Posted on 12/11/2005 10:16:25 AM PST by MRMEAN
The newspaper's problems are being watched closely in the battle between one and new media.
SAN FRANCISCO — When Jeffrey Zalles needed a new cashier for his coin laundry in the South of Market district, his help-wanted ad in the San Francisco Chronicle brought just four responses.
So Zalles posted a notice on Craigslist, a San Francisco-based network of websites that specialize in classified advertising. His cyber-ad drew 400 applicants.
Zalles found his cashier and hasn't relied on the Chronicle since, advertising instead on the Internet and the city's array of free papers.
The venerable Chronicle is struggling, and defections by Zalles and other advertisers are a big reason. Classified ads are a big source of income for the Chronicle and the newspaper business as a whole, making up 27% of the industry's revenue, with 53% from other ads and 20% from people buying the paper.
What's more, the Chronicle's circulation is plunging. The paper reported last month that sales fell 16% during the six-month period ended in September — by far the biggest drop among the nation's 20 largest newspapers. Chronicle executives said much of the decline was caused by their decision to stop offering steep subscription discounts.
The Chronicle's woes are being closely watched around the country as the newspaper finds itself on the front lines of the battle between old and new media. As more consumers get their news from electronic sources and advertising follows them, analysts warn that newspapers elsewhere — already losing an average of more than 2% of their subscribers yearly — might join the Chronicle in a steepening fall.
"It's a disturbing harbinger of what may happen with other newspapers as attention turns to the Net," said industry analyst John Morton of Morton Research Inc. in Silver Spring, Md.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I am not deeply saddened.
LOL, the West Coast may be devoid of Pravdaesque papers in the not too distant future. What will we do?
I'm sure the local news channels will pick up the slack.
Ha Ha. Liberals are so stuck in the 1960's they can't keep up with the world.
Gee...that's too bad.
What'ya mean? They have Al Franken, Al Gore, Bill and Hillary, the rest of the democRats...
Yes, I guess I see what you mean. LOL
I guess that means that Mark Morford will be plunging, too.
Deal with it. Consumers of news and entertainment will go where they find the product desired. Whether it's on line or in print, cost related or content based (most likely a combination of all of the above).
Just deal with it. Quityerbitchen, produce the content using the media that sells the most with the format the bring in readers.
Easy. ;)
When liberals convert to the internet (abandoning print) they simply can't behave themselves. It's too much freedom for them, so they end up writing the most revolting things that would never be allowed in a newspaper.
Think about the implications of that....
Lobby for legislation that gives part of every computer, modem, DSL/cable sale to some newspaper association.
IOW, "us liberals are losing our stranglehold on the media."
So, does Chris Mathews have more viewers or readers?
I suspect that this trend is what is driving the Chron to publish more center and right articles - I noticed it particularly on the gun issue. They might be starting to realize that people other than left-wing nutjobs read newspapers and that conservatives' money is as green as anyone else's.
The Duma in Sacramento will pass a law requiring everyone to purchase the Chronicle. Problem solved!
Very good point! Look at DU, or any of the liberal oriented websites and forums. They bill themselves as progressive, passionate, all-loving people, but their true colors shine through: vulgar, disgusting people who are filled with hate and vitriol and completely intolerant of anything outside of their warped world view.
Geezz.I thought the Chronicle was one of the Flagships of the New Age Multicultralism-Diversity Set.??
I'm shocked.Shocked .... :>D
I'd like to say I'm sorry, but I'm just not that big a liar. What time is the wake?
Nothing stays the same forever. Americans used to cool their food with blocks of delivered ice. The refrigerator was invented and the ice houses disappeared overnight. Kodak made cameras and film, and were prosperous for many years. Now a new technology (digital) is making them scramble to save what they can of their business. Plane travel replaced train travel. I now get my news on the Internet. I can jump all over and pick and choose what I read. I ignore the on-line ads or block them. Some people may not like it, but I really believe that print media is in its death throes. Many young people don't even look at a paper even if it's on the lunchroom table and free!
If my local MSM paper goes belly up, it will be missed. One can always see which politicians in a race they endorsed as a pretty good indicator of whom to vote against.
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