Comments on: On Saving Newspapers: A Search Marketer’s Rant

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:17:42 +0000

@Jake: “Doesn’t ad revenue still trump paid circ?” Great question. Both are declining. Thanks for your thoughtful comment and it’s great to have you here in our community.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:15:52 +0000

Excellent, insightful analysis. As a former print news reporter and ongoing proponent of reliable information, the erosion of the industry is disheartening to say the least. I believe that (reputable) community journalism can and will survive in some shape and form. Hopefully, those trying to make it happen can incorporate your search insights. I personally have mixed opinion about paid online subscription. Doesn’t ad revenue still trump paid circ? if you need the circ numbers (or page views) to justify premium cost for ad placement, doesn’t that put you in a catch-22 as a publisher? I suppose that’s the old model of thinking. Anyway, thanks again.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:12:11 +0000

@maggie: That’s SO romantic . Actually I’ll take my blackberry anywhere to read the “paper.” That’s why it’s important to clean my phone with alcohol screen wipes often.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:11:11 +0000

@Tom Wilkowske: No there’s some food for thought why don’t ya’…

““the beginning of the end” was in the 70s, when newspapers started allowing inexpensive inserts to be stuffed in their newspapers instead of requiring advertisers to buy ads in the paper (ROP, “run of the paper” in old school terms). The proof there is on newspaper microfilm for all to see.”

That’s such a reasonable way to look at it. Thanks for sharing with our readers.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:55:12 +0000

There is something so cozy about reading an actual paper with your morning coffee and it’s probably something that wont go away for a long time because of it’s ties with nostalgia.

Unfortunately all we’ll be left with is the Times, Washington Post & crappy fluffy USA Today when the papers which SHOULD last are the local news papers. The media will even more so guide the American public’s perception of the world.

Local news does what large conglomerate news can’t- they EXIST in the area they report on.

There are so many problems with paper and the internet. We will continue to see the papers fight this losing battle.

Truth be told, as you said Marty, they saw it coming and didn’t do much to safeguard their strengths.

By: Tom Wilkowske

Tom Wilkowske — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:57:47 +0000

Excellent post, Marty. I was one of those cube drones (a copy editor) at said newspaper when this bald bespectacled Internet Wonder Boy came striding into the newsroom (that would have been you ) I echo your observations and add a few of my own. Newspapers spent most of the past decade trying to figure out how to maintain profits, but also maintain the large infrastructure befitting a manufacturing industry — remember, newspapers are a thing that is manufactured every day.

They don’t need all those machines and employees anymore, but they’re still maintaining the infrastructure. Without a physical product half the employees, or more, go away. It’s also tempting, in retrospect, to point to a particular event/decision and say, this was pivotal. But perhaps it’s a little too neat. For example, there’s plenty of evidence supporting the argument that “the beginning of the end” was in the 70s, when newspapers started allowing inexpensive inserts to be stuffed in their newspapers instead of requiring advertisers to buy ads in the paper (ROP, “run of the paper” in old school terms). The proof there is on newspaper microfilm for all to see.

I’m hoping a nonprofit, community based, sponsor-supported, crowd-funded journalism model will work. Otherwise, I think I’ll start building guitars.

By: brad

brad — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:16:59 +0000

I love it.

I’m still not positive that newspapers need to sell subscriptions (although, I did write an article about newspapers and google news: http://www.bgtheory.com/blog/the-counter-argument-for-newspapers-why-newspapers-should-opt-out-of-google-news-or-force-rev-share-agreements/ ).

A newspaper could be a local aggregator of content and reposition themselves as a community portal; not just a news portal.

This is a half-baked idea still; but think if a newspaper was the Yelp + Shop Local + Local Search + Eventful + etc of a community? While the articles still bring in the eyeballs (which is necessary for usage), other areas of the site can help with the monetization.

By: Andrew Shotland

Andrew Shotland — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:47:48 +0000

I gave a talk to a newspaper’s digital group once. They asked me what would I do if I inherited their newspaper? Half-jokingly I said I would redo their homepage as a news aggregator and focus on how I could exploit the strength of their local domain in search to attract the highest CPM clicks I could find. All big media co’s (or perhaps I should say “all big shrinking big media cos”) should be aware of how they can use search to beat Google and everybody else at their own game.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:13:41 +0000

@Erika: “we’ll have a stupid stupid world, ” LOL, that IS the result of people believing everything the read online. Thanks for stopping by.

By: Erika Bennett

Erika Bennett — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:44:43 +0000

This is all SPOT on. Combine the death of newspapers with the fact that nobody knows how to search precisely and they trust everything that they read online, and we’ll have a stupid stupid world. Idiocracy and then some.

I’m a reviewer for state-wide information literacy standards for elementary kids at the moment. That’s the only glimmer of hope I’ve seen in a while.