In the wake of dozens upon dozens of newspapers around the country slashing their publication days, why aren’t other financially-strapped papers following suit?
Dan Kennedy’s been tracking the Boston Globe for a while, especially after the latest what-if scenario that the New York Times Company would close the Globe unless $20 million was found. In his latest, Dan indicates the Globe caved and will shell the dough by tomorrow night.
This is well and good but how come nobody is asking the Globe to cut delivery days? If the Detroit Free Press can do it, surely Boston can, too. Or is the metro-Boston population more Puritan-rigid in the old ways than Detroit to warrant a shift?
Anick Jesdanun explains:
In a bold but risky move aimed at ensuring their survival in the digital age, The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press are reducing home delivery to the three days a week most popular with advertisers–Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Slimmed-down newspapers, sold at regular prices, will be available in news racks and convenience stores the other four days.
Are you so ingrained in traditional models that you don’t want to receive the Boston Globe less than seven days a week?
Here’s another idea, following a model from the Corsicana (Texas) Daily Sun to stay competitive and affordable to its readers: change the delivery method from newspaper-hired carriers to the U.S. Postal Service.
Both ideas make sense to me. Are newspaper publishers listening?
Photo credit: birdfarm
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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My brother-in-law is in the paper delivery business. One of the papers he delivers totally dropped delivery in his area. Their contention is there wasn’t enough subscribers to justify the overhead. They didn’t cut days, they cut the entire area out.
From his point of view, delivery via USPS would not be his favorite choice. And from mine, not sure it’s that exciting a proposition. The cost of delivery for each paper would definitely go up would it not?
That would change the model to be more like magazine subscriptions. Perhaps subscribers would still get a discount over off-the-shelf pricing?
At any rate, it’s an interesting idea.
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What’s the future of paper delivery? -> [link to post] < - @ariherzog shares one interesting approach
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Thanks for using and crediting my photo, Ari! It would be interesting to compare how newspapers are doing in other countries, such as Iran (where the photo was taken). What other variables have an impact – penetration of digital media? Censorship thereof, and/or of print media? Literacy rates surely? I’m curious.
Getting a newspaper daily is not enough as it is. By the time you get the news, it’s no longer news. So in my mind, getting a newspaper 3 times a week is really no different.
The problem here, as you discuss, is these guys being stuck in such stupid old models. These newspapers guys wake up on Monday, realize they’re going out of business, and wonder why. Really? If they spent half as much time staying on the cutting edge as they did buried in their old mindsets, they would be progressing, not dying.
I want newspapers to adapt, get creative, and continue existing, probably along a different path. But if they’re just going to sit around and whine about dying, then maybe they should just die.
Should they even be called “news”papers anymore? Let’s face it, when something happens it’s reported by so many mediums instantaneously. CNN, Twitter, online news feeds, radio – print media can’t keep up (at least in its current form).
How about they change over to an editorial review model? Use a once-a-week approach to offer respected views on the stories that made the world tick that previous week? Too drastic?
How’s editorial review not Newsweek and other magazines?
Since newspapers are being forced to transition either by changing themselves or being replaced by nimbler competitors, it would probably make more sense to start milking the delivery option for cash. So you want delivery? $2 a copy warm to your doorstep. Want it cheeper, hit a different channel. Problem right now, I think, is they are trying to serve two masters – the advertisers who still want mass distribution vs the number of customers who care about newsprint at all.
I would think with the push to be more environmentally friendly, most papers would stop delivering altogether. I think the only times I have bought newspapers in the last few years have been to look at the local job ads. For everything else, I can find it online much faster and updated than a paper every morning.
~ Kristi
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