Faced with technology changes, a loss of national advertising revenue and budget cuts, some local newspapers are adapting in ways that could change the way Fayetteville news is delivered.
The highest percentage of modern newspaper readers are male college graduates over the age of 55, according to a few studies by the National Newspaper Network Association of America. Where does this leave the newspaper industry? For a local newspaper, this could mean severely cutting the amount of staff members and evolving into a completely online publication, as the new generation looks to the Net for a majority of their daily news.
Due to budget changes and the transformation of the newspaper industry, the University of Arkansas’ newspaper, the Arkansas Traveler, will be almost exclusively an online publication beginning in August, said Tina Korbe, Traveler managing editor. This will cause many changes in the college newspaper publication, whose staff numbers have remained static in the past few years.
Unlike national newspapers, the northwest Arkansas newspapers have had an increase in readership. “A lot of the headlines you see about declining circulation are talking about the top 100 newspapers in the U.S.,” said Greg Harton, Northwest Arkansas Times’ executive editor.
Over the past five years, the Times circulation of home-delivery has increased overall by about 10,000 in Benton, Washington, Carroll and Madison counties, according to a Northwest Arkansas Times 2008 summary. “We have about 300-400 new subscriptions each week,” said Circulation Director, Hector Cuerva.
Even though the Northwest Arkansas Times’ circulation numbers are rising, it’s not resistant to the economic downfall. “The staff has experienced some layoffs in the past couple of years and offer employees one day per month off without pay,” said NWA Executive Editor, Jeff Jeffus.
Jim Blankenship, director of sales & marketing at the Northwest Arkansas Times, said any loss in newspaper revenue is not a direct cause of advertising, but that “the enemy is the economy.”
The Northwest Arkansas Times has a loss of advertising due to the decline in the housing industry and the increasing numbers of local businesses (especially restaurants) and banks shutting down.
The use of event marketing, Twitter, advertising corner flags and the company Web site are a few reasons the NWA Times has an increase in readership. Corner flags are paper sheets that advertise the total amount of savings a customer can acquire through coupons when buying the newspaper, a critical feature when people are watching their budgets. “We [are now on] Twitter, not because we love twittering, but because it draws traffic to our Web site,” Harton said.
In the first quarter of 2009, Web traffic to newspaper sites grew more than 10 percent, according to the Newspaper Association of America. This effect is not limited to the national newspaper Web sites. Local newspaper Web sites are expanding features and seeing an increase in readership.
Brad Nichols, Internet Manager of Northwest Arkansas Times, explained the company uses animated internet ads, online Sunday real estate ads, photo slide shows and links that directly lead to the advertiser’s Web site to attract attention to their Web site. “Having links to advertiser’s sites has a twofold appeal, traffic increase to both the advertiser’s Web site and the newspaper Web site,” Nichols said. This is optimal for NWA Times, since the goal is to increase midday viewership, the slowest hours of online readership.
Stacey Roggendorff, representative of the Tulsa World newspaper, also expressed a positive reaction to the online publication of the Tulsa World. “We are striving right now…our Web site is getting more hits than it’s ever had,” Roggendorff said.
The Traveler has twice as many online readers than print copies per publication, with an approximate 10,000 registered online users and distribution of 5,000 print copies.
Jane Hocker, advertising manager for the Traveler said the advertising representatives will focus on selling advertisements for the Traveler Web site next year. Overall, the main goal of Web site ads is the same as print ads, which is to draw attention to the message; the Web ads simply have an advantage of interactive features which can make them more memorable, she explained.
The change to an internet publication is less troubling for the Traveler audience, in Hocker’s opinion, “[The] college student audience is unique because we have an especially technological audience.”
In the past, the main structure of the Arkansas Traveler staff included well over 40 employees: nine editors, four advertising representatives, several photographers, approximately 30 staff writers and various contributing writers.
The new Arkansas Traveler staff will be made of 25 people overall, which includes two sets of editors. One set of editors will work exclusively for the print publication, which will be reduced to one publication a week at an increased number of pages- 16, about twice the length of previous publications. The other set of editors will focus on the Web edition, which will be published five times a week. In addition, six staff writers will handle all stories: from news and lifestyles to sports, each writer will cover all topics.
Another possibility for national newspaper circulation decline could be lifestyle choices, such as the recent broadening in “news” source options that create low information voters and polarization, Hocker said.
Once an avid Newsweek reader, Hocker used to turn to Newsweek for world and national events and received a satisfaction that Newsweek would provide her with well-rounded, substantial news. Currently, she doesn’t depend on Newsweek heavily and takes the articles for what they are, one of many opinions. “Now it [Newsweek] is all opinion & I don’t feel that I get all of my news from it anymore,” she said.
Despite the heavy reliance on opinionated news, Harton said he believes that some people can ultimately tell the difference between opinion and “real” news. “[Eventually] we will become news delivery companies instead of newspapers,” he said.
Harton said he believes that newspapers should be geared toward the audience and that the direction is in print for now. “[In northwest Arkansas] far more readers want the paper in their hand.”
Korbe said the adjustments to the Traveler will bring great results and a myriad of opportunities for the Traveler, since the newspaper is quickly deciding when and how to adapt, “I see this as our opportunity to use the [technological] change for the better."
April,
ReplyDeleteI applaud your reporting effort here and the ambition of the piece. I like to see people take on big stories. But I think this story would benefit from being smaller and more locally focused. Rather than a tight news story you have the beginnings of a research project that reads like a term paper. I know it's painful to do, but let's leave much of the national stuff -- talk of the Daily Show and news vs. opinion on the cutting-room floor. You don't have the space to treat the material properly, nor will you have all the time necessary to really do that correctly. Plus, and most importantly, it's not news.
What is news is how papers are adapting. I noticed that you didn't include anything from your interview with NWA Times. Why not? That should be central to this piece. Let's focus on two local papers, the Traveler and the Times, and tell people how these papers are weathering rough times and what the future of the local newspapers looks like. Keep the scope small, and the focus tight. That will allow you to give far more details and make the story a lot more lively. And newsy. If you'd like, we can talk further about how to structure this piece.
See specific comments below:
This is okay, but it sounds like a research paper or essay, not a news story. Let's get something sharper and that shows real reporting instead. Like "Faced with declining revenue and circulation, area newspapers are making some tough decisions that could forever change the way news is delivered." You know, something like that. And I do think you should keep this local, lest the story become too broad, vague and unwieldy.
what does this mean? Also, check AP style on Internet.
--revolution of the internet among the generations
And what is the gap? What is this supposed to illustrate? Are you prepared to provide the media theory necessary to get into the differences between these programs? In short, I fear you're trying to do much and the piece has become too broad. Let's focus on the papers you've researched and your story will be far easier to tell, with much better specifics.
This is beginning to sound like a dissertation, not a news story.
--The Daily Show, the O’Reilly Factor, Larry King Live and the gap between CNN and FOX viewers are just a few examples.
You need to identify the Traveler as a newspaper. And you should state as fact that circulation has declined before this:
Jane Hocker, advertising manager for the UA Traveler publication, said a possibility for Circulation’s decline could be lifestyle choices,
Also, it's a tricky jump for the reader and the writer to go from the Daily Show to the Arkansas Traveler. Again, my feeling is that this story should stay local.
empty phrase:
--takes the articles for what they are.
The reason Newsweek is opinion is because people like Jane are getting news elsewhere, like online, but again, this story is wandering into a dissertation on media studies.
Not sure how this quote backs up the point you're making about technology.
--“I graduated during a recession and couldn’t find a newspaper job or other media job, so I went to work writing and editing educational materials,” Watkins said.
peaceful?
--peaceful college newspaper
let's work on syntax here
--The new staff will be comprised of two sets of editors, one for the print publication-which will be reduced to one,
good detail, but it's forcing the reader to do a lot of math. What is the staff total since the reduction?
--The new staff will be comprised of two sets of editors, one for the print publication-which will be reduced to one, 16 page publication a week- and one for the Web edition-which will be updated five times a week. In addition, six staff writers will handle all stories: from news and lifestyles to sports, each writer will cover all topics.
good source:
--Stacey Roggendorff, representative of the Tulsa World newspaper, expressed a positive reaction to the online publication of the Tulsa World. “We are striving right now…our Web site is getting more hits than its ever had,” Roggendorff said.
I'll send your preliminary grade in an email.
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