Friday, February 20, 2009

Beer: no longer what's for dinner?

To those of you who continue to profess the economic crisis in the newspaper business is solely the result of stupid executives, I offer the following:

(For text explanation and details, please click on image.)
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:23 PM

    So, you guys were drunk when you bought Knight Ridder?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Rev. James Richardson5:09 PM

    NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Hearst Corp will lay off a "significant" number of jobs at the money-losing San Francisco Chronicle, and may shut the daily paper if it cannot cut costs within weeks.
    It would be the second West Coast U.S. newspaper that the New York-based publisher may shut down in coming weeks as they struggle with a devastating decline in advertising revenue and big losses.

    Howard, isn't time to look at other business models for newspapers besides just creating more media free on-line? How does having newspapers fold help journalism, paper or on-line? I don't much care whether news executives were drunk, stupid or just unlucky. I care they do something besides run faster in the hamster cage, and make everyone else run faster in the hamster cage.

    And have a look at Robert Ivan's Metaprinter.com and this (note item No. 5). He mentions news sites that are doing well, and then says this:

    Here is why I feel the above sites are doing better than most traditional publishers.

    1. Build up a community of users by filling a need.
    2. Run a lean organization that rewards participation.
    3. Publish on all formats except the expensive ones.
    4. Report original content on a continuous basis.
    5. Bootstrap or go start non-profit to minimize debt payments.
    6. Interact regularly with your community.
    7. Do not stifle participation with login requirements
    8. Cater to local advertisers
    9. Cater to local readers
    10. Make the destination an experience, not just another cookie cutter news site.
    11. Multiple revenue streams are a must.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Smith Mill Creek Notes4:56 PM

    There was no more text, explanation or source when I clicked on the image. but it comes from
    http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/NIPA_Underlying/TableView.asp?SelectedTable=22&ViewSeries=NO&Java=no&Request3Place=N&3Place=N&FromView=YES&Freq=Year&FirstYear=1959&LastYear=2008&3Place=N&AllYearsChk=YES&Update=Update&JavaBox=no#Mid

    and is commmented on at
    http://thisbluemarble.com/showthread.php?p=87059

    ReplyDelete

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