Anyone up for breaking a strike?

[wickedwritah]

I may sound like Dyepack here, but I've worked at tabloids and I've worked at broadsheets, and it seems like, at a tab, even at "respectable" tabs, the pressure to have a single dominant cover story or two, and to focus on design and visuals over words, leads inevitably to dumbing down the product in the name of boosting single-copy sales.

Wouldn't this play into the hands of tabs, though? The idea that tabs can be more interesting design-wise should be favored, especially since every report that comes out focuses on design, design, design.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

At 112K, how could the News stand alone, with those contracts, in that city?

 

[cranberry]

Having worked a tabloid section for some two years now, I find it to be a "dumbing-down" process if, and only if, that's the mindset going in.

To the contrary, I've found the tabloid format to be superior for the packaging of single events, not to mention easier for the reader to follow.

As far as the design vs. words war goes, I'm not going to get into it. I simply know you need both, and one suffers without the other. EITHER one.

Agree. Content doesn't necessarily have to be dumbed-down just because a lot of tabs shoot for the lowest common denominator. And I also agree that a well-done tab can be more reader friendly.

 

[wickedwritah]

Times Herald in Port Jervis/Middletown is one that hasn't dumbed down.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

And I also agree that a well-done tab can be more reader friendly.

If you read more than sports and news, it is harder to navigate a tab. In a broadsheet, you can more easily find the business and entertainment sections.

 

[EStreetJoe]

There is just less of a market now for tabloids pretty much everywhere because the downscale audience it's aimed at just isn't reading much of anything.

In the audit numbers that came out in October or November, weren't the New York Post and the New York Daily News - two tabloids - two of only three or four newspapers to show circulation gains and not losses?
I think there's still a market for tabloids. In parts of the northeast train (and bus) ridership is up and tabloids are alot easier to read on a crowded train (or bus) than the broadsheets are. Not sure how mass transit ridership is in other parts of the country though.
Plus tabloids (like the NYDN and NYP) tend to focus on the sensational news or the celebrity news as opposed to the hard-core news the broadsheets focus on. In this age of American Idol, Survivor, and people clammoring for celebrity news, more people want to read about Brittney getting divorced from K-Fed than want to read about how the conflict in Iraq is getting worse.

 

[cranberry]

And I also agree that a well-done tab can be more reader friendly.

If you read more than sports and news, it is harder to navigate a tab. In a broadsheet, you can more easily find the business and entertainment sections.

That's a valid point. Plus, it's easier to split up. My wife and I read the Times simultaneously in the morning.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

There is just less of a market now for tabloids pretty much everywhere because the downscale audience it's aimed at just isn't reading much of anything.

In the audit numbers that came out in October or November, weren't the New York Post and the New York Daily News - two tabloids - two of only three or four newspapers to show circulation gains and not losses?
I think there's still a market for tabloids. In parts of the northeast train (and bus) ridership is up and tabloids are alot easier to read on a crowded train (or bus) than the broadsheets are. Not sure how mass transit ridership is in other parts of the country though.
Plus tabloids (like the NYDN and NYP) tend to focus on the sensational news or the celebrity news as opposed to the hard-core news the broadsheets focus on. In this age of American Idol, Survivor, and people clammoring for celebrity news, more people want to read about Brittney getting divorced from K-Fed than want to read about how the conflict in Iraq is getting worse.

I explained this on another thread. The Daily News posted a tiny gain for the past six months, as it sometimes does, but overall it has lost 100K daily over the past dozen years. The Post has grown by cutting its cover price in half and by some estimates is losing as much as $30 million per year.

As you can tell in your market, Joe, advertisers don't necessarily care who sells a lot of papers if they perceive the readers of one publication to be lowlifes that they don't want in their stores scaring off paying customers. The sleaze factor can pump up circulation but hurt the bottom line. Look at the ads in your competition.

 

[spnited]

The main thing that keeps the NY Post going is Murdoch's need to have a paper in NY. Rupert doesn't care how much the Post loses as long as News Corp. makes enough money elsewhere.
There have been whispers for about a year now that the Post could drop it's Sunday edition (ad revenue totally in the crapper) at any time now.
But if Rupert were to die tomorrow, his kid might not be so eager to keep losing milions of dollars on the Post.

 

[shotglass]

And I also agree that a well-done tab can be more reader friendly.

If you read more than sports and news, it is harder to navigate a tab. In a broadsheet, you can more easily find the business and entertainment sections.

That's a valid point. Plus, it's easier to split up. My wife and I read the Times simultaneously in the morning.

Yes ... but you can't roll up the entire broadsheet, stick it in your pocket and go to the bathroom!

 

[PHINJ]

I respect anyone who won't cross a picket line and I surely feel for the folks working at the Inky/DN. But I mean, c'mon...NINE other paper unions have already said they will not respect a Guild picket line. The members of those unions feel a Guild strike would hurt them.

And, yes, it's nice to give the finger to the corporate cocksmokers out there but hey Tierney didn't create this mess. He bailed them out, remember? Yes, you can blast him as a knucklehead for not doing his due diligence before buying the papers, but it could have been worse .

If you're some poor sap working for JRC or Gannett in suburban Pa. or NJ, GO FOR IT!

BTW, Chuck Pukanecz vaulted to the top of JRC editorial precisely because he was a scab for Jelenic.

 

[cranberry]

Or, part of the business strategy from the get-go was to increase profits by freezing salaries and ending the pension program. The Guild has every right to threaten a strike and, if necessary, carry out that threat. These aren't make-believe issues. There's a lot of risk here for both the employees and the newspaper. Those are the type of conditions under which contracts typically get settled. Preditction: The Guild will get a better deal in the end because they have pushed it this far.

 

[wickedwritah]

Agreed, Cran.

And PHI, Tierney knew what he was getting into at the beginning. For him to cry poormouth now is bull. McClatchy/KR opened the books.

 

[STLIrish]

Having worked a tabloid section for some two years now, I find it to be a "dumbing-down" process if, and only if, that's the mindset going in.

To the contrary, I've found the tabloid format to be superior for the packaging of single events, not to mention easier for the reader to follow.

As far as the design vs. words war goes, I'm not going to get into it. I simply know you need both, and one suffers without the other. EITHER one.

Agree. Content doesn't necessarily have to be dumbed-down just because a lot of tabs shoot for the lowest common denominator. And I also agree that a well-done tab can be more reader friendly.

Certainly more reader-friendly in a lot of ways and definitely preferable from a design perspective. I'm not anti-tab, I just feel like there's a strong temptation to place a lower priority on those pesky words that run between the photos and the headlines. Doesn't have to be that way, but too often it is.

 

[PHINJ]

Who said it wasn't bull? Bottom line is 150 people or more will be out of jobs. Stu and the boys' actions will only make it worse.

 

[wickedwritah]

Stu and the boys' actions will prevent a lot more people from being screwed over.