Obsession

One of the comments on the "Implosion" post questioned my obsession with the Republic, so I thought I would explain why I cover the newspaper industry so closely. 

Sure, covering the bias and hidden agendas is fun, but the ongoing story of the Newspaper industry is interesting from an economic point of view. Those of us who are news junkies are interested in coverage of the industry itself. Newspapers are like passenger train service, Kodak film, and the American Steel industry; the industry is undergoing fundamental change and its business model is becoming obsolete. I am intrigued to watch the industry attempt to respond to the change. I think it's responding as well as it can, but I think the macro forces are working against it. Frankly it's a titanic struggle and I have no idea how it's going to play out. Tower Records had a great business model and now it's gone. Laser discs, beta max, milk men, and film are all gone. Compact discs are going away and so is the newspaper.

I've been fascinated to watch business models come and go, but in this case the implications are more far reaching because the media has so much influence on public perception.  Sure, it was great to watch the airline industry oligopoly collapse, but Pan Am didn't control the flow of information or decide who became President--CBS, NBC and ABC did.  The New York Times, Washington Post and locally the Arizona Republic used to control access to information and the industry transformation has not only damaged them economically, but it has eliminated their stranglehold on information. 

Craigslist is a superior product and it's free.  Individual blogs are subject to criticism, but the blogosphere is a superior product and it too is free.  Now the newspapers have made the news free, but they don't have an economic model to fill in the gap.  Espresso Pundit is free because I write it in my spare time between work and law school.  Craigslist employs 30 people and has wiped out the entire printed classified ad industry. 

How is the newspaper industry going to respond?  I have no idea.  What's it going to look like in 5 years?  I have no idea.  What is politics going to look like without the mainstream media's control on information?  I have no idea.  But the changes are going to be substantial.  Without the blogosphere John Kerry would be president today.  If the blogs had existed 20 years ago, the Republic wouldn't have been able to impeach Evan Mecham. 

Huge changes are unfolding and we don't know how it is going to turn out.  But one thing is for sure, I'm going to continue covering the Newspaper industry generally and the Republic in particular. 

Comments

[Ann]

At the World War II Memorial is a beautiful bronze storyboard of the war itself. Among the plates is a scene of a family gathered around the radio to hear the news that would most definitely affect their lives dramatically. There is no question in the minds of anyone familiar with the era what is happening in this scene.

When Americans were held hostage in Iran, “Nightline” was born out of the intense interest in the daily happenings of such a bizarre and unbelievable occurrence. During the early hours of the Gulf War, CNN became the choice of many families who otherwise never viewed news on a channel other than the main 3 networks of the time; but now cable news is the choice of many. Even since 9-11 the role of alternate news sources has developed into a genre' of its own.

In the current age we are so inundated with information at every turn there would be no way to identify how all of America would react in the effort to gather information today. I am fairly certain the internet would be the mechanism of choice for many in an effort to get the most current and up to date information. Google something and you get the latest headlines by the minute or hour since released.

The ability to get information that is both accurate and informative is by far the driving force behind much of today’s varied sources beyond the talking heads of the nightly news or the edited version in daily print.

You can still buy camera film, watch a black and white movie, and make coffee in a percolator and there are people who actualy like those choices. The paper will never go away, it will just be a much different product than it is today, and very much different than it was ten years ago.

[Joe Strummer]

Great post Greg. We don't always see eye-to-eye, but you're my go-to source for local political news and gossip. I'd say quite apart from all of the economic reasons you point out, the Arizona Republic just offers an incredibly poor product. The bias is one thing, but it isn't even an interesting bias. I never seem to learn anything about the world on those occasions when I do visit azcentral.

And it's not even well written. They must have decided to gear the paper to people with a 10th grade education. But that grossly misunderstands the market, since I'm guessing that newspaper readers tend to be better educated than average.

A poor newspaper product in a pre-internet world is one thing. A poor newspaper product today is quite another.

[JaneAZ]

There are lots of Arizona blogs, but only a handful do any real newsgathering on a consistent basis (EP being one). The rest of us are still depending on the news orgs.

I would click through the Republic's ads if they catered to me (give me the latest at Lowe's, Razmataz, Trader Joe's!) Instead, they think that because I'm a 31-year-old woman who lives in Mesa, I'm interested in Tutor Time. Um, I don't have kids. Demographics are weak -- just ask me what I want and I'll probably tell you...

[BobH]

Greg:

Bill Gates expressed his views on the future of media yesterday:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003699109_microsoftads09.html

"We're saying newspapers will go online, and there will be massive innovation that comes out of that," Gates said. "We're saying that TV, the biggest ad market in the world, will completely go online and have the kind of targeting interaction that you only get out on the Web today.

"As dramatic as things happening on the Web are, that's actually what all advertising ... will be in the future."

Gates painted a grim picture of the transition for traditional media.

"I have a lot of friends in the newspaper industry and, of course, this is a tough, wrenching change for them, because the number of people who actually buy, subscribe to the newspaper and read it has started an inexorable decline," he said.

[ron]

Have you tried the new aztalk at azcentral.com? It isn't an improvement on the old bloggin. I already sent in a complaint - I probably won't get an anwer.