An Important Lesson About Grassroots Media – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 26, 2007

The founder of a now-defunct community journalism venture talks about what he learned. While the idea of grassroots reporting is exciting and citizen journalists have a lot to contribute, the overall quality of their contributions is weak enough that pure community sites will have trouble succeeding, he says. The better model appears to be to combine content from professional editors with that contributed by citizens without regard to who is the so-called professional. A few pure grassroots sites will succeed – he cites Flickr and YouTube as examples – but only if they have massive membership. For smaller operations like the moribund Backfence, the quantity of good content doesn’t justify the amount of time readers have to spend finding it.

The Newspaper Association of America tapped 23 thought leaders for their opinions on the future of newspapers. I’m just diving into it now but am already impressed at the innovative thinking represented there. You can download the whole thing as a 73-page PDF to take along on your next flight.

BusinessWeek writes of the rapid decline of the San Jose Mercury News, suggesting that people at the paper and at owner Knight Ridder saw problems coming as early as 1990 but were more interested in pleasing Wall Street than in saving the newspaper. A couple of the stats are incredible, including the statement that help-wanted ad sales at the paper plummeted from $121.5 million to $17.9 million between 2000 and 2003.

Read the comments on this story. Several take pointed jabs at the BW reporter, suggest that journalistic hubris is the real reason newspapers are in decline and assert that papers deserve what they’re getting.

The Seattle Times minority owner cites an 81 percent ‘loss in value’ – Crosscut Seattle

“McClatchy disclosed on Thursday, Nov. 8, that it wrote off $1.52 billion of the worth of 31 newspapers and other holdings. Buried deep in a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission was further news that the writedown included a drop of $69.1 million in valuation of McClatchy’s stake in the Seattle Times Co…What McClatchy stated was worth $102.2 million then is thought to be worth a mere $19.0 million now. And as McClatchy noted in this latest SEC filing, it now sees the loss in value of the Seattle Times Co. as ‘other than temporary.'”

‘NYT’ Introduces Comments on Web Stories — But Worries About It – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 4, 2007

“Quietly, without promoting the move, The New York Times began this week publishing on its Web site readers’ comments at the end of certain articles. This is a move The Washington Post and USA Today, and many other newspapers, began long ago.”

[The decision to add moderation to comments adds costs to the revenue-strapped Times, but the Old Gray Lady isn’t yet ready to let go. Says Times‘ Public Editor Clark Hoyt, ““How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways? The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.” – Ed.]

First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 5, 2007

“Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains…According to an analysis of ABC figures, for 538 daily U.S. newspapers, circulation declined 2.5% to 40,689,617. For 609 papers that filed on Sunday, overall circulation dropped 3.5% to 46,771,486…For the past several years, publishers, particularly those at major metros, have been whittling back on circulation considered to be less useful by advertisers. Those papers fall into the category of other paid, which includes hotel, Newspapers in Education, employee, and third party copies.

“Of course, the trend points to fewer people reading the paper too as single-copy sales, considered a barometer of the industry, is decreasing at larger rates than the overall top line number — somewhere in the ballpark of 5%.”

[Santa Barbara News-Press appears to be especially hard hit. – Ed.]

San Antonio Paper Offers Staff Buyouts – Editor & Publisher, Oct. 17, 2007

“‘Increasingly, we find ourselves to be a company in transition: one that is growing robustly on some fronts, while experiencing retrenchment on other fronts,” [Publisher Tom] Stephenson wrote. “We are, in effect, transforming ourselves from a newspaper company to a publishing company, with substantial expansion beyond our core product.'”

Houston, We Have a Program: ‘Chron’ Editor Explains Buyouts, Restructuring – Editor & Publisher, Oct. 31, 2007

In announcing plans to buy out 40 employees, Houston Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen laid out these strategic objectives:

• “Focus on scoops and enterprise in the master narratives that drive our community;
• Think Web first every day with 24/7 breaking news;
• Expand our multimedia content with video and online database initiatives;
• Develop topical Web channels that extend the reach of our Web site beyond news;
• Aggressively engage our readers with interactive journalism and community Web sites;
• Improve community coverage in our Spanish language publications in paper and online;
• Develop niche publications, as we have done with Gloss and Health, in areas with potential for building new audiences.”

Newspaper Merger Means Layoffs at ‘Daily Southtown’

“The Sun-Times Media Group is laying off 20 full-time and eleven part-time workers from the editorial staff of the Daily Southtown in Tinley Park…[T]he two publications currently have a combined full-time editorial staff of approximately 100, plus some 15 part-timers.

Newsroom Staff Cut at Vancouver’s Big Papers – thetyee.ca

“Newsroom staff at Vancouver’s two CanWest daily papers learned in the late afternoon meetings that the wave of staff reductions across the country at newsrooms and broadcast facilities owned by the media giant will now result in the loss of up to 15 editorial staff at each paper. If all of these reductions are achieved, management will have cut newsroom staff by more than 10 per cent this year…CanWest recently announced cuts of up to 200 employees at its TV stations across the country.”

Herald-Tribune cutting a section and 14 jobs

“‘The revenue declines resulting from economic challenges provoked by the real estate downturn, as well as the public’s increasing use of the Web for news and information, have led us to a point where we need to take further action,’ [Publisher Diane] McFarlin said in a memorandum to the company’s staff…Even after the cutbacks, the media company, with its print, Internet and SNN News 6 television operations, employs nearly 500 people.”

‘NYT’ Introduces Comments on Web Stories — But Worries About It – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 4, 2007

[The decision to add moderation to comments adds costs to the revenue-strapped Times, but the Old Gray Lady isn’t yet ready to let go. Says Times‘ Public Editor Clark Hoyt, ““How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways? The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.” – Ed.]

Spokesman-Review cuts two editions, will print just once a day – Fading to Black

[This newspaper continues to document its troubles on its own blogs, demonstrating admirable transparency. – Ed.]

MediaNews Goal: Triple Web Revenue By 2012 – paidContent.org, Oct. 21, 2007

[Here’s a publisher who gets it. And he’s set a tangible, achievable goal that his people can strive for. Most publishers are just saying they need to “increase” online revenue contributions. Leaders know that clear objectives are more motivating than mushy statements of direction. – Ed.]

First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 5, 2007

Steve Borris posts and comments upon a damning CNN video showing two journalists explaining away good news from Iraq as being “too early to tell.” A four-month-long decline in U.S. casualties was mostly buried by the major dailies, according to CNN. Only ABC News broke with the pack and ran the story as the nightly lead.

It’s interesting that both reporters interviewed by CNN cite a one-month decline as being indicative of nothing. But CNN said the trend has been going on for four months. Who’s misinformed here?

[Update, Nov. 7 – 2007 has become the deadliest year for American soldiers in Iraq. However, the monthly trend has been downward since early summer.]

Circ Declines, Some Steep, Continue – Editor & Publisher, Nov. 2, 2007
“According to industry sources speaking to E&P, daily circulation for reporting papers in the six-month FAS-FAX period ending September is down about 2.5% while Sunday is expected to fall 3.5%. Those types of declines — in the 2% and 3% range — have been occurring as far back as the March 2005 period.

”E&P has learned that several major papers have suffered declines in daily circ of over 7%, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The San Diego Union-Tribune, The Miami Herald and The Dallas Morning News.

When the FAS-FAX comes out next Monday, ABC will introduce the ‘audience FAX’ where about 200 papers are providing the organization with not only circulation data, but print readership, online readership, unduplicated market reach, and monthly unique users. Daily and Sunday circulation will be a part of the report as well but the audience FAX is the first step in what will most likely be many more to emphasize total audience.”

[Facing circulation declines of 5%-10% per six-month reporting period, many newspapers are drastically cutting back on free/bonus distribution, reducing reader churn and trying to bring the numbers down to sustainable levels. Unfortunately, the demographic trends (half as many people under 35 read a newspaper daily as people over 65) point to the declines continuing. Interesting that a circulation decline of less than 1% is now considered ‘growth.’ – Ed.]

Spokane Spokesman-Review breaks news of layoffs as it happens

[This interesting experiment in Spokane, WA offers readers a glimpse into the decision-making process at the daily newspaper. The daily coverage plan is documented on a blog for all to read. Unfortunately, today the news is about upcoming layoffs. See below. – Ed.]

A sad day…layoffs announced – News is a Conversation
“This was a sad day for The Spokesman-Review newsroom. We announced the involuntary layoffs of 12 Spokane Editorial Society (that’s the newsroom’s union) members, a manager, and one non-union employee. There will be modest additional cuts announced next week.”

[While other papers bury news of their cutbacks, the Spokesman-Review publishes a personal note from the editor on a blog. Such openness and candor is rare these days. – Ed.]

Chron honcho issues memo to layoff survivors – Lone Star Times, Oct. 31, 2007
[An editor’s memo to a decimated staff is roundly ridiculed. – Ed.]

MediaPost Publications – Age, Income of Magazine Readers Edge Up – 10/31/2007 Annotated

Online, Newspaper Audiences Up, But Revenue Growth Slows – MediaPost, Nov. 1, 2007 Annotated

Don’t count newspapers out yet – CNN Money, Oct. 22, 2007 Annotated

‘Newsweek’ Gets New Execs, New Look – MediaPost, Oct. 31, 2007 Annotated