Secrets of the City

Patronize their products. Spend money to get newspapers delivered. Quit with the smug PC crap about trees.

Place classified ads if you want to sell something. Craigslist doesn’t need you.

You’re right, this is a sad, serious situation. You’re seeing a great craft in turmoil.

Open Letter to Strib Telemarketers. I just get the Sunday for the ads and the X-words. I don’t want the other days even if they are free! Please stop calling!

We subscribe to the NYT daily it is more than enough content to keep me busy.

One of my sources in the teevee business told me that the steep decline in auto sales in the United States (all makes and models, not just the Big Three) is directly tied to economic woes at his workplace. Automakers are one of the biggest consumers of television (and newspaper) advertising, and many have cut back sharply on their ad buys.

If it’s a “great craft” then it will find a way to succeed. I don’t want to buy a newspaper.

The Titanic was a great craft, too, spaceman. Things don’t always happen as they should.

Question for Dougie_D: Was there ever a time in your life when you wanted to read/buy a local newspaper?

(No snark, that’s a serious Q.)

Mainstream media will soon be stories about puppys playing hopscotch and where spiedi went to dinner. People don’t give a sh*t about that stuff. Its sad.

The problem with the Strib, and plenty of other news providers is they are constantly trying to make it cheaper. However, they have taken no action or invoked no policy to make it better.

The adage that if you build a better mousetrap, has been replaced by if you convince people that this cheaper mousetrap is better… Well guess what, we’re smarter than you think. We simply are not buying your cheaper crappy mousetrap, and it shows.

what I meant to say was re: actually important stuff (what justpbob meantions) = most people don’t care about.

Thats what’s sad

That’s what Bob Collins at MPR just tweeted in response to this post, rynol.

However, I don’t believe it. The fact that we are having this conversation indicates that some people DO care.

DouglasG, how could the Strib be better? Be specific, please.

It IS sad that more people can likely name the “American Idol” contestants than their own representatives in Congress, rynol. Still, people have a way of plesently surprising you from time to time.

I’m an optimist. That’s just how I roll.

The people operating the unsinkable Titanic got a little too big for their britches. If they had an adequate number of lifeboats, perhaps the situation would have been different.

I mean, there was a guy up in the crows nest sounding the alarm bell, right?

In a sense, I am that guy in the crows nest.

DING! DING! Iceberg, dead ahead!!!

I think part of the problem is that most media companies are publicly traded. I think there are only a few, Seattle Times comes to mind, which are private. IMO, it’s a conflict of interest to have to answer to Wall Street while trying to report what is important to the community.

I guess I’ll ammend my earlier statement…its not that people DON’T care its more like they don’t have the time to really think about that stuff.

They are too busy with life flying by (going to work,paying the mortgage, making sure betsey gets to soccer practice)

When they finally have time to catch a breath…they wan’t entertainment not education.

Cat’s comment raises an interesting question. Are there any privately-held major media outlets in Minnesota? Minor outlets?

Dolan media does a decent job serving a niche market…I am sure there are others.

@Cat: Sad, but true. When you’re at the mercy of “shareholder value,” the “value” is not with content but with the bottom-line. Nothing else matters to a bean-counter.

@justbob: Losing the car dealer buys is serious. It’s starting to slowly pick itself back up but the whole ad-buying economy is still operating in slow-motion, no matter what business sector is involved.

I’m not sure if there’s any easy solution around public-traded media companies. When a family-owned trust wants to sell (e.g. the Cowles), who else can afford to buy except for blocs of investors? The same thing happens everyday now with sports teams.

The problem is exacerbated by the perceived values of media properties. Investors, like consumers, need to be aware of caveat emptor. If you’re an investor and you buy into an industry you know nothing about (I’m talking to you, Avista), it’s your own fault when the going gets rough.

never mind dolan is public.

When interviewed by Finance & Commerce this month, the reporter told me that Dolan Media was doing pretty well, and was in fact hiring new staff (!)

One of my tweeople just reminded me that the Hubbard Empire is privately-held. I should have remembered that. So, is the KSTP-TV news product better than what you see on Jason’s Station?

In recent history, most newspapers have run at margins above 20 percent. That is an enviable number for ANY business. In essence, it was a license to print money and the publishers and board members across the country grew accustomed to it. That is why private investment firms — i.e. Avista which owns the Strib — jumped into the business.
Nowadays, newspapers are struggling to keep costs in line, which is why the Strib is in bankruptcy, and there will inevitably be some market correction. They still can and will find ways to make money.
Ultimately, you can expect two things: First, this is a newspaper town and there will always be a newspaper here, but it will be leaner than in the past. Second, there will only be one newspaper within five to ten years.

Glen, the first part of your prediction has already occured.

Saddly, I think you are right on the second part, too, but it will happen much sooner than 5-10 years.

In recent history, most newspapers have run at margins above 20 percent. That is an enviable number for ANY business.

It’s also an unsustainable number .. especially when a property’s perceived value is overpriced to begin with.

Lou Grant would never have paid a half-billion dollars for the Strib because Lou Grant was familiar with the ups and downs of the newspaper biz. Avista got taken for a ride by McClatchy … but McClatchy got its balls caught in the vice, too, after its stock lost 98% of its value (due IMHO to a bunch of know-nothing Wall Street investors playing Chicken Little). Ouch.

Bob,

I subscribed to the Strib 7 days a week up until about 3 years ago when I first started getting the NYT 7 days a week. I found that most of the articles that I read in the Strib were reprints of NYT articles from a week or so before or the quality of the movie and music reviews was much better in the NYT. We also get the New Yorker and various other cooking, news, home and life style magazines (Details, Out, The Advocate, Ready Made, Dwell).

I grew up in a house that used to get the Tribune in the morning and the Star in the afternoon. I have always read the newspaper and I still don’t think I would ever not have a daily print newspaper.

I really only read the Strib online for sports coverage. Even that is sorely lacking. No box scores for example they don’t have the grid of local sports for the next 7 days that they have in the paper.

I’d be willing to pay (mabye $25) for a year subscription (but not pay per article) to the Star Tribune online version if a couple things happened:

a)it had a comprehensive local focus, not international. I read a local paper for local news.

b)it more responsive and two-way in communication with it’s customers (I don’t want to be just a “consumer” of news)

c)the site could be personally customized. I go to the site today and see at least three Twins headlines. I don’t need this, and it’s a disservice to the idea that the paper provides me “necessary” or “important” information.

d)the m-f’in’ search function worked

There has been a lot of talk about newspapers becoming non-profits. I’m not sure that traditionally operated newspapers can make the transition. Although, now with leaner staffs, maybe this is possible.

MinnPost.com has seemed to weather the economy. There are more and more independent newspapers (online)cropping up across the country. Smaller, and locally focused.

But, then do only a few, like the NY Times, handle world and national news?

Maybe.

THIS is a real media meltdown, though:

La Crosse anchor granted restraining order against co-host.

Oh, sure. It looks all smiley-smiley on the set but you just wait until the cameras are turned off!

As Joel Krammer will tell you frankly, MinnPost isn’t out of the woods yet.

I think it worries him a bit when so many people point to his baby as “the new model” when he isn’t ready to call it a success yet.

If 10 years from now, MinnPost is still around, bigger and better than it is now, oh yeah!, it’s a success.

You gotta bad link there, noodle.

That said, what IS it about Wisconsin media?

Dougie, the Strib isn’t typically THAT far behind in printing NYTimes articles, with the possible exception of exclusive stories or lifestyle/arts reviews etc. type articles. The NYTimes news articles that appear in the Sunday Strib are the same ones that appear on the NYTimes website over the weekend.

For example, all of the articles on the Iran protests, that the Strib reprinted in last Sunday’s paper were the same ones that the Times posted on their website that weekend.

You may still prefer to just get that directly from the Times and that’s fine, but it’s just not accurate to say that the Strib is reprinting stale news that’s a week past it’s expiration date.

I was mostly speaking about the life style articles from Dining, home and the Arts Section.

I also noticed that the reprints from the NYT’s were occasionally re-edited for space. I would say the Newsy news stuff is only slightly delayed in the print edition of the Strib.

I mostly just realized that the Strib would hit the recycling bag most often than not without being even having one section other than sports pulled out.

The NYT’s x-word is also delayed a week in the Strib. Who wants to be doing a x-word puzzle that everyone else has already finished? I have a friend that thinks that there is some sort of collective consciousness of x-words that make them easier as more people have completed them. I’m not sure I agree but it’s a risk I’m not willing to take.

Right. The general interest crap will continue to suck; but the more narrow, in-depth stuff will keep doing well. Same goes for newsweeklies. I mean, I’d pay $5.00 an issue for a full-length, in-depth MinnPost hard copy but you couldn’t pay me to read the STrib after they’ve cut so much of the talent that made it somewhat good.

oops, i meant to quote this first:
“However, they have taken no action or invoked no policy to make it better.”

Dougie_D’s answer illustrates that people have very different ideas and tastes for news.

I don’t read too much in the Lifestyles section, or sports. I never the x-word puzzle.

I do read the comics, even the ones I don’t like. I can’t say why, but I do.

That said, it doesn’t make Dougie_D’s needs for news any less important than mine.

On common ground, he and I both do read The New Yorker mag.

No one is out of the woods yet, Bob.

But, I think it may be easier for independents to weather it out than a large, corporate media company.

Strib is supposedly coming out of bankruptcy in the fall which I find miraculous. If they are able to find a a way to come out this in a more stable place, then it’s beneficial for everyone.

We may once have been a newspaper town, but the significant drop in circulation seems to say this is no longer true.

It’s easier to get news online. I can read the articles I want to read from multiple sites in a short period of time.

Maybe the new model becomes a hybrid of subscription, advertising and the elusive third funding source. Sponsorships? Not sure.

I read the business section and the local…Sports/comics/lifestyle/classifieds can suck it.

You gotta bad link there, noodle.

Okkaaay. Let’s try it again.

Place classified ads if you want to sell something. Craigslist doesn’t need you.

But the consumer may need Craigslist. It doesn’t cost me anything to place a classified ad with Craiglist. And, depending on what I’m selling, it may sell faster on Craigslist.

Re: NYT vs. Strib content.

Through all this brouhaha about online content, we seem to be forgetting that not everyone is on the Web; nor does everyone have broadband access.

Sixty-percent of US net users do not use broadband. Twenty-five percent of the adult US population does not even have Internet access.

It’s all well and good to point at MinnPost as the wave of the future but it would suck for those who aren’t able to access its content.

Paper still has a place in our society.

If Sven Sundgaard has a catty significant other at home who doesn’t like the weatherhunks’ co-workers at KARE-11, he should take that story as a cautionary tale, noodle.

@justpbob you think people that KARE are mean to snarsgaard?

Who could be mean to a dude named Sven?

People dedicated to vowel disbursement equality?

If you think the newspaper situation is harrowing, just wait a few more years to see what will happen with television. Fragmentation has killed network revenues, but in ten years, will anyone watch commercials anymore? Expect television/computer systems to come standard with DVR. Which will beg the question: How will major companies reach their mass audience? It’s not just a matter of liking a certain media or wanting a different one. It’s a matter of large, international corporations needing to get their message to consumers. They will pay big bucks to do it and, thus far, the internet has proved a poor conductor.

You know, for the most part, I don’t want to hear the message of large, international corporations, so it’s going to work out well in that respect.

Everyone is getting fucked over in this economy. I don’t think that reading newspapers or buying more newspapers is going to be particularly sustainable given that a lot of the advertisers are pretty screwed too.

Also.

I have been a 7-days-per-week Star/Tribune subscriber for many decades. Currently I am maintaining my home-delivery subscription only because the company is so deeply discounting the price I’m paying. They are showing themselves to be very desperate to go to any lengths to keep their circulation numbers up. Somebody I know recently cut back to just Sunday delivery, and then the Strib called her up and gave her Monday-Saturday for free.

If I were an advertiser I would be suspicious of the Strib’s inflated circulation numbers.

I have tried to be sympathetic about the plight of the Strib, and American newspapers in general. But the situation has been going on for a few years now, and I’m growing tired of the woe-is-me stuff coming from the people in charge.

The McClatchy company turned itself into a train wreck. Perhaps its only saving grace is that it managed to sell the Strib to Avista before Avista was able to recognize how rapidly the value of newspaper properties was plummeting. Avista’s investor-owners are taking a huge bath.

The Strib can’t fix the changed business conditions that have been devastating newspapers, but the Strib can, and should, do what it can do, which is to improve the quality of its product. The people in charge at the Strib have remained content to allow the Strib to become a NON-must read. They have nobody but themselves to blame for that.

For me, the exception to that is the Sports section, which in my estimation has sustained the same level of quality and coverage unchanged.

The ‘A’ section is mostly wire-service material which I’d be just as happy to read online.

The supposedly “intensly local” B/Local section is hit-or-miss, when it should be the paper’s strongest suit.

The business section is bad, as it has always been………..might as well be written by the corporate-PR folks who supply the reporters with most of their material.

The E/Variety section would be more accurately titled: Fluff

About local TV news, I don’t have any opinion because I stopped watching a long time ago, around the time when each local station concluded that it needed to go with the overkill of a male/female pair of newsreaders.

Even success in the eyes of viewers/readers doesn’t necessarily translate to business success. KARE has had great success in attracting viewers from age 25-54, but they’re laying off people, cutting pay, etc. So attracting more readers/viewers with quality or not doesn’t necessarily equate a business model success.

I’m not sure what my point is, other than this situation is a lot more complicated and messed up that whether or not the product is good.

Good point, Jason. Even if KARE-11 was financially healthy, it’s parent company is not. It’s a complicated problem.

While I work in Minnesota, I’m employed by a larger (seven states)regional organization based in Chicago. So if revenue falls in one state, we feel the pain elsewhere, too.

I have no idea about the TV-news situation, because I never watch it. (But I know several people who work in local TV news, as I also know several people who work at the Strib.)

But I still maintain that if a newspaper company wants to be successful nowadays, it needs to deliver on a regular basis content that readers are anxious to see.

Present me with something engrossing that I can’t see anywhere else.

And if from a business standpoint you conclude that print, rather than online, is still the more viable economic model, well then fine…….but then make the print version a must-have.

An example, from today, about the Strib’s troubles being considerably due to the Strib producing a shoddy product:

Today the Strib’s big splashy front-page story in the print edition was about the Mall of America.

About how the MOA is doing better than most malls, and what adaptive strategies the MOA has implemented recently.

There is a bit of a legitimate news aspect there, BUT….

The piece read like the reporter, who’s from the Business section, had been spoon-fed the info by the MOA’s PR people. (Very typical of articles in the Business section.)

For that reason, the article, if it deserved to run at all (questionable), belonged in the Business section, where it’s understood by readers that there are quite low standards about stories driven by PR people.

And the story was just way too long.

The Strib is peddling a product that’s, more and more, becoming a must-skip rather than a must-read.

“…where it’s understood by readers that there are quite low standards about stories driven by PR people.”

Ahem. You do know how justpbob makes a living, don’t you, Longtime Reader?

Doesn’t matter. “Low standards” here was referring to Business-section reporters and editors not doing their jobs very diligently.

In fact, in what I described, PR types are doing their jobs VERY well….in that they’re succeeding in getting their organizations’ favored bullet points printed in the newspaper, in just they way they’re aiming for.

This isn’t about PR being bad. PR is a legitimate function.

It’s about newspeople coming up far short in performing their jobs. They’re supposed to filter, with a skeptical eye, what PR people offer them. And also to seek out and present legitimate counterbalancing facts and points of view.

Well, alrighty then. You make a good point, LR.

I’m not unsympathetic towards the Strib about the affects of its necessary cutbacks in newsroom resources. Because that’s an industry-wide problem. I’ve had conversations about that with friends of mine who work at the Strib.

But today’s flub wasn’t about reduced newsroom resources; it was about poor performance with the resources that they still do have. There’s no excuse for that.

If that’s tolerated, it’s only going to accelerate the erosion in readership numbers. I can’t feel sympathetic about that, because it’s about consumers understandably turning away from an inferior product.