Comments on: There is a future, and a strong one, for newspapers http://www.danmcdonough.com/2009/05/06/there-is-a-future-and-a-strong-one-for-newspapers/ chairman & chief executive of elauwit Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:29:03 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: dan http://www.danmcdonough.com/2009/05/06/there-is-a-future-and-a-strong-one-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-6 dan Thu, 07 May 2009 01:22:49 +0000 http://www.danmcdonough.com/?p=93#comment-6 Aaron: You make a good point. And perhaps I was a bit unclear. I believe most of your ideas are solid. I just believe they go much further than necessary to sustain a strong newspaper industry. To wit: If The New York Times abandoned the revenue and the cost and aggravation of the controlled subscription model of their print product and instead delivered the paper to everybody in their target demographic, they could increase circulation greatly and increase the depth of the market they can penetrate for their advertisers -- thus charging more money. It's the model we use, and it works. Also, your point about the death notices is taken well, too. Our papers fit somewhere between the two. We provide in-depth coverage of the communities we serve, but not so much the statehouse. Perhaps a bunch of us community papers could get together and subsidize that coverage. In any case, thanks for noticing. And thanks for caring enough about our industry to think about it and intelligently write about it. Aaron: You make a good point. And perhaps I was a bit unclear. I believe most of your ideas are solid. I just believe they go much further than necessary to sustain a strong newspaper industry. To wit: If The New York Times abandoned the revenue and the cost and aggravation of the controlled subscription model of their print product and instead delivered the paper to everybody in their target demographic, they could increase circulation greatly and increase the depth of the market they can penetrate for their advertisers — thus charging more money. It’s the model we use, and it works.

Also, your point about the death notices is taken well, too. Our papers fit somewhere between the two. We provide in-depth coverage of the communities we serve, but not so much the statehouse. Perhaps a bunch of us community papers could get together and subsidize that coverage.

In any case, thanks for noticing. And thanks for caring enough about our industry to think about it and intelligently write about it.

]]> By: Aaron M. Renn http://www.danmcdonough.com/2009/05/06/there-is-a-future-and-a-strong-one-for-newspapers/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Aaron M. Renn Thu, 07 May 2009 00:57:31 +0000 http://www.danmcdonough.com/?p=93#comment-5 Thanks for the link. I should point out that I'm more or less focused on the major urban daily. Community newspapers do seem to be hanging in there, but I've seldom seen a community newspaper do the type of investigative and watchdog journalism that people are worried about. Instead, they do things like publish death announcements. When my grandfather died recently, it was quickly put into the paper and a huge number of people showed up at the funeral home because they saw the announcement in the community paper. That's an important function, as are things like reporting on the local high school basketball team and such. They help build and bind a community together. But that won't do anything to keep an eye on statehouse shenanigans or to give the context around the big issues (immigration, the decline of the auto industry, etc) and what it means to the local area. Or perhaps you have a different notion of community newspaper than I do? Thanks for the link. I should point out that I’m more or less focused on the major urban daily. Community newspapers do seem to be hanging in there, but I’ve seldom seen a community newspaper do the type of investigative and watchdog journalism that people are worried about. Instead, they do things like publish death announcements. When my grandfather died recently, it was quickly put into the paper and a huge number of people showed up at the funeral home because they saw the announcement in the community paper. That’s an important function, as are things like reporting on the local high school basketball team and such. They help build and bind a community together. But that won’t do anything to keep an eye on statehouse shenanigans or to give the context around the big issues (immigration, the decline of the auto industry, etc) and what it means to the local area.

Or perhaps you have a different notion of community newspaper than I do?

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