Here's how to save the newspaper industry from their eventual demise. The funny thing, Brandon and I had this idea years ago. For newspapers sake I hope it works.
Showing posts with label Newspapers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newspapers. Show all posts
January 20, 2011
March 8, 2010
Further proof newspapers are screwed
We like to keep tabs with the Newspaper industry here at the ol' Just South of North, since at one time Casey and I wanted to be journalists. Then we realized newspapers wont be around in five years. Want proof? US companies are now for the first time spending more money on digital media as opposed to print media.
US companies will spend more this year on digital and online advertising and marketing than on print for the first time ever, according to a study released on Monday.
Companies will spend 119.6 billion dollars on online and digital strategies and 111.5 billion dollars on newspaper and magazine advertisements and other print campaigns, according to the study by California-based Outsell.
Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, described the spending shift as "an industry milestone crossover event."
What does that mean? That means if you want to sell your product, buying an ad in a solid publication is no longer the preferred choice.Hence, newspapers are screwed. Hooray!
US companies will spend more this year on digital and online advertising and marketing than on print for the first time ever, according to a study released on Monday.
Companies will spend 119.6 billion dollars on online and digital strategies and 111.5 billion dollars on newspaper and magazine advertisements and other print campaigns, according to the study by California-based Outsell.
Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, described the spending shift as "an industry milestone crossover event."
What does that mean? That means if you want to sell your product, buying an ad in a solid publication is no longer the preferred choice.Hence, newspapers are screwed. Hooray!
December 3, 2009
A state-controlled media coming near you
If you ask me, this is a terrible idea. Never has a government-supported media been free and unbiased. It would be very easy for even the highly touted (cough cough) US government to put the brakes on certain investigative stories and journalists if this model were supported.
The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday.
"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.
"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs," he told a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, said the "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."
"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.
"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure," he said.
Now I agree that the United States would be in trouble off with no media at all to inform the public, but a government supported media means it would awfully easy to spread propaganda instead of news for the country. That's just as bad if not worse than no hard news media.
This isn't a problem of people not wanting to be informed, it's more because newspapers are refusing to change their 100-year old business model, it's because their content is old and stale, it's because journalists refuse to think outside the box. I'd say that perhaps in five years the current media landscape will look completely different and we could have a lot more "freelance" or "independent" journalists working for themselves on a blog. The newspaper model may not survive, because general media is falling to the wayside and more focused, specialized sources of information are becoming more valued.
And if that's being supplemented by the government, who knows if it's good information at all.
(This is from Political Burnout)
The newspaper industry is suffering "market failure" and the government will need to help preserve serious journalism essential to democracy, an influential US congressman said Wednesday.
"The newspapers my generation has taken for granted are facing a structural threat to the business model that has sustained them," said Representative Henry Waxman, a Democrat from California.
"The loss of revenue has spurred a vicious cycle with thousands of journalists losing their jobs," he told a meeting on journalism in the Internet age hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over the FTC, said the "depression in the media sector is not cyclical, it is structural."
"While this has implications for the media it also has implications for democracy," he added. "A vigorous free press and vigorous democracy have been inextricably linked.
"We cannot risk the loss of an informed public and all that means because of this market failure," he said.
Now I agree that the United States would be in trouble off with no media at all to inform the public, but a government supported media means it would awfully easy to spread propaganda instead of news for the country. That's just as bad if not worse than no hard news media.
This isn't a problem of people not wanting to be informed, it's more because newspapers are refusing to change their 100-year old business model, it's because their content is old and stale, it's because journalists refuse to think outside the box. I'd say that perhaps in five years the current media landscape will look completely different and we could have a lot more "freelance" or "independent" journalists working for themselves on a blog. The newspaper model may not survive, because general media is falling to the wayside and more focused, specialized sources of information are becoming more valued.
And if that's being supplemented by the government, who knows if it's good information at all.
(This is from Political Burnout)
November 10, 2009
Rupert Murdoch does not like Google News
(From Media Chow)
Just to show you how stupid the news business is, I'd like to present to you the case of Rupert Murdoch, who built himself quite the empire in information. Fox News, a plethora of newspapers (including the Wall Street Journal) and MySpace. In other words, he's probably burning actual stacks of money to keep his mansion warm. Anyways, seeing Google News (which it is not) as a stealer of information, Murdoch is now contemplating blocking his newspapers from Google News and similar features from Bing and Ask.
Google has argued that its news aggregator simply points users to content online and actually helps drive traffic to news sites. Murdoch was not impressed by Internet traffic and said he was more interested in finding loyal readers.
"What's the point of having someone ... who likes a headline they see in Google, come to us?" he asked. "The fact is, there's not enough advertising in the world to go around to make all the Web sites profitable. We'd rather have fewer people coming to our Web site but paying."
At this point, users can see the first paragraph of most articles in the Wall Street Journal, but to read the rest of the story online, they must sign up for a subscription. Murdoch was not sure that that is the approach he'll take with all his publications.
One thing Murdoch is touting is the subscription-based service as opposed to an ad service for the money-making model on his newspapers websites. Problem is, with the subscription-based service, any schmuck can come along with a subscription and then post it for free online and then people will go and read that instead of your actual newspaper site. At least Google drives traffic to your site, as opposed to just copying and ignoring the source altogether.
If Murdoch blocks his newspapers, something tells me Google News will just go to other places.
June 2, 2009
Spokesman-Review cuts down its size
So the Spokesman-Review cut down it's width again, by 1.5 inches, calling it a move to "a new, reader-friendly page size that has become the standard of the American newspaper industry."Actually the standard of the American newspaper industry would be non-existent, but lets not celebrate the death of journalism just quite yet. The paper also said they were doing it to cut costs, add features and change some things around. At least they were honest with themselves.
I must say that the new size and format does look snazzy and actually works quite well in my hands. However, I can't help this nagging feeling that newspapers are just trying to survive instead of innovate and flourish. I mean how long before the Spokesman-Review cuts down more column space? Will it be reader-friendly when people are holding a newsletter?
Instead of just cutting down the size and adding sidebars, the newspaper industry needs a quick kick in the butt. If you really look at this redesign, fundamentally the Spokesman-Review has done nothing new. They haven't changed the paradigm. They're still not doing well financially. This might buy them some time but it wont change things.
Oh, and nevermind Mark Cuban basically solved the newspaper industry crisis weeks ago. Here's the link to his suggestion.
But newspapers would be much more inclined to lay people off and cut down paper size before they actually innovate their product. What a sad situation it is...
June 1, 2009
Epic Photo: Newspaper House
I came across this photo today. It features the Newspaper House. And this was taken last year in March. I'm not sure of the photographer. But what happened is Karen Janody was so tired of the newspapers blowing around London, England that she decided to make a house out of them to show the waste. The house was made out of rolled up newpapers.Perhaps this is what could save the newspaper industry. Just start selling them for houses. And hope it doesn't rain.
May 1, 2009
Mark Cuban just saved Newspapers
Mark Cuban is a genius. He basically came up with a way newspapers can actually make money again...The ownership of the credit card by newspapers. I’ve always been a believer that Amazon has excelled not just because they have great customer service and decent prices, but because they have those, PLUS they have my credit card on file. It’s easier to buy from Amazon than it is to go to the store.
Newspapers want to charge for content, or really, anything and everything they can. In order to do so, you need to get the customers credit card on file. NO ONE , and I MEAN NO ONE is going to go through the hassle of entering a credit or debit card in order to buy their first penny, nickel or dime article. It’s far too much hassle. Even using PayPal is a hassle.
You need to get reader’s credit cards on files and start being the baby Amazon of your local area.
...you should look at anything and everything digital that you can acquire and give away or sell to your subscribers. It costs you next to nothing to host and allow the downloads, but you are driving traffic, and immediately offering incremental value that isnt available elsewhere.
From there, its a question of imagination.
Want the super special Dallas Cowboys expanded 10 page draft section. $5.00, charged to your card. Get the weekly video blog for the Dallas Mavericks, delivered to your email box for only 29c per month, charged to your card annually. Want to get the indepth analysis of whats going on with High School Football, get the exclusive insight that only Joe Blow of the Morning News can offer for $2.95 per month, Delivered to your email, or get our special expanded print edition every saturday with indepth analysis and pictures of every high school football game with exclusive links to online video for only $9.95 per month during HS football season.
Upload us a family picture and 500 words, and we will put it front and center on the front page of the Morning News along with the headline you pick and deliver it to your door for $25. Want a copy for grandma, $10 per extra copy. We have negotiated for a special price on the Disney DVD release of The Jonas Brothers DVD. Have it on your doorstep at 5am the morning its released, for the low , low price of $17.95. Our advertiser, Dallas Flowers is offering a mothers day special of a dozen roses for $19.95 if you pre order from DallasNews.com/mothersday and pay with your EZ PAY.
This is why Mark Cuban owns an NBA franchise, and I own three pairs of Starbury's. Now, if newspapers would collectively pull their heads out of their butts and do this - maybe we wont see the complete downfall of journalism.March 28, 2008
It's looking like that journalism degree will pay off
It's nice to go into an industry that's losing millions of dollars every year. By the time I get a good job, journalists will probably printed papers on the back of napkins.NEW YORK The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.
According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 -- the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.
The drop-off points to an economic slowdown on top of the secular challenges faced by the industry. The second worst decline in advertising revenue occurred in 2001 when it fell 9.0%.Total advertising revenue in 2007 -- including online revenue -- decreased 7.9% to $45.3 billion compared to the prior year.
You can read the full story here.
I hope Red Robin is hiring.
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