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thoughtfulThe timing is questionable, considering the Sun-Times has announced it's shutting down 12 of its suburban weekly papers and may even outsource copy-editing. The Trib itself just filed for bankruptcy not long ago. A redesign right now is not only financially questionable, but downright unnecessary.
The problem with the Tribune's redesign is that the company assumes its woes are in the paper itself, that people aren't buying because of the shape, size, look, etc., of the paper.But their financial problems aren't due to the paper's physical dimensions... it's due to its physical existence.
In a world that is going all digital, our society has less patience for physical media. Newspapers, CDs, and DVDs are all slowly succumbing to .pdf, .mp3, .mp4, .avi, .html, etc. I suspect the same will happen (is happening?) to video games. We want our media smaller, faster, crisper. An ink-and-pages newspaper isn't conducive to that.
What we need for newspapers is a sort of iPod of news. In the history of music, people paid big money for their records, their cassettes, and their CDs... but when music went digital, suddenly it was expected to be free. While I have never been a big iFan, I have to admit that iPods and iPhones have played a big part in keeping the music business alive, successfully getting more and more listeners to pay for their tunes.The same is needed for news if newspapers expect to survive. People had no issue paying for newspapers back in the day, but now that any and all news is available digitally, Internet users expect all information to be free and immediate.
Yes, I know the Amazon Kindle exists, but that's not really practical. The Kindle costs over $300, and (I believe) newspapers can only be bought via subscription, not individually. Newspapers need to find a way to profit off the rise of iPhones, smartphones, Blackberrys, etc...
...and not waste their time dressing up a dish no one is interested in.
2009-01-16 12:45 am (UTC)
If someone hits the right note on an iPod for print media with an integrated store for magazines, newspapers, and books, then all of these people will change rapidly.
The publishing executives are not going to lead the way. The electronics and computer industries will have to lead the way.
Then again though - record companies are still spending money printing CDs and shipping them out to stores, so the existence of a comparable digital medium doesn't mean that the hard copies will go extinct so quickly.
2009-01-16 04:57 am (UTC)
2009-01-16 01:45 am (UTC)
Reducing the size of a paper is a stopgap to reduce the operating costs and not necessarily to make it more attractive to readers.
There is a certain subset of readers that will not give up the printed copy for online copy for another generation. What fraction of the overall market that is depends highly on the readership. Chicago and New York might be able to get away with it, but the smaller markets probably won't. And their revenues are being hit for the same reasons.
2009-01-16 02:28 am (UTC)
They claim to continue their broadsheet format and replicate the entire content in a tabloid to make it more attractive.
They already have a LCD tabloid version they give away for free to the lip reading, (so-called) ADHD generation.
2009-01-16 02:45 am (UTC)
The papers of my youth, The Chicago Today, The Daily Herald, evening editions, special editions, are all gone just like corner stores, newsboys, and streetside hotdog vendors. Only the Trib and ST remain, and Neil Steinberg has been pretty pessimistic about the ST on Facebook all week making Titanic references galore.
I despise the Redeye, its an analog equivalent to Twitter.
Do I read on line? Of course. Even better, when I know I'm going out of town, the ability to read some local paper for a week prior to arrival allows me to get a feel of what the locals I will meet will be concerned over.
Newspapers need to find a way to profit off the rise of iPhones, smartphones, Blackberrys, etc...
Honestly, no fucking way am I gonna read stuff electronically while scarfing a hot and dipped. LOL
/old man
2009-01-16 05:27 am (UTC)
But there's tradition, and then there's business, and rarely do the two overlap. There is one typewriter repair shop in the entire city of Chicago, and only a handful in the entire country. I can assure you their owners aren't keeping their businesses because they're raking in the dough.
So while we can look fondly back at the glory days of print and dig in our heels when it comes to change, that's not going to make the newspapers any money. While you personally may enjoy a physical newspaper and I personally prefer an actual book, neither of us can deny that today's consumers (and most definitely those of the next generation) live, breathe, and think via their electronics.
Newspapers can either continue to exist as they are, or they can choose to make a profit. But they can't do both.