End of an Era

The offices are empty. Stale air scatters dust over keyboards while vermin settle into the walls. The sign outside is for a newspaper no one has heard of in years. Out back, on the loading dock, tattered and yellowed copies are stacked awaiting a delivery that will never be made. The date is April 1st 2012.

Is this a bit drastic? Maybe so, but this is the doomsday future our professor is banging into our heads. The newspaper industry is dying. It has an ailment that needs to be remedied. It’s bleeding cash worse than a spoiled kid’s piggy bank. The problem is finding an answer within potential reporters is like searching for the giblets in an uncooked turkey; if you dig down deep enough you’re sure to find something, but it's bound to create an awful mess and might just make a few people sick in the process.

I, however, shall try again.

I believe that reporters are deluding themselves right now. They, or we (if I should be so bold), believe that somewhere exists a happy answer that will bring success, and money, back into our industry and allow us to continue to pump out papers and employ a small army of reporters to pursue every scintillating lede we desire. It’s a happy ending that we need to ax immediately. We’re not in the fiction business.

So, let’s observe this problem of dwindling finances from a financial perspective, shall we?

1) Newspapers are running on a deficit.

2) New forms of revenue are in short supply and venture capital is scarce, therefore

3) Newspapers must look for areas to cut back on spending before their debt threatens to overwhelm them

Yes, cutting spending. It’s the topic that’s routinely greeted with shaking heads and grim smirks. Yet, if we face it, we may find an answer to our predicament.

So, let’s make another list and call it Things to cut!

1) Newspapers.

Yea, I think we’re complete.

Cutting print copies is something that has to be done. Decreasing circulation cuts down on the number of printers needed, labor costs in printing room, delivery costs and the cost of retrieving unsold copies. Let’s face it; it’s the best option as it involves the least amount of reporters being laid off.



Source: Nielsen Media Research, Pew Research Center

for the People & the Press, Audit Bureau of Circulations. 1



Network television doesn’t reach everyone but you don’t see CBS financing the expansion of their television signal so they can reach those 3 people that live in a cave with Kevin Costner and his pack of wolves. So why do newspapers feel an obligation to deliver the news to everyone? They’re practically printing the money out of their bank accounts and delivering it to a consumer that likes to do some of the crosswords on it before they pop it into a bird cage for Polly to poop on.  

 No, it’s time we cut back on print and focused on the web entirely. The world is moving there, and if we don’t follow it we’re going to be left behind. Of course, as the graph below points out, close to 90% of newspapers ad revenue comes from print not online.

So, cut down, cut back but don’t cut it out. We can survive in a world with less print newspapers. Will it be a world with fewer reporters as well? Hopefully not, if technological advances have shown me anything it’s that less computer savvy people are doing more with the little computer know-how they have. They may not be creating perfect web products but they’re passable and profitable, which is more than enough.



Source - http://stateofthemedia.org/

Picture - http://www.fiscalfizzle.com/