Wired 2007 Predictions: Major paper will go Web-only

Define major?

If say the Cincinnati Post went all-web, does that count?

Would a paper under 50k circ count?

Pros: Won't take nearly as many people at their desk, putting the paper together.
Cons: Lots of jobs cut.

 

Actually someone has, I don't know the guy's name who did it, but Nashville has a web-only paper, the Nashville Post.
It is primarily for the business community. And really targeted at lawyers and such. Two or three paid writers, plus some stringers.
But that's like super-niche.

 

Cons: Not enough advertising revenue online, so lots of jobs cut.

 

When they were talking strike in Philly, the Guild was talking about starting an online strike paper.

There has been a non-profit local news site in San Diego, too. But it's non-profit.

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org

I thought I read on Romenesko recently that some veteran journalists were going to start one. I thought it was on Long Island, but I'm not sure.

 

2001 was when the first major cracks started to show. Lots of hand-wringing about serious drops in classified revenue. Lots of purging of staff after binging on new hires not too long before that.

Of course, the Poyntertards and Romenesktard don't focus much on the myriad mistakes made since that time.

 

I agree. I think Romenesko ought to spend his workdays counting the typos in every newspaper in America. Not only would that be an efficient use of time, it would send his Web traffic through the roof! I mean, I like reading his site now. But if he starting tabulating all the errors, I don't think I could pry myself away! When would I eat? When would I sleep? It would be worth it, though, to read about when some douchenozzle in Denver or fuckface in Fresno blew a headline!

 

I was thinking more of mistakes like continuing to pound money down the design sinkhole. Things like that.

Your suggestion sounds groovy, though.

 

What do you think the unions are going to do about it? The publishers already have the guns at the unions' heads, and won't hesitate to pull the trigger -- in fact, they're itching to do exactly that.

 

The editors are the ones who are afraid of the unions. Very afraid.

 

Having searchable, sortable databases is good for some people, but it can also be bad. People who scan/read the newspaper and see an ad which compels them to buy something.

With a search database, you would get just those which match your key words. So advertising may become VERY age group, class, etc, oriented.

 

As intimated by the Big Lead, there was some talk a while back that the Cincinnati Post would go web-only after the JOA expired (Dec. 31), but I think that isn't going to happen now. They'd have to hire an ad staff (unless Scripps did it) I imagine, too.

 

That's the point. That's exactly why advertisers request placement in a specific section, or on a specific page, on a specific day - to target the audience they're trying to reach. Someone stumbling on their ad by accident is all well/good, but it isn't their intention.

As far as functionality:

Think about how much easier it is to type in the exact year, make and model of a car you're looking to buy; or the neighborhood, price range, square footage, etc., for a house buy, instead of wading through pages of classifieds. It's why CraigsList, Amazon and Google are so successful, and why newspaper web sites are partnering with the big search engines - to target their advertising/content to specific audiences.