Billy Monday
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http://www.ocregister.com/money/news-section-register-1962455-business-newspaper
OC Register eliminating business section
- Thread starter Billy Monday
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I've heard of two other major metros whose business sections are on life support. Seems like in this economy we'd need more good business reporting, but oh well.
Bill Brasky
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playthrough said:
Jeezus, talk about short-sighted. I can see cutting back on stock listings, because it gobbles up a lot of newsprint and people can keep track of their stocks on-line. But you ought to keep a good-sized newshole for business. The people who read that are older and have a lot of money...advertisers want that market. All you're doing is creating an audience for the local business publication.
Jim Rockford
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I thought the buzzwords of the moment were "It's the economy, stupid."
Nice timing, OC.
Nice timing, OC.
Billy Monday
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The less reporting there is on business, the easier it will be for corrupt corporations to get away with murder.
Also, if business reporting doesn't sell ads, why are there so many specialized daily or weekly business tabs in largers cities?
Also, if business reporting doesn't sell ads, why are there so many specialized daily or weekly business tabs in largers cities?
Ace
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Most newspaper business sections suck, by the way.
To much easy, daily reporting (new business opens!, stocks of local companies are down!, earnings report of big local company up!, local business is laying off 20, local tourism board predicts tourist will come this summer) and not enough investigative stuff or stories interesting to a general audience.
The NY Times does a lot of great business stories, though.
To much easy, daily reporting (new business opens!, stocks of local companies are down!, earnings report of big local company up!, local business is laying off 20, local tourism board predicts tourist will come this summer) and not enough investigative stuff or stories interesting to a general audience.
The NY Times does a lot of great business stories, though.
W
wickedwritah
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They are not eliminating business coverage, they are folding the business section into another section. They certainly aren't the first to do that.
Birdscribe
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Ace said:
Absolutely, Ace. That's one of the main reasons I continue to get the NY Times here on the West Coast.
The fact most biz sections outside of the large metros suck is for that exact reason; not enough personal finance stuff, too much "Fred's Crab Shack and Mower Repair Opens!" stories.
I don't have a problem on local-stock stories. There's an interest in those, especially in areas where there's one dominant industry (i.e. gaming in Nevada, Disney in Orlando/OC, etc).
About 10 years ago, the editor of my paper calls me into his office. Sensing I was burning out (which to a certain extent, I was) and knowing my interest in business, he offered me the just-vacant business editor's job.
I turned it down. For starters, I would have been on an island: responsible for nearly all the content, save for the GA reporter I'd have three days a week. Secondly, I would have to run a steady diet of those opening stories as centerpieces, which turned my stomach.
In otherwords, I was being set up to fail in doing what I wanted to do with the section. Since that day, they've had three biz editors, so apparently, the gut instinct was right again.
Ace
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I just think that business writers/editors are too reliant on the handouts -- earnings of big local company is this day, gas prices are up/down, press release on new fast food restaurant.
I don't want a feature on Jimmy's Chicken Shack when it opens. I want to know what is going up on the corner where there are bulldozers.
I don't want a feature on Jimmy's Chicken Shack when it opens. I want to know what is going up on the corner where there are bulldozers.
W
wickedwritah
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Ace said:
Too easy.
JayFarrar
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As a biz reporter I can say with a great degree of certainity that the weekly and monthly biz pubs are hitting daily papers hard in terms of sucking off ad money.
If it was up to me, I'd cut daily biz coverage down to one page, plus local stocks and such. Then I'd push for a Sunday biz magazine/tab that would be thick and full of meat. Make it a destination read and attractive to advertisers as a result.
One of the newpaper's biz's great errors was to pay not much attention to biz coverage and speciality publications. As a result, a biz pub has sprung up in the top 150 markets in the U.S. That's just another way of saying pretty much every place has one.
If it was up to me, I'd cut daily biz coverage down to one page, plus local stocks and such. Then I'd push for a Sunday biz magazine/tab that would be thick and full of meat. Make it a destination read and attractive to advertisers as a result.
One of the newpaper's biz's great errors was to pay not much attention to biz coverage and speciality publications. As a result, a biz pub has sprung up in the top 150 markets in the U.S. That's just another way of saying pretty much every place has one.
Birdscribe
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Screwball said:
Considering the HQ's of Del Taco, Taco Bell, Carl's Jr./Hardee's and I'm sure others that escape me at this moment are located behind the Orange Curtain, they should have a fast-food beat writer.
Birdscribe said:
Excellent point. But the coverage is not business-oriented in the traditional sense, it's more consumer-oriented ... the new 99-cent deal at Del Taco, for example, not the big-picture how the chains can afford to sell items for 99 cents.
Birdscribe
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Screwball said:
That's interesting. I can see consumer-oriented stories; that's one of the three types of business features (along with trend and workplace).
But those stories should be balanced with big-picture stories of the types you describe, i.e. how in this day of rising commodity prices can restaurants afford to sell items for 99 cents. Jack in the Box has been doing this for years with their two-tacos for 99 cents, using it as a loss-leader for the rest of their overpriced menu.
I got the OC Register when I was in college and aside from their excellent sports section, they had a good biz section. My mother-in-law gets it and when I'm over there, I read it. What I read is a business section a shadow of what it was 20 years ago... before the rise of business coverage.
In a market like OC, where a drive through Irvine or Santa Ana reveals corporate headquarters on top of corporate headquarters, -- not to mention having the greatest bond trader in history setting up shop in your domain (Bill Gross of PIMCO, located in Newport Beach) -- not having an aggressive, dynamic business section is another example of penny-wise meeting pound-foolish.
Ace
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Screwball said:
Ha! I think a story on how they can afford to sell items for 99 cents would be a good one. Loss leaders? Cheaper goods? Efficiencies? Taking advantage of undocumented tomato pickers?
But a story that Del Taco has 99 cent tacos isn't a story. It's a coupon.
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...and they'll sell you a large drink for $1.79. That's the story I want to read, about what a racket that is. Notice how soft drinks in the Applebee's of the world are now $2.29 or more? Good gawd.
