New ownership in Salt Lake

[SportsHack1818]

The Deseret News has a circulation of 40,000 so the two papers total to 71,000. Salt Lake City has a metro population of 1,203,000.

The Kansas City metro population has a 2,128,000 and a circulation of 82,000. Denver metro has a population of 2,888,000 and circulation of under 100,000.

So Salt Lake is a town of newspaper readers.

True, but the problem is, those two papers compete directly against each other in an effort to be the paper of record for the entire state (and with the Deseret News, the entire LDS Church) and that means a massive duplication of resources to reach those 71,000 readers. As Tweener pointed out, the Trib has 90 editorial employees for a circulation of 31K, which is just not sustainable, no matter how badly the Trib wants to cover the Jazz, BYU, Utah, Real Salt Lake, preps, Salt Lake city/county news, Utah County (Provo/Orem) news, Davis/Weber county news, features, the LDS Church, etc. At some point, something has to give. But once it does, that will mean fewer readers whose needs aren't being met by the smaller staff, and the cycle continues.

 

[LanceyHoward]

True, but the problem is, those two papers compete directly against each other in an effort to be the paper of record for the entire state (and with the Deseret News, the entire LDS Church) and that means a massive duplication of resources to reach those 71,000 readers. As Tweener pointed out, the Trib has 90 editorial employees for a circulation of 31K, which is just not sustainable, no matter how badly the Trib wants to cover the Jazz, BYU, Utah, Real Salt Lake, preps, Salt Lake city/county news, Utah County (Provo/Orem) news, Davis/Weber county news, features, the LDS Church, etc. At some point, something has to give. But once it does, that will mean fewer readers whose needs aren't being met by the smaller staff, and the cycle continues.

My point I was attempting to make is that the circulation woes of Salt Lake City are not unique.

I think it is clear that in today's economic environment that the Salt Lake City can support more than one newspaper of record. I have no knowledge of the inner working of the L.D.S. but I suspect they want to maintain an editorial presence and will subsidize the Deseret News. The L.D.S. has very deep pockets. If my assumption is true the Tribune is not long for this world as a newspaper of record.

 

[Tweener]

The Deseret News has a circulation of 40,000 so the two papers total to 71,000. Salt Lake City has a metro population of 1,203,000.

The Kansas City metro population has a 2,128,000 and a circulation of 82,000. Denver metro has a population of 2,888,000 and circulation of under 100,000.

So Salt Lake is a town of newspaper readers.

It's not necessarily a one-or-the other situation, though. Some LDS people in the area get both papers (the DNews for more church-related content) and the DNews is circulated widely to outside of the Salt Lake metro area. It's more complicated than simply looking at 71,000 and comparing it to the population of the area.

Maybe 31,000 for The Trib is not surprising but it's still seems uniquely low. Example: my current shop has a circulation of nearly 50,000 in a region that has a population of fewer than a million.

 

[LanceyHoward]

It's not necessarily a one-or-the other situation, though. Some LDS people in the area get both papers (the DNews for more church-related content) and the DNews is circulated widely to outside of the Salt Lake metro area. It's more complicated than simply looking at 71,000 and comparing it to the population of the area.

Maybe 31,000 for The Trib is not surprising but it's still seems uniquely low. Example: my current shop has a circulation of nearly 50,000 in a region that has a population of fewer than a million.

I checked and Salt Lake has a population of 1.2 million. So 71,000 combined is reasonable. In Denver when the Rocky and the post had a JOA about six percent of the subscribers taking both.

 

[Tweener]

But Salt Lake isn't Denver and neither the Rocky or the Post were owned by a church that uses part of its publication to distribute church-related content.

Anyway, this is not worth arguing about.

 

[LanceyHoward]

But Salt Lake isn't Denver and neither the Rocky or the Post were owned by a church that uses part of its publication to distribute church-related content.

Anyway, this is not worth arguing about.

You are right. I tend to overague points. This is not worth arguing about. Especially since the larger question of how many ships in Salt Lake are sinking remains to be answered. At those subscription levels it would be hard to support one quality newspaper, much less two.

 

[WriteThinking]

You are right. I tend to overague points. This is not worth arguing about. Especially since the larger question of how many ships in Salt Lake are sinking remains to be answered. At those subscription levels it would be hard to support one quality newspaper, much less two.

I think the operative word there is "quality."

I wonder, has the Deseret News always had a larger circulation there than the Salt Lake Tribune?

I wouldn't have thought so, and, even in the LDS-based city, for some reason, it surprises me that the LDS-funded paper has numbers that much, relatively speaking, higher now.

 

[SportsHack1818]

Not sure about the history of the circulation numbers relative to one another, but what I do know is the Deseret News isn't in any trouble of disappearing. The LDS Church owns it and uses it as a pretty extensive PR arm (as it does with KSL, the TV station it owns in the market), and it pours plenty of money into it. For example, when the LDS Church prophet just went on a world tour, both the newspaper and the TV station had reporters along every step of the way. That kind of money doesn't get spent if the Deseret News is considered to be in any kind of financial trouble.

 

[LanceyHoward]

I think the operative word there is "quality."

I wonder, has the Deseret News always had a larger circulation there than the Salt Lake Tribune?

I wouldn't have thought so, and, even in the LDS-based city, for some reason, it surprises me that the LDS-funded paper has numbers that much, relatively speaking, higher now.

I read somewhere, maybe Wikipedia, that the Tribune had higher weekday circulation but the Deseret News had higher Sunday circulation at the time Huntsman bought the Tribune.

 

[Tweener]

The Trib has traditionally had higher circulation numbers, which may explain the larger newsroom staff. I'd be shocked if the Deseret News had a newsroom of anywhere close to the 90 that The Trib reportedly has.

 

[LanceyHoward]

The Trib has traditionally had higher circulation numbers, which may explain the larger newsroom staff. I'd be shocked if the Deseret News had a newsroom of anywhere close to the 90 that The Trib reportedly has.

Does anyone know what the staffing of the Deseret News is. As a sample, how big are the respective sports staffs.

 

[Tweener]

Does anyone know what the staffing of the Deseret News is. As a sample, how big are the respective sports staffs.

About nine or ten deep on writers at both the Trib and the D-News. D-News also has a few web producers.

 

[SportsHack1818]

The Salt Lake Tribune announced today it has laid off 34 people in its newsroom, which is more than one-third of its editorial operation. While necessary given what how far its circulation has sunk, that's a huge number for a statewide paper of record. Best of luck to all of them moving forward. Problem is, three of the four other biggest papers in the state have undergone the same thing in the past two years (Ogden, Provo, St. George) so there are not many nearby options at this point.

 

[SportsHack1818]

So far, I know the Salt Lake Tribune cuts include at least two people in sports -- Jay Drew, who was there for 20-plus years, most recently as the BYU beat guy, and Lynn Worthy, a relative newcomer whom I don't know much about. I also know that Paul Rolly, a longtime news columnist, was among the cuts.