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How long until we see ....

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Write-brained, Apr 13, 2008.

  1. times38

    times38 Member

    Once newspapers finally figure out a way to generate revenue from Web sites I'd imagine the print editions will die almost immediately.
     
  2. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    where you hidin', dog?
     
  3. here?
     
  4. Tom Petty

    Tom Petty Guest

    why you hidin'? think you're better than the rest of us?
     
  5. Oz

    Oz Well-Known Member

    Knowing that as a desker, I've joined our paper's Web team to learn some new skills. I've begun slowly with looking over comments at the end of stories and columns -- always good times -- and I'm going to do some more things down the line. As a former reporter now on desk, doing some Web on the side, I figure the more versatile I am the better off I'm going to be in the long run.
     
  6. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    While football may only offer you 12 to 14 weeks of stories for Saturday papers (plus local college and occasional high school games on Saturdays for Sunday papers) there are also boys and girls basketball games all through the winter.
    Our section of Ohio is filled with schools of all sizes with teams playing (yes, boys and girls) Friday night games. Then there's the Saturday games and Saturday wrestling tournaments.
    And trust me, if they don't see how little Johnny or Suzie did, they call.
    Doing away with Saturday or Sunday papers not only sounds like a bad idea, it is a bad idea.
     
  7. fossywriter8

    fossywriter8 Well-Known Member

    ^^^Oh, I forgot all about the cross country meets on Saturdays in the fall.
    Yes, we cover everything from prep sports to Ohio State football (not with an AP story, but with an area writer).
    I know, many of you are probably thinking, 'Well, you must work at a small daily where you can focus more on prep sports.' You'd be right (I also work at a twice-a-week paper, but the discussion on how the two jobs relate is for another time). But that's where small dailies and weeklies are killing metros — local coverage.
    Our readers aren't buying the paper to find out who's ready to make a run for the AFC title this year. They can get that anywhere on the Web, TV or national publications. What they can't get everywhere else is the local stuff.
     
  8. NightOwl

    NightOwl Guest

    Ya know, here's a radical thought: Your newspaper kills the website right now, and maybe your readers come back to the paper.

    They'll bitch about it for a week or two, and then they start buying the paper again because, ya know, they need what papers give them.

    Take away that free website. They'll switch to the local TV website for a minute or two, but TV can't compete with newspapers for in-depth news, so there ya go..........

    Our free newspaper websites are killing the printed product more than it deserves to be killed.
     
  9. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Until the TV news starts concentrating more on their Web site, or some guy with a computer starts a bunch of citizen journalism. Then the paper will get totally screwed.

    Papers have messed up a lot when it comes to the Internet age (along with a lot of other stuff). But what you're proposing would be like telling late 1940s-era CBS or NBC to not bother with that new box thing that you can see pictures with, but to concentrate on the radio.
     
  10. pressmurphy

    pressmurphy Member

    What do you mean when you say they'll "start buying the paper again?"

    There's a whole generation of people out there that have never bought the paper, period. Take away the newspaper's web site and they won't start buying newspapers, they'll switch to other local sites that would be delighted if the local newspaper quite the online industry.
     
  11. kleeda

    kleeda Active Member

    Had a conversation years ago -- and reiterated more recently -- with friends in the industry that the way to go was either a Thursday--through- Sunday print edition or a Friday-through-Monday one.

    Monday really only to take advantage of the NFL, weekend major league and college analysis and a full teaser section of what you're going to give people on Friday (arts, entertainment especially).

    I know the paper I one worked at (and that just had layoffs) used to sell the heck out of Thursday-Sunday subscriptions. You get that separate arts tab setting up the weekend, the Food section and all that stuff. Comics might be a tough one to overcome though.

    Anyway, yes, this day is coming soon, but I doubt anybody goes to Sunday only out of the box.
     
  12. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    Or they don't start buying the paper again and the younger generation just clicks somebody else's web site because they want today's news today (as they're used to getting it), not tomorrow morning.
     
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