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David Byrne has more insight into our industry than most people running it

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Pendleton, Dec 26, 2008.

  1. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    I think it's reassuring to read Byrne's observations because he is NOT of our industry. What I've found is that a minority of our population -- the same minority that might be inclined to read a newspaper -- also has a more profound understanding of what's happening in this industry than we may think. I've seen it locally. This is another example.

    It is for this very reason that I think circulations in many major markets are declining at a more rapid rate now than one would have suspected. The idea is to sacrifice the traditional reader to attract non-readers. The net effect is that the non-readers are ignoring newspapers as they always have and the traditional readers are not only a little pissed, but also insulted, so they are being turned off by the industry more than the actual paper itself.

    Again, I'm not passing along anything new here. The point is simply that Byrne's blog post is another example -- and I've seen many -- that the reading public (emphasis on READING public) very much knows what's going on here. That's both encouraging and frightening.
     
  2. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    I'm with you, Brian. I've said it for years, that newspaers are like breweries that take Joe Sixpack for granted, while courting the wine cooler crowd. Do that often enough, in numerous ways (content, political leanings, redesigns upon redesigns, purging of familiar bylines) and you are more likely to lose Joe Sixpack than to add his worth (plus) in new customers.

    Yeah, yeah, traditional newspaper readers are "dying." That's too simplistic. People are living longer than ever, and I believe most people don't really become potential newspaper customers until they marry, have families, buy houses, care about the schools in their neighborhoods and develop that to-the-doorstep routine at age 30 or beyond. But advertisers covet kids and newspapers covet advertisers, so editors don't think twice about alienating the 45-year-olds who might be inclined to buy their paper for another 40 years.
     
  3. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    Do you find that sometimes you can be amazed by how much some people "know" about our industry? Not that they can talk shop, but if you are a learned person in politics, business, psychology, etc., you can read a newspaper and start figuring out motivations behind what's there. And I'm amazed how often these observatiosn are dead-on. Of course, we tend to forget these observations and remember the observations that are WAY off base and use those to fuel our "public doesn't understand us" arguments.

    So when you downsize, repackage and pretty up something to try to fool the reader to thinking he's getting what he pays for, this core of readers recognizes that strategy. Part of it, as Byrne says, is they've seen it in other industries, sometimes their own.

    Here's the thing, and forgive me if this point is being pounded to a fault: The people with the curiosity and observational talents to figure these things out do things like READ NEWSPAPERS to contribute to those observational skills and to satsify that curiosity. So the last thing you want to do is try to "trick" newspaper readers with what are, essentially, marketing tricks (example? The Red Eye. Need I say more?).
     
  4. You might ask yourself ... how did I get here?
     
  5. Joe Williams

    Joe Williams Well-Known Member

    write then drink, we're ready for your close-up...
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Why stay in college, why go to night school?
    Gonna be different this time.
    Can't write a letter, can't send a postcard
    I can't write nothing at all.
    This ain't no party, this ain't no disco,
    this ain't no fooling around.
     
  7. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    They say they don't need money
    They're living on nuts and berries
    They say animals don't worry
    You know animals are hairy?
    They think they know what's best
    They're making a fool of us
    They ought to be more careful
    They're setting a bad example


    What, that doesn't apply here?
     
  8. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    write then drink sounds like he could become a psycho killer
     
  9. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Wow look at that.

    Write then drink is displaying his sense of superiority.

    He's better than you, and funnier too.

    A better name: Bitch then moan.
     
  10. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
     
  11. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    It's human nature. The guy has a funny or recognizable name, we put it in song.

    The news was bad, she was... right there tellin' it and she was...
     
  12. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Newspapers are fine, but girlfriend is better.
     
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