Most Dead Newspapers Not Doing Well Online (Dinosaur Media GraveTender® Update)

Silicon Valley Insider ^ | June 30, 2009 | Preethi Dumpala

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Falling circulations and shrinking advertising revenues have forced dozens of newspapers to close down their presses over the last three years.

Among that many, a brave few -- eleven since 2007, by Erica Smith of Paper Cut's count -- have decided to go where the readership and advertising is moving - online

We decided to check in on them to see how they're faring. With a few notable exceptions, it wasn't pretty.

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Wednesday morning good news.

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ping

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http://www.slate.com/id/2221856/
Keeping the Fizz in the Journalism Biz

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307212-WTVJ_Confirms_Layoffs.php
WTVJ Confirms Layoffs
Eight newsroom cuts at NBC Miami

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307209-Cable_News_Ratings_Fox_News_Continues_Record_Growth.php
Cable News Ratings: Fox News Continues Record Growth

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003989170
Indianapolis Guild Votes On Contract With 12% Pay Cut

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003989130
Strike Deadline Extended at ‘Globe and Mail’

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003989090
‘St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Lays Off in Newsroom, Ad Sales

[bert]

......”Every year, this paper uses 22 tons of newsprint, not to mention the energy used in the printing and distribution processe”.....

The interesting part of this quote is the green theme. Other editors in the slide show of dead papers mentioned the glory associated with saving energy and resources. The liberalism trumps common sense in the reluctance to admit terminal illness

[Sacajaweau]

IMHO, most people watch the news on TV...and there’s enough of it to choke a horse!! It drives me MAD, I tell you!!

[Leisler]

Dead Main Stream Pixels bump!

They always said it was the cost of wood pulp, trucks, bricks and mortar.

Even on the Internet the leftist dolt JOIN-er-ism majors can’t give their crap away. So, it must be the crap that is the problem. Especially when the WSJ, IBD and conservative hard print papers are hanging in there.

[Berlin_Freeper]

You only need to listen to Rush Limbaugh (who earns record amounts of cash).

[hoosier hick]

It looks like these sites get a short-term bump in visitors after ending the print version, then the numbers drift away over time. It makes sense, since there is no longer a print version to remind people of the web site. The only new visitors to the sites will come if they get lucky enough for Drudge or Free Republic to link to them, and I don’t think either is paying attention to the sites...

hh

[yldstrk]

a lying liberal newspaper house organ is a dead liberal newspaper house organ, don’t they get it

[onedoug]

I pick up the LA times for a neighbor out of town. He doesn’t so much care for the daily edition but Sunday’s so the others go straight into my recycling bin, unread.

[2harddrive]

GOOD! Finish them OFF!

[Zakeet]

Some random thoughts:

Many of the rags are coming in with about 10,000 hits per day. For comparison purposes, our small town Baptist church site gets about 2,500 unique visitors per day on average -- and about 5,000 per day when we roll out major new content.

Some of the sites, especially the Seattle PI and the Christian Science Monitor, appear to be doing well with about 500-800,000 hits per day. However, they are picked up directly by AP/Yahoo and shown as their news sources. One only wonders how many hits they would receive without this service.

Matt Drudge currently gets about 25,000,000 hits per day on his site -- totals can exceed 30,000,000 when there is a major news story.

Additionally, one click to one article does not mean the entire paper was read. For example, I usually glance only at the story of interest and then I'm gone.

Finally, none of the statistics reflect the all-important indicator of persons actually looking at ads. With up-to-date ad blockers and pop-up stoppers, I seldom see the pretty clutter I am told they put on their pages. I suspect if the newspapers were interested in finding out, they would discover to their dismay that many if not most persons are in the same boat.

[freekitty]

Could credibility have anything to do with it? LOL

[Texas Fossil]

It is not about the media used (print or electronic). But it is about content.

Newspapers print and electronic are dying because of the “efficiencies” of AP.

AP = Always Propaganda

And they have moved from being Prostitutes with a casual relationship to government to Concubines with a semi-permanent relationship.

—

“To market official truth so at variance with reality, or engineer consent to policies that mock American values, government must so thoroughly misinform the public as to poison the wellspring of democracy.”

from the “Rockets Red Glare- When America goes to War” by Richard J. Barnet

[Go Gordon]

He doesn’t so much care for the daily edition but Sunday’s so the others go straight into my recycling bin, unread.

That is a complete waste. I'm sure there are fisherman in your area that could use that paper.

[ConservativeMind]

I prefer to throw the newspaper into the trash, preferably in a public area.

I want the world to see what the liberal local paper is doing to burden the landfill.

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http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=137678
Marketers Soften Stance on Upfront Pricing

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=137622
Advertising: The Price of ‘Free’ Media

Advertising: The Price of ‘Free’ Media
Paramount’s Adam Goodman Wields Ax: Production Workforce Cut By 31 People: NYC Literary & Paramount Vantage Closed

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i38d17fe532245c820d8a35620e497ad6
Glass half full at half-year mark
How will media companies fare for the rest of the year?

http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/534969.php
Mainstream media failing to make news understandable to public, says new report

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/27563712-65b2-11de-8e34-00144feabdc0.html
Paramount in home entertainment merger talks

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CBS-shares-fall-as-Deutsche-apf-330187324.html?x=0&.v=1
CBS shares fall as Deutsche Bank cuts forecast

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/magazines-newspapers/e3i5f3b44e890b8e56f0eac7436ac553aa3
Following a successful run, the 9-year-old O has struggled on the newsstand lately. In the second half of 2008, its total paid circulation declined 1.7 percent to 2.4 million, with single copy sales down 25.2 percent to 625,961.

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http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=108989
News Blues: S&P Predicts McClatchy Default

http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2009/07/at-least-1000-more-layoffs-coming-at-gannett-but-whats-left-to-cut-back.html
Gannett to cut 1,000+ more jobs, but what’s left to cut?

http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/
Wednesday | Your Layoff News & Comments

http://www.niemanlab.org/
When the league owns the network — and pays the journalists: A new set of ethical questions arise

[a fool in paradise]

But they swear that they have lost circulation because the internet is diverting their print readers.

It’s the bias, stupid.