d actually kill those first instead of Saturday as part of the initial transition, then focus on our strengths.