How to make money in journalism

http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-07-16/news/betting-on-black.php/full

Interesting read out of Seattle on this guy. Has papers, buying more papers and making bucketloads of money. Has virtually no internet presence.

The money quote...

 

I would have suggested slipping and falling in the newsroom and suing the shit out of the place...

 

I'm in luck. With the shape our building is in, there is a good chance the ceiling could collapse on top of me. With my dying hands, I dial the number for the attorney ...

 

I didn't read the whole article. But this popped into my mind.
In the city in which I grew up, I worked at the local paper for 25 years. I was laid off in 1995 and the paper folded in 1998 after publishing for 125 years. It was a traditional daily in a bedroom community. Sports-wise, we covered all the pro teams and were big on preps.
But the paper couldn't make it, even after a merger that resulted in a dramatic cut in production costs.
In its place, there are four -- FOUR -- community throwaways, one is 5 days a week, two are weekly, one monthly. You look at them, the editorial content is embarrassing. But the pages are full of ads. And those four have been around for more than 10 years. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if they weren't making money, they wouldn't exist. They do exist, in print form.
Maybe this dude Black just found his niche. Maybe it won't work everywhere. I just don't know.

 

SportsDude's case history, in pictures....

---> --->
---> --->

 

The key I thought was free circulation.
He reasons ads make the money - not subscribers. So he's giving the paper away - like a local TV station and making money on the ads. His sales guys are telling advertisers their ads will be viewed by 80-90 percent of the target audience.

There are some drawbacks; turnover with carriers and disgruntled residents who don't want the paper in the first place.
I'd like to know what his profit margin is. I didn't see that in the story.

Certainly intersting. I wonder if anyone - especailly long-established papers and chains - will follow suit?

 

This is nothing new. I'll maintain my stance that small papers will suffer a lot less financially than large ones, partly because they haven't expanded their web presence.

 

Batman,


I love it.

 

I thought shorting newspaper/publishing stocks would come up.

That's right. It's hard to make money shorting something that's dropped off the table already.

 

Funny thing is, all but the last picture turned up on the google image search for "personal injury lawyer".