The Death of Newspapers – Perhaps?
The conga line of dying newspapers is now forming.
View this dismal prognosis from two perspectives: The Philadelphia Inquirer, winner of a bushel basket of Pulitzer Prizes since the mid ‘80s and a perennial top 10 national newspaper, and the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press, a regional newspaper indicative of the kind found nationwide in cities and towns.
The Inquirer is in a battle for its collective soul; new owner Brian Tierney, an ad/PR guy from Philly and longtime critic of the newspaper, bought it and is determined to find profitable ground. "We don't need a Jerusalem bureau," he said, ignoring their strong reputation in national and international reporting. "What we need are more people in the South Jersey bureau."
That is his prerogative, of course, but his recipe for success is to slash the editorial staff by as much as 30 percent in addition to a recent round of layoffs.
What happens when the other great metro dailies – The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Miami Herald, The Dallas Morning News, LA Times and The Denver Post – follow suit and pull out of Washington and foreign bureaus? Do we leave it up The Associated Press to paint the world for us in print?
The good news, of course, is more local coverage may well benefit our colleges and universities, which are in a constant fishing expedition to get positive media hits. This brings us to Newport News, Va.
This week that publication announced it would now focus on local news coverage, relegating national and international news to the inside pages, a seismic change from past decades. Ummmmm. Again, a boon for higher ed institutions locally? Perhaps. But what a huge shift for newspapers, from top to bottom, nationwide. As these business scribes seek to find a profitability niche, how much of our media/PR/marketing effort should go to an industry in dire decline?
Okay, okay. Let’s ride that “more local coverage” horse as long as we can, demanding that larger news holes in local newspapers may mean better coverage for our colleges and universities. But don’t ignore the death knell her for great journalism.
When famed New York Times reporter Johnny Apple died earlier this year, more than one newspaper bemoaned the end of “great journalists.” The likes of Johnny Apple will never be found covering local school board meetings, and that is the route of the Inquirer and the Daily Press.
I am biased, as a former reporter in the local and national media. That aside, don’t ignore the profound changes well underway in journalism today. Make it work to your advantage, but note that the industry is changing faster than the stock market. What does this mean for your marketing/media/PR operation?