The New Republic

Thanks for the crisply informative post, Gabriel. It is sad to see newspapers dying off. The print edition of the Seattle PI gasped its last breath today, after 146 years. I subscribe to the Seattle Times but I am saddened by the death of this institution. The online version of the PI will be a shell of its former self. RIP.

- liberal reformer

March 17, 2009 at 3:12pm

Newspapers have a shot at coming back if they ever wise up and stop giving away their core property-- the wire service dispatches-- for free. Without access to AP and other free news content, even the most-visited blogs and online aggregators would dry up and go away.

- teplukhin2you

March 17, 2009 at 3:23pm

tep, I think you're helping the newspaper industry chase its tail--information gets leaked, and then the sites who hold the claim to the freshest leaked info can charge the big bucks for ads.  

- dylanposer

March 17, 2009 at 3:58pm

Dylan - I don't think those sites would reap much ad money. No one clicks on banner ads. You'd have to get tens of millions of uniques-- again and again, week in and week out-- before you reached the revenue levels that would support a sustainable business. For every Drudge scoop on a Monica, you have 100 lean days without scoops.

- teplukhin2you

March 17, 2009 at 4:15pm

Well, therein lies the problem: if readers are immune to advertising, newspapers as an *industry* are finished.  

- dylanposer

March 17, 2009 at 4:33pm

well, you could charge for the product itself. But I agree, there's probably no profit in newsgathering. It needs to be run as a public trust.

- teplukhin2you

March 17, 2009 at 4:39pm

I think there is a little more to the Newspaper Story than what is being written.  Reporters have always shied away from the tougher stories in the financial side of the business.

Knight Rider was a family business and reaaly started downhill in the early 1980's.  Their compitition with Gannett was one-sided.  Alvah Chapman got his clock cleaned in the Detroit market, and really wasn't lighting it up any where else around the country.

Most people are content to blame the newspapers and their failure to anticipate eBay & Monster.  And really there were lots of other lost opportunities.  But if you look a little deeper, there were some contrary signs.

The WSJ is a good example.  Their model was significantly different from everybody else.  They focused on what they were good at, financial reporting, and ignored the inane sports and fashion pages.  And they had no classified.  They made their money by charging more for their paper because they and their readers agreed it was worth more.  A narrow focus, national foot print and premium price helped them to survive.

But equally to blame in this mess is the government.  Old antiquated regulations preventing cross-ownership hand-cuffed the press from moving into the new media.  One of the ironies in Detroit is that the sucessful NBC Affiliate was owned by the Washington Post.  While local publishers saw their material reported out to the public with no benefit.  Even radio ownership was a conflict in the government's eyes.  Maybe this needs to change.  In a cable world perhaps a Newspaper Channel can compete.  But is it legal?

The Leveraged Buy Out types and their new Private Equity personnas really don't care about the news or the public.  Out to make a buck fast.  However they have the best research and perhaps they know something we don't

- CRS9TNR

March 17, 2009 at 7:09pm

I fear that you are right, tep. Newspapers will have to be run as a public trust. They had a great run in America for decades when they had a virtual monopoly on advertising. I have been advocating that philanthropists in every major community, ones with deep pockets, pony up capital to newspapers to keep them afloat. This over time could become habitual, even as the wealthy support the arts and medicine, etc.

- liberal reformer

March 17, 2009 at 9:56pm