While Wall Street analysts predict a future for newspapers in ever more apocalyptic terms, the fact is: Many small-market papers are not just surviving, but thriving. E&P's "Small Towns, Big Profits: How Many Papers Survive Slump" uncovers reasons real local, local, local is working. "So how do small-market newspapers do it, and are there things metros could learn from them?" A sampling:
1. While the Internet has turned most news into a commodity, local news remains a unique newspaper asset that's a reliable moneymaker .... "We make significant emphasis on quality local journalism, and we definitely believe that investing in local journalism is absolutely imperative to our success."
2. Getting editors and publishers who truly know their audiences -- personally, even -- pays off journalistically and financially.
3. "...as a general rule, the most effective papers in terms of business success are the ones who are best in community service."
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3 comments:
Isn't this exactly the message the bargaining team has been delivering to Media News over the past year?
Local hometown reporting is exactly what made the P-T a valuable resource for Long Beach and it's surrounding communities. Why doesn't Media News make the connection? Circulation has dropped by at least 20,000 since the purchase of the paper by MN 10 years ago - could it be because people are not finding enough local news reporting to satisfy them as it once did?
Readers in LB and the other cities want truly local news, and advertisers have no incentive to purchase expensive space in a paper less and less people read. San Fernando Valley and South Bay stories are not local Long Beach-area stories. The suits aren't fooling anyone but themselves.
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