This past week I had the opportunity to spend a lot of unwanted quality time in airports and planes. It’s never good when a three-hour trip turns into eight. Needless to say, I had more time than I desired to read and think than I cared to have. Fortunately, it turned out to be a productive use of time as I came across an interesting article in the most recent issue of Business Week. The article, “Writing on the Wall (and the Web)” provides a commentary on the current state of the newspaper industry. Let’s just say it’s appropriate that they publish obituaries!
I’m normally not a sentimentalist about industries that have found themselves irrelevant or altogether extinct as there is usually a reason for it. After all, I don’t miss MS-DOS any more than I would miss buggy whips or freeze dried ice cream. That being said, as fan of the medium and a former newsboy I am disappointed that future generations will likely not have the opportunity to enjoy the full depth of the newspaper experience. I’ve always loved reading the paper and have since I was old enough to read. I would often ride my bicycle up to the nearest corner store and buy two or three newspapers to read; usually over breakfast at a diner by myself. There has always been a great joy in spreading the paper over the table and consuming its knowledge more voraciously than my eggs and bacon. I don’t get to do it much anymore, but reading the Boston Globe is a Sunday ritual for Amanda and I, regardless of where we are.
Note that I said the Boston Globe and not my hometown paper the Sunday Republican. We subscribe to the Globe because of the depth and content. A Sunday paper should take a least two hours to read and that hasn't been the case with the Republican in a long time. To be fair, up until recently we subscribed to the Republican but that was only because Amanda liked to have access to the local coupons. The subscription lapsed months ago, but for some reason we still receive the paper. I can only assume that circulation counts matter in setting ad rates and giving us a paper for free makes sense financially.
This past Sunday I happened to briefly read through the Republican as I hadn’t had the opportunity to get on Masslive to check out the local news. I was saddened by what I came across or rather what I didn’t read in the paper. There was essentially no business section, the editorial page was lacking, the local section was bland and much of the overall content seemed to be AP wire stories. This was not the paper I proudly delivered when I was growing up. Neither was it something that I would pay to have come to my house or I would buy in a store.
So as I sat in the Louisville airport and then the Charlotte airport reading my magazine I thought about what could be done to make our hometown paper relevant again; something that I would want to read as I eat my Top Pot Donut and drink my Grande Pike’s Peak coffee (Starbucks needs to pay me for this plug!). While brainstorming it I came up with three basic concepts that I think could help the Republican and other newspapers, particularly the smaller community types survive and transition into the digital age as viable business entities.
Partner with Local Publications
Do you know that the business section of the Republican essentially consists of a two-sided rehash of the past weeks Wall St. Journal articles? Do the publishers realize that there is a good chance that most of the people who read the business section actually read those articles during the week? Also, what does it communicate to the region and to companies considering locating their businesses here that we don’t have a business section that covers the local business scene? Wouldn’t it make sense to partner with someone that has a pulse on the region, has the reporting capacity and the advertiser network to generate ad revenue?
My suggestion to this challenge would be to have a branded Business West business section on Sundays. They can provide stories on local business topics and leverage their advertisers to sell more ads. The Republican can provide the print and distribution and they can split the revenue. It would be a win/win for both parties – Business West could expand its reach and the Republican could provide value content and ideally both would make money.
Beyond Business West, the same could be done with the Valley Advocate for the entertainment/living section and the Western Massachusetts Sports Journal could do the same with the sports section. Getting out the content side of the business would allow the Republican to focus its content generation on in-depth local stories and distribution.
Publish User Content
There is a reason why Blogs and other sources of individual created media are popular. User created content is unique in that it provides insight and perspective that one cannot find with traditional media. The Republican should embrace this concept and publish a section that is user generated content. I’m not talking letters to the editor, but insightful writings and artwork. Masslive has a whole blog section, why not take the best posts each week and print them in the paper? Taking that a step further, why not have the Masslive users choose what will get printed?
A Blended Approach
As more and more people get their news from online sources, newspapers need to find a way to attract these readers to the paper. Leveraging the strengths of each medium to create a blended news experience can do this. As an example you could have a review of a new music artist online and in the paper but within the newspaper provide a password for a free download of a song. The only way to get the song is to buy the paper.
Another potential way to blend the two would be to follow WRNX’s Save 30 model and provide discounts on gift certificates and other items to print subscribers. They would need a code that would be found in the paper to go online and buy the item. Or, you can have your advertisers provide specific codes for their ads leading them to online coupons and shopping. In the long-term shotcodes will allow this to happen with the snap of a cell phone camera, but until then it would be an easy way to blend the offline with the online.
Whether my ideas make sense or not, the newspaper industry needs some creative thinking if its going to remain a viable business. Clearly there are many minds working on the issue as this other article in Business Week attests to. As always, we are willing to contribute our two cents to a business challenge, so if you own or run a newspaper, send us an email or post a comment - we'll be happy to help!
I’m normally not a sentimentalist about industries that have found themselves irrelevant or altogether extinct as there is usually a reason for it. After all, I don’t miss MS-DOS any more than I would miss buggy whips or freeze dried ice cream. That being said, as fan of the medium and a former newsboy I am disappointed that future generations will likely not have the opportunity to enjoy the full depth of the newspaper experience. I’ve always loved reading the paper and have since I was old enough to read. I would often ride my bicycle up to the nearest corner store and buy two or three newspapers to read; usually over breakfast at a diner by myself. There has always been a great joy in spreading the paper over the table and consuming its knowledge more voraciously than my eggs and bacon. I don’t get to do it much anymore, but reading the Boston Globe is a Sunday ritual for Amanda and I, regardless of where we are.
Note that I said the Boston Globe and not my hometown paper the Sunday Republican. We subscribe to the Globe because of the depth and content. A Sunday paper should take a least two hours to read and that hasn't been the case with the Republican in a long time. To be fair, up until recently we subscribed to the Republican but that was only because Amanda liked to have access to the local coupons. The subscription lapsed months ago, but for some reason we still receive the paper. I can only assume that circulation counts matter in setting ad rates and giving us a paper for free makes sense financially.
This past Sunday I happened to briefly read through the Republican as I hadn’t had the opportunity to get on Masslive to check out the local news. I was saddened by what I came across or rather what I didn’t read in the paper. There was essentially no business section, the editorial page was lacking, the local section was bland and much of the overall content seemed to be AP wire stories. This was not the paper I proudly delivered when I was growing up. Neither was it something that I would pay to have come to my house or I would buy in a store.
So as I sat in the Louisville airport and then the Charlotte airport reading my magazine I thought about what could be done to make our hometown paper relevant again; something that I would want to read as I eat my Top Pot Donut and drink my Grande Pike’s Peak coffee (Starbucks needs to pay me for this plug!). While brainstorming it I came up with three basic concepts that I think could help the Republican and other newspapers, particularly the smaller community types survive and transition into the digital age as viable business entities.
Partner with Local Publications
Do you know that the business section of the Republican essentially consists of a two-sided rehash of the past weeks Wall St. Journal articles? Do the publishers realize that there is a good chance that most of the people who read the business section actually read those articles during the week? Also, what does it communicate to the region and to companies considering locating their businesses here that we don’t have a business section that covers the local business scene? Wouldn’t it make sense to partner with someone that has a pulse on the region, has the reporting capacity and the advertiser network to generate ad revenue?
My suggestion to this challenge would be to have a branded Business West business section on Sundays. They can provide stories on local business topics and leverage their advertisers to sell more ads. The Republican can provide the print and distribution and they can split the revenue. It would be a win/win for both parties – Business West could expand its reach and the Republican could provide value content and ideally both would make money.
Beyond Business West, the same could be done with the Valley Advocate for the entertainment/living section and the Western Massachusetts Sports Journal could do the same with the sports section. Getting out the content side of the business would allow the Republican to focus its content generation on in-depth local stories and distribution.
Publish User Content
There is a reason why Blogs and other sources of individual created media are popular. User created content is unique in that it provides insight and perspective that one cannot find with traditional media. The Republican should embrace this concept and publish a section that is user generated content. I’m not talking letters to the editor, but insightful writings and artwork. Masslive has a whole blog section, why not take the best posts each week and print them in the paper? Taking that a step further, why not have the Masslive users choose what will get printed?
A Blended Approach
As more and more people get their news from online sources, newspapers need to find a way to attract these readers to the paper. Leveraging the strengths of each medium to create a blended news experience can do this. As an example you could have a review of a new music artist online and in the paper but within the newspaper provide a password for a free download of a song. The only way to get the song is to buy the paper.
Another potential way to blend the two would be to follow WRNX’s Save 30 model and provide discounts on gift certificates and other items to print subscribers. They would need a code that would be found in the paper to go online and buy the item. Or, you can have your advertisers provide specific codes for their ads leading them to online coupons and shopping. In the long-term shotcodes will allow this to happen with the snap of a cell phone camera, but until then it would be an easy way to blend the offline with the online.
Whether my ideas make sense or not, the newspaper industry needs some creative thinking if its going to remain a viable business. Clearly there are many minds working on the issue as this other article in Business Week attests to. As always, we are willing to contribute our two cents to a business challenge, so if you own or run a newspaper, send us an email or post a comment - we'll be happy to help!
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