Comments on: Final thoughts on the whole newspaper thing http://www.RexBlog.com/2009/03/13/19158?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=final-thoughts-on-the-whole-newspaper-thing Rex Hammock's Blog Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:37:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Will Bridges http://www.RexBlog.com/2009/03/13/19158/comment-page-1#comment-328125 Will Bridges Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:50:51 +0000 http://www.RexBlog.com/2009/03/13/19158#comment-328125 The newspapers are failing fast in most cases because they didn't adapt to the information age... they chose to fight against the current for too long. The music industry is having the same problem. Trying to fight the current is counter-productive. I have a client who sells newspaper classifieds advertising all over the country through his website and has done so for about 11 years. He is seeing a slow down nationwide and has moved his business in a different direction because of it. Those who adapt grow stronger. Honestly the newspaper is a failing medium and we all know it. People will get their news (which is just data) on their mobile, their tv and the Internet. Also because of the green movement who the hell wants to kill that many trees just to get some info you can get from other sources. Papers will need to phase out the medium and go digital. They will need to be agile in their resource usage and they will need to do investigative reporting on things people care about. If they don't investigate and do actual reporting on interesting subjects (ie.. be a watchdog) then people will grow tired of them and they will seamlessly be replaced by independent writers and smaller organizations who only have an online presence. The newspapers are failing fast in most cases because they didn’t adapt to the information age… they chose to fight against the current for too long. The music industry is having the same problem. Trying to fight the current is counter-productive. I have a client who sells newspaper classifieds advertising all over the country through his website and has done so for about 11 years. He is seeing a slow down nationwide and has moved his business in a different direction because of it. Those who adapt grow stronger.

Honestly the newspaper is a failing medium and we all know it. People will get their news (which is just data) on their mobile, their tv and the Internet. Also because of the green movement who the hell wants to kill that many trees just to get some info you can get from other sources. Papers will need to phase out the medium and go digital. They will need to be agile in their resource usage and they will need to do investigative reporting on things people care about. If they don’t investigate and do actual reporting on interesting subjects (ie.. be a watchdog) then people will grow tired of them and they will seamlessly be replaced by independent writers and smaller organizations who only have an online presence.

]]> By: Kim Garretson http://www.RexBlog.com/2009/03/13/19158/comment-page-1#comment-327881 Kim Garretson Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:57:18 +0000 http://www.RexBlog.com/2009/03/13/19158#comment-327881 Rex, great post, and I totally agree about the paper being a wrapper for inserts of deals at local retailers; yes, they are pretty ineffective in terms of reach and environmental impact. However, when a reader has in his or her mind that they are ready to make a considered purchase, like a laptop computer, the inserts are simpler and faster for sorting out the option and mapping in your mind which stores you'll visit. Most of these readers would have already done their research via the Web on the features and brands of most interest to them. Then that beautiful photo and blaring dollar-off price offer in the insert is wonderful for getting them out of bed and on their journey to the store(s). And regarding dropping sports coverage travel, it may be too late for newspapers, but I've long wondered why they have created info-dashboards as a lively, and cheap, alternative to text & photos from reporters and photographers. The tools exist now in the ad agency world for data dashboards to monitor sentiment and other metrics around their clients' brands coming from the media, blogosphere and Twitterverse. And, since sports teams, and star players, are 'brands', why wouldn't a newspaper run dashboards like this on their Web sites and then publish regular capsule summaries of the data stream in the paper? It seems to me this kind of automated coverage could bring new advertisers to sports interested in the younger, data-hungry sports fans. Rex, great post, and I totally agree about the paper being a wrapper for inserts of deals at local retailers; yes, they are pretty ineffective in terms of reach and environmental impact. However, when a reader has in his or her mind that they are ready to make a considered purchase, like a laptop computer, the inserts are simpler and faster for sorting out the option and mapping in your mind which stores you’ll visit. Most of these readers would have already done their research via the Web on the features and brands of most interest to them. Then that beautiful photo and blaring dollar-off price offer in the insert is wonderful for getting them out of bed and on their journey to the store(s).

And regarding dropping sports coverage travel, it may be too late for newspapers, but I’ve long wondered why they have created info-dashboards as a lively, and cheap, alternative to text & photos from reporters and photographers. The tools exist now in the ad agency world for data dashboards to monitor sentiment and other metrics around their clients’ brands coming from the media, blogosphere and Twitterverse. And, since sports teams, and star players, are ‘brands’, why wouldn’t a newspaper run dashboards like this on their Web sites and then publish regular capsule summaries of the data stream in the paper? It seems to me this kind of automated coverage could bring new advertisers to sports interested in the younger, data-hungry sports fans.

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