RIP Youngstown Vindicator

[Fredrick]

I'm a full-time digital marketer now and one of the fastest-growing advertising outlets in my nichen are local, PRINT newspaper ads.

I'm attending a MasterMind next week where one of the breakout sessions is this very topic...how to use local papers (and "lumpy mail") to drive traffic to your website.

I know I've flip flopped on the topic, but even though I now advocate the killing of the print newspaper, I initially said we never had to get to this point, that print ads could be sold but aren't being sold because newspaper sales people are the dregs of sales. They are so unmotivated and poorly equipped to sell anything it's laughable. Are you trying to say that the print ads could still be sold?

 

[PaperDoll]

If you're talking about journalists working at small-town papers leaving for bigger ones, I totally agree.

But isn't hyper-local journalism the only thing that's surviving? That, and a handful of behemoths like USA Today <cough>, ESPN, and The New York Times.

 

[playthrough]

Some weekly newspaper's gonna get a windfall from the mandatory legal advertising required by government.

I've always wondered about this ... how much of a windfall?

 

[micropolitan guy]

I've always wondered about this ... how much of a windfall?

I don't know what they cost but legals were a nice source of income for my old shop. Especially during the recession, some days of the week there was an entire page of foreclosure notices.

 

[ChrisLong]

The weeklies in my former area battled for them and considered it a major victory when they got them.

 

[Severian]

But isn't hyper-local journalism the only thing that's surviving?

What? Not that I've heard, i.e. Gothamist, Patch, etc.

 

[Fredrick]

But isn't hyper-local journalism the only thing that's surviving? That, and a handful of behemoths like USA Today <cough>, ESPN, and The New York Times.

There's really no reason for a local newspaper to have any national news any more because of cnn.com, foxnews.com, espn.com, cbssports.com. Only reason they have it is because they've fired so many people they can't fill even the tiniest of rags with all local. I'd say run all local in the actual fishrag plus maybe a national columnist on the editorial page or two editorial pages. Also run comics and dear abby as entertainment.

 

[PaperDoll]

But isn't hyper-local journalism the only thing that's surviving? That, and a handful of behemoths like USA Today <cough>, ESPN, and The New York Times.

What? Not that I've heard, i.e. Gothamist, Patch, etc.

My suburban coverage area is still full of Patch sites. Also Tap Into. And at least one locally owned group of weeklies that are completely behind a paywall.

 

[Severian]

My suburban coverage area is still full of Patch sites. Also Tap Into. And at least one locally owned group of weeklies that are completely behind a paywall.

Sure you can get around them through an extension or tooling around with Web Inspector, yes?

 

[Preacher Roe]

www.wsj.com/amp/articles/youngstown-vindicators-collapse-are-local-papers-beyond-saving-11562151602

Sure sounds like potential buyers realized they could just wait out the end of the Vindicator and then fill a void, rather than buy their way in.

 

[rtse11]

This is a depressing line in that story: But in the latest earnings call in May for GateHouse’s parent, New Media Investment Group Inc., Chief Executive Michael Reed said the company planned to focus on integrating publications it has already acquired and closing or selling underperforming papers.
My guess is they'll close before they sell.

 

[Severian]

This is a depressing line in that story: But in the latest earnings call in May for GateHouse’s parent, New Media Investment Group Inc., Chief Executive Michael Reed said the company planned to focus on integrating publications it has already acquired and closing or selling underperforming papers.
My guess is they'll close before they sell.

Gotta love hedge funds.

 

[Fredrick]

This is a depressing line in that story: But in the latest earnings call in May for GateHouse’s parent, New Media Investment Group Inc., Chief Executive Michael Reed said the company planned to focus on integrating publications it has already acquired and closing or selling underperforming papers.
My guess is they'll close before they sell.

I think when they close the Youngstown paper and the doors are all shuttered, etc., that's when the current reporters and others who work there should buy the property, including the presses and put out their own nonprofit paper. You'd think a staff of 3 or 4 people could keep a newspaper running as a nonprofit and still make a living.

 

[Readallover]

I think when they close the Youngstown paper and the doors are all shuttered, etc., that's when the current reporters and others who work there should buy the property, including the presses and put out their own nonprofit paper. You'd think a staff of 3 or 4 people could keep a newspaper running as a nonprofit and still make a living.

Maybe a news web site would work but not a physical newspaper. And I doubt one could make a living under a nonprofit operation. The Inky is still cutting reporter jobs after it converted to the nonprofit model.

 

[LanceyHoward]

This is a depressing line in that story: But in the latest earnings call in May for GateHouse’s parent, New Media Investment Group Inc., Chief Executive Michael Reed said the company planned to focus on integrating publications it has already acquired and closing or selling underperforming papers.
My guess is they'll close before they sell.

I think that Gatehouse, which owns more papers than anyone in the country and Youngstown have similar problems. They have not had the financial, editorial, technical and managerial talent to develop good websites at their smaller
websites. The bigger papers in their regions have websites that provide better regional and national editorial product. While I am sure that the local paper such as Youngstown probably still has superior local content the larger regional paper provides a competitor for both subscription and advertising dollars.

Gatehouse, for example, gets 12% of its revenue from electronic. Gatehouse is also seeing revenue decline about seven percent a year. So as print dollars disappear they are not being replaced by electronic revenues. The smaller paper bleeds to death. Youngstown is privately held so I don't know their numbers but the economic pressures are the same as Gatehouse.

 

[SoloFlyer]

I think that Gatehouse, which owns more papers than anyone in the country and Youngstown have similar problems. They have not had the financial, editorial, technical and managerial talent to develop good websites at their smaller
websites. The bigger papers in their regions have websites that provide better regional and national editorial product. While I am sure that the local paper such as Youngstown probably still has superior local content the larger regional paper provides a competitor for both subscription and advertising dollars.

Gatehouse, for example, gets 12% of its revenue from electronic. Gatehouse is also seeing revenue decline about seven percent a year. So as print dollars disappear they are not being replaced by electronic revenues. The smaller paper bleeds to death. Youngstown is privately held so I don't know their numbers but the economic pressures are the same as Gatehouse.

Considering Gatehouse forces its papers to use the same vanilla layout, has cut video and photography staff at newspapers across the country, and has an overall miserable online experience for consumers, I'm utterly shocked - SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! - that the chain isn't doing well digitally.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Considering Gatehouse forces its papers to use the same vanilla layout, has cut video and photography staff at newspapers across the country, and has an overall miserable online experience for consumers, I'm utterly shocked - SHOCKED, I TELL YOU! - that the chain isn't doing well digitally.

But isn't the same also true of virtually every small paper in the country?

 

[SoloFlyer]

But isn't the same also true of virtually every small paper in the country?

Most papers have retained a small photo staff. Most Gatehouse papers have not.

 

[fossywriter8]

Most papers have retained a small photo staff. Most Gatehouse papers have not.

The daily (under 10,000 circulation) where I work part time hasn't had a full-time photographer in years, maybe at least a decade. We have several very good freelancers and stringers, and the reporters often take their own when possible, but no full-timers.

 

[HanSenSE]

McClatchy-Google to the rescue?

Local news projects rush to fill The Vindicator’s void, with the McClatchy-Google network putting down roots