So, I'm curious ...

This was a helluva long time ago, but the managing editor at my first paper was shown the door a couple years after I got out of business. His next gig was working in the meat market at a grocery store.

 

That depends on what you mean by "going to a newspaper for information."

Yes, it's silly to "go" to a newspaper to see who won the football game.

But the newspaper is still a good place to see things --- and find out things --- that you weren't necessarily looking for.

Publix will open its first store in my city in late February. Found that out in the paper today. Wasn't looking for it; just happened to notice it while looking at the headlines.

There's a festival downtown this weekend. What streets are closed and will it affect my drive into work? Found that out, too. All while sitting at the table over a leisurely breakfast.

I suppose that information was all somewhere on the web. But as I said, I didn't do looking for it. I "go" to the paper as a means to basically see "what's going on around me that maybe will be of interest to me." The local newspaper is still a pretty good place for that.

 

You dip your ink? You're doing it wrong.

 

How far off is higher education from this model.

Seems like Universities have some rock star professors. They have those who have achieved tenure, or are on tenure track.

And, then you have the folks working part-time, for little pay, without benefits.

 

In the humanities and the arts, a rock star is someone with tenure. He/she may not make much more than an experienced public school teacher, but he/she has a helluva lot better gig than your run-of-the-mill adjunct or temporary lecturer.

In my neck of the woods (business), it's not quite like that. Our PhD grads aren't up against quite so daunting odds. Both of my doctoral students managed to nail down tenure-track jobs (with good salaries), and neither would be considered an exceptional candidate.

 

Commenting generally, the problem with most papers these days is they are owned by corporations who tend to think everything at each paper is interchangeable, with publishers who still have the old-school mentality that the paper is the business of competing for readers who want national news as much as they want local news.

The truth is, newspapers need to get back to focusing on local communities and figuring out the best way to utilize technology to their advantage, rather than just thinking, "Well, the problem was we gave away our information for free." Or just thinking, "If we change our product from printed paper to PDF, the readers will come."

As long as corporations keep thinking there's no difference between Podunk and Metropolis, and publishers don't think more about the readership that needs to be the focus and how to draw it in, newspapers are, at best, going to just spin on their wheels.

I still believe people will pay for good writing, especially information of great importance... but only if they can't get it anywhere else.

 

What I've seen is that as the older generation of newspaper journalists exit, be it fired or forced out the door or for another profession, positions are being merged and manipulated so that old job description don't really fit. The end being that there are far fewer people trying to turn out the same out of information - in addition to being hooked into social media AT ALL TIMES. So, veterans who understand labor laws are walking out the door and 20somethings who have no clue are hiring on and working 60, 70 hours a week, but getting paid for 40.

 

Next Thursday is my one-year anniversary of being canned.
I did unemployment as long as I could; I've freelanced for a couple papers and I started caddying again, which is an awesome way to make some extra cash. I'm extremely fortunate to have a wife who chose to take a job where she gets paid enough for the both of us, so it hasn't been a grind on the pockets. If anything, I'm still getting used to being home taking care of a 2-year old all the time and that will chance when baby No. 2 comes in two months.
The job front here is bleak. There are three dailies in the state; the ProJo is the biggest and they have two columnists, one prep reporter and one NFL guy who are nearing retirement age. That's pretty much the golden ticket all the younger guys in the state are waiting on.
Another one of the dailies has a two-man staff and didn't fill a position after a long-term guy retired; those are good jobs for what seems like a good company, but both guys working are young. The state's other daily got gutted and they're down to three, but none of those guys are leaving. Plus that paper is owned by morons, so that would be a "only if I needed to" type thing for me.
The weeklies are booked. My old position is a revolving door; my former competitor is down to a one-man staff (with freelance help and I've been grateful for the work). If he ever left, I'd jump on that gig in a second. There's a weekly chain in the center of the state that I'd work for if the pay was right, because they seem interested in doing things the right way. There is another chain of weeklies in the northern half that has a guy retiring next year and I'd love to step in there, but from what I've heard the publisher wants to eliminate sports altogether.
We have a couple online entities, but their "reporting" is laughable. They're hit machines and care zero about actual journalism.
There are times when I wonder if my life is going to the way I want. I figured by this point I'd be at a metro paper somewhere, on my way to big things. I get a little depressed that I don't have a job and I can't really up and move on somewhere.
But then I look at my daughter. And I can't imagine working at a 100K circ paper beats what I get to do every day.

 

Comfort is relative.
Regardless, marry up - you will never have to worry again.

 

I've mentioned this before ... but we had some severe stagnation at my shop from when I started in summer of 2009 until about a year ago.

Our three best news reporters, both in terms of experience and ability, all finally left after years of looking. One moved into a better-paying P.R. job (in Las Vegas) and the other two moved on to their dream living destination in Hawaii (at smaller papers).

Who has replaced them? Either just-out-of-school 20-somethings or 50-plus empty nesters willing to work at new graduate wages, one of whom worked at this paper more than 15 years ago and is stunned how few people fill the newsroom these days. He had non-newspaper jobs in between those stints.

The biggest change to me in the last 5-plus years is the number of people, both married and single, who need to take second jobs IN ADDITION to the fulltime newspaper gig to make ends meet. It's at least half at the last two shops where I've worked. (I'm fortunate to be married to a teacher).

 

Great point, Morris.

Two of my past three papers keep trying to be The New York Times Jr.
But you can't be The New York Times Jr. in a smaller market.

Find your local niche. Do something dynamic for your own market. The national news was all over the Internet last night. The morning paper can't compete with that. Get some good local stories out there, maybe some national stories that haven't gone viral yet. Human interest stuff still has a lot of appeal.

Quit selling out to corporate journalism. Give your local market the stuff it can't get elsewhere.

 

Yes; 100 percent yes to this.

The only reason small, local daily papers aren't thriving is the idiots who run them. As you say, do what you do well, and don't try to be what you are not. Instead of focusing on providing tried and true detailed coverage of what's going on in your town, publishers think they have to have interactive web sites and shoot video and do all the same things USA Today does. They turn their back on where they have a monopoly. If I want to read about the dustup at Thursday's school board meeting or about a big local game or about the candidates for the upcoming election or about the increase in city taxes or events coming to town, I can't get that online. It's not on ESPN. It's not on Yahoo News. Local advertisers still need the local paper.

Quit trying to turn you 15-16K circulation paper with a 25-mile coverage radius into some kind of internet juggernaut. When I bought my light duty truck, I didn't do so with the intention of trying to use it as an 18-wheeler. It does the job for which it was intended and serves me well.

Of course, the opposite of that scenario is one I am seeing play out. Where I formerly worked was once a solid 16K circulation daily. The GM is driving it straight into being a weekly that publishes every day. He thinks a picture page of selfies people have submitted is better than content coverage.