News
ENLARGE
My father, an engineer and geologist, encouraged my journalism career. In high school, he helped me choose a topic for a column (”We also need ditch diggers”) when I was recruited to write for the student newspaper. Throughout the years, I’ve worked for Time magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel and here — a pretty good cross-section of print media.
As it turns out, there’s some newspaper ink in my blood that I didn’t always know about.
My great grandfather and his brother ran the Park City (Utah) Record newspaper at the turn of the century, as owners and co-editors. Later, William Raddon (we called him “Grampa Grop”) went to work at the Los Angeles Times after he moved his wife, Chloe, and six daughters to Los Angeles. He went back to The Times during World War II after the press room was depleted by younger men being drafted. He would have been about 70 years old.
Other relatives also worked at the Times and newspapers in Portland and Twin Falls, Idaho, I’ve learned.
Nowadays the journalism business has changed, thanks largely to the Internet. As “ink stained wretches” go, I was a pioneer of Internet journalism, helping to launch the newsroom at San Francisco-based CNET in the mid-’80s. It was one of the few survivors in a silly era marked by companies such as Pets.com (remember the sock puppet?) and Webvan.
My wife and I used to order weekend groceries from Webvan when we lived in a flat on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco in those go-go days. We’d grab the groceries on Friday afternoon, jump into the car and drive up here or to Lake Tahoe to go camping. It was very convenient but not very cost efficient for Webvan. Once I remember I accidentally ordered a single purple potato: It came in its own bag, wrapped separately.
Based on my more than 30 years of newspaper experience (in print and online), I can tell you that the reports you hear of the demise of newspapers are greatly exaggerated.
I wrote a blog on this topic at theunion.com this week, addressing some of the concerns that come up. I hope you read our blogs at theunion.com: Staff members and community members are providing thoughtful commentary.
You can find them on the front-door of our Web site under “current features.” I’m “reverse publishing” my latest blog here, newspaper jargon for converting an online article into a print one, to provide some perspective on the issue (What would my Grampa and Granny Grop think about a term like that?):
It seems fashionable nowadays to ring the death knell for newspapers. That’s troublesome, given the importance of newspapers to the underpinnings of democracy, but it’s also false. Here’s why, based on my experience in newspapering:
•Newspapers are going through a transition brought on by the Internet, but they are not dying. The mainstream media will survive because of its strong branding. Very few, if any, media startups survive. On the news site, I helped start one of the more successful Internet startups, but it was sold to CBS, a mainstream media company (for almost $2 billion). Even Ted Turner’s CNN was sold — to Time Warner. Most media startups fail all together.
• Newspaper print circulation is declining in many instances, but total readership (print and Web) is growing. Thanks to the Internet, newspapers are reaching more readers than before. The reason you hear about newspapers “in trouble” is because they have not yet learned to “monetize” enough of the Web readership. But Web revenue remains a small part of the traditional print revenue. There is time to make this transition without failing all together.
• Small-town newspapers such as The Union are the “sweet spot” of journalism, as I’ve written many times before. The Union, for example, reaches the vast majority of people here, either in print or online. Many newspaper executives would be thrilled to have our household penetration rates. They are far greater than any local competitor but also many newspapers.
• Newspapers such as The Union are impacted more due to the economic downturn than the transition from print to online readership. But they also are buffeting the downturn by diversifying their advertising away from real estate and autos, the traditional newspaper advertisers.
Don’t accept rumors that papers such as The Union are unprofitable either. There’s a big difference between being unprofitable and facing declining profits. Again, too often, people gloss over the nuances of an industry.
• Newspapers such as The Union have been expanding their product offerings despite the downturn. For example, The Union has launched a free Sunday newspaper as well as its daily product. It continues to publish a daily newspaper, although some larger papers are eliminating home delivery on some days of the week.
The Union also has launched a more robust Web site than ever, providing new features. You can upload photos, write your own blog, comment in real time, and see the print version of the paper online in the “e-edition” all from the comfort of your PC.
No other local Web site provides anywhere near the features. The Union also is publishing more reader generated content than ever — in print and on the Web.
• Newspapers have been around longer than most any business, weathering many downturns worse than this one. Though consolidation has occurred throughout the years, newspapers are still plentiful commodities. They will continue to change with the times and some will fold or get sold (as in the past), but they will not go away all together.
The Chapter 11 filing of media companies such as Tribune Co. is a limited occurrence: It stemmed from a poorly constructed financial deal that most newspapers do not have.
Small-town newspapers such as the Union are not burdened with debt. Here’s another important point: Other media depend greatly on newspapers for the original content they provide. Newspapers typically invest more in newsgathering than other media. Many radio stations, for example, practice what’s called “rip and read” journalism. They “rip” something from the daily newspaper and “read” it online.
•To many, media such as radio and news magazines are under greater pressure. People are turning to new technologies such as iPods and satellite radio, for example. I once worked as a reporter for Time magazine. But news magazines are suffering because people want their news in real time.
Newspapers have to change with the times — and many of them are doing just that.
Jeff Pelline is the editor of The Union. His column appears on Saturdays. Contact him at 477-4235, jeffp@theunion.com, or 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley 95945.
As it turns out, there’s some newspaper ink in my blood that I didn’t always know about.
My great grandfather and his brother ran the Park City (Utah) Record newspaper at the turn of the century, as owners and co-editors. Later, William Raddon (we called him “Grampa Grop”) went to work at the Los Angeles Times after he moved his wife, Chloe, and six daughters to Los Angeles. He went back to The Times during World War II after the press room was depleted by younger men being drafted. He would have been about 70 years old.
Other relatives also worked at the Times and newspapers in Portland and Twin Falls, Idaho, I’ve learned.
Nowadays the journalism business has changed, thanks largely to the Internet. As “ink stained wretches” go, I was a pioneer of Internet journalism, helping to launch the newsroom at San Francisco-based CNET in the mid-’80s. It was one of the few survivors in a silly era marked by companies such as Pets.com (remember the sock puppet?) and Webvan.
My wife and I used to order weekend groceries from Webvan when we lived in a flat on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco in those go-go days. We’d grab the groceries on Friday afternoon, jump into the car and drive up here or to Lake Tahoe to go camping. It was very convenient but not very cost efficient for Webvan. Once I remember I accidentally ordered a single purple potato: It came in its own bag, wrapped separately.
Based on my more than 30 years of newspaper experience (in print and online), I can tell you that the reports you hear of the demise of newspapers are greatly exaggerated.
I wrote a blog on this topic at theunion.com this week, addressing some of the concerns that come up. I hope you read our blogs at theunion.com: Staff members and community members are providing thoughtful commentary.
You can find them on the front-door of our Web site under “current features.” I’m “reverse publishing” my latest blog here, newspaper jargon for converting an online article into a print one, to provide some perspective on the issue (What would my Grampa and Granny Grop think about a term like that?):
It seems fashionable nowadays to ring the death knell for newspapers. That’s troublesome, given the importance of newspapers to the underpinnings of democracy, but it’s also false. Here’s why, based on my experience in newspapering:
•Newspapers are going through a transition brought on by the Internet, but they are not dying. The mainstream media will survive because of its strong branding. Very few, if any, media startups survive. On the news site, I helped start one of the more successful Internet startups, but it was sold to CBS, a mainstream media company (for almost $2 billion). Even Ted Turner’s CNN was sold — to Time Warner. Most media startups fail all together.
• Newspaper print circulation is declining in many instances, but total readership (print and Web) is growing. Thanks to the Internet, newspapers are reaching more readers than before. The reason you hear about newspapers “in trouble” is because they have not yet learned to “monetize” enough of the Web readership. But Web revenue remains a small part of the traditional print revenue. There is time to make this transition without failing all together.
• Small-town newspapers such as The Union are the “sweet spot” of journalism, as I’ve written many times before. The Union, for example, reaches the vast majority of people here, either in print or online. Many newspaper executives would be thrilled to have our household penetration rates. They are far greater than any local competitor but also many newspapers.
• Newspapers such as The Union are impacted more due to the economic downturn than the transition from print to online readership. But they also are buffeting the downturn by diversifying their advertising away from real estate and autos, the traditional newspaper advertisers.
Don’t accept rumors that papers such as The Union are unprofitable either. There’s a big difference between being unprofitable and facing declining profits. Again, too often, people gloss over the nuances of an industry.
• Newspapers such as The Union have been expanding their product offerings despite the downturn. For example, The Union has launched a free Sunday newspaper as well as its daily product. It continues to publish a daily newspaper, although some larger papers are eliminating home delivery on some days of the week.
The Union also has launched a more robust Web site than ever, providing new features. You can upload photos, write your own blog, comment in real time, and see the print version of the paper online in the “e-edition” all from the comfort of your PC.
No other local Web site provides anywhere near the features. The Union also is publishing more reader generated content than ever — in print and on the Web.
• Newspapers have been around longer than most any business, weathering many downturns worse than this one. Though consolidation has occurred throughout the years, newspapers are still plentiful commodities. They will continue to change with the times and some will fold or get sold (as in the past), but they will not go away all together.
The Chapter 11 filing of media companies such as Tribune Co. is a limited occurrence: It stemmed from a poorly constructed financial deal that most newspapers do not have.
Small-town newspapers such as the Union are not burdened with debt. Here’s another important point: Other media depend greatly on newspapers for the original content they provide. Newspapers typically invest more in newsgathering than other media. Many radio stations, for example, practice what’s called “rip and read” journalism. They “rip” something from the daily newspaper and “read” it online.
•To many, media such as radio and news magazines are under greater pressure. People are turning to new technologies such as iPods and satellite radio, for example. I once worked as a reporter for Time magazine. But news magazines are suffering because people want their news in real time.
Newspapers have to change with the times — and many of them are doing just that.
Jeff Pelline is the editor of The Union. His column appears on Saturdays. Contact him at 477-4235, jeffp@theunion.com, or 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley 95945.
