My Boss Screamed at Me Tonight

It's thinking like that -- appealing to the readers who don't get the internets -- that are killing newspapers, Shottie...

 

Sorry. But with shrinking space these days, I can think of much better ways to use space than running two-day old MLB boxscores.

You can't appeal to everyone. I suppose it depends on where you're at. Where I'm at, I'd be surprised if less than 80 percent of our readers don't have the internet. In a metro area, however, it's might be a little different.

I apologize for killing newspapers.

 

I totally agree with this, by the way. It's understood that if a game runs late, it's not going to be found in the newspaper the next morning - and it's ridiculous to run it the following day.

We recently had a Division III baseball school that's at the very limit of our area playing regional games that started at 10 p.m. Those certainly weren't getting in the paper due to the time, and the decision was made to run them a day after. I staunchly opposed the idea given that 1,500 people attend the school, which isn't known for anything but parties, but they ran given that "some people might want to know."

I argued that the only people who wanted to know would be the ones following the team, who would find the information elsewhere. It's a counterproductive view for sure, but it didn't make sense to save that space when it could be used for something more current.

 

Only thing I'd say is, you might not know your area as well as you believe you do. A lot of us think the same way about cable TV, that everyone has it. Not EVERYONE does.

 

I may have worded that awkwardly. My bad. What I meant was....most of our readers do NOT have the internet. In which case, yes, maybe some of those folks will still look for two-day old MLB boxes. Like I said, it all depends on where you're at.

 

You know what, Shottie: Despite my 10-plus years on the 'Net, I'm still basically from your school when it comes to print. But the business is changing a lot, and I hate to say it, but Ryan certainly might be right: There ARE probably better uses of space than two-day old box scores.

That would have been sacrilege 15 years ago. But it ain't 15 years ago.

You could put old boxes on the web and put a link for those who really want them. And if they don't have the web, well, once-unthinkable choices are being made every day in 2008. And maybe there's a better (local?) use of that 20 inches than 5 West Coast box scores.

 

I thought it was a good idea for newspapers to kill the stock listings. In fact in 1996 I suggested not killing them but running the less complete, narrower version, which saved $200,000 per year in newsprint costs.

But I think now I was wrong. Look what's happening. Sacramento just became the latest major daily to announce it's folding the business section into the metro section. I think what happened is that even though the obsessives were continually checking their stocks online throughout the day and no longer needed the listings in the paper, removing those listings sent a message to readers that the paper's business section was no longer a complete business section and thus something that no longer needed to be taken seriously. Just a few local stories, a few wire stories and no heft.

I think if you remove the boxes, or run fewer, you're telling readers that they'll no longer get a comprehensive product. I don't think it really matters how high the readership is for that agate. The message being sent is a dangerous one. And the next step is for readers to abandon a sinking ship.

 

yeah, we should direct as many of our readers as possible to get their news from other sources. now that's some forward thinking.

 

if you are in a circulation area that consistently gets early editions - thsoe without late boxscores- then you get used to having those boxscores run in the early editions of the next paper

Later editions replace those early boxscores with more current ones for papers closer to the circulation area

standard practice and readers expect em

not everyone runs to the internet to check that stuff

 

If that was for me, I was suggesting you put the old boxes on the newspaper website, not send people elsewhere.

 

that was posted in general, sf.

and i don't think there's much crossover with online and hardcopy readers. i believe readers use one source or the other.

 

Fair enough. I'm still wondering if 42-hour-old news is the best use of space in the sports section anymore.

Understand -- I didn't wonder that 10 years ago. But these are dire, strange times.