Rapidly becoming a black hole....

This is how Stars die.

Lee Enterprises, the long-troubled parent company of the Arizona Daily Star and other daily newspapers, plans to charge readers to access the chain's websites, the company announced Wednesday.

Lee plans to introduce "digital subscriptions" within three months, and to build paywalls at most of the company's websites by the end of the year, CEO Mary Junck said at Lee's annual meeting.

People ask me why I think paywalls will wipe out the Republic and the Star....after all, they might work.  Actually I have little doubt that they will "work."  Paywalls will result in the paper having moderatly more revenue and dramadically fewer readers.  How do you think that's going to work out in the long run?  Newspaper owners don't seem to understand that newspapers are like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton...they are famous for being famous.  Like forest fires, they generate their own weather.  If a newspaper doesn't touch enough people to generate its own buzz then no one cares about its coverage. (I could insert a discussion of breeder reactors here, but I think I've pushed the metaphors far enough.)

Take the Birther Bills, or "Guns in Bars"...no one cares about those bills, and the legislature doesn't spend any time on them.  They are a media creation.   Here's a fun example.  If the Republic was only read by 1,000 people who each paid $1,000 a month for a subscription, then the paper would be in great financial shape, but no one would have heard of EJ Montini or Laurie Roberts, or "Guns in Bars".  Those 1,000 who are paying to be part of paper would rapidly lose interest.  That's because there would be no buzz. The people they talk to at work would not have the same shared knowledge base. 

Try this experiment, look up the Dallas Morning news and read the state stories.  How long can you last?  About 5 minutes.  That's because you have never heard of any of these people and the people you talk to today will not have heard of any of these people, so the Dallas Morning news has no value to you.  The Republic has value because you have friends with common interests who have also read the paper.  Once it's behind a paywall, that value goes away.  Pretty soon you are the only one who has read the paper and you can't discuss it with anyone.  Then you cancel.  Then they go bankrupt.  Or in the case of the Star, they implode. 

Won't be long now.

Comments

[westsider]

Greg, If the legislature doesn't care about "guns in bars" legislation, why did it pass a bill allowing them? Apparently, it cares.

http://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2009/10/gun-in-bars-arizona-opens-the-door.html

[westsider]

Greg, If the legislature doesn't care about "birther" bills, why did it pass this bill?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-15-arizona-birther-bill.htm

[westsider]

Wow, the 2011 Birther bill wasn't enough, so the legislature discussed it again in 2012.

http://theintelhub.com/2012/03/15/arizona-birther-bill-passes-senate-committee/

Media creation?

[westsider]

By golly, the legislature passed a "guns in bars" bill in 2009. Can't be true - media creation...

"During her first year in office, Brewer signed a bill allowing loaded guns in bars and restaurants, as well as another that prohibits property owners from banning guns from parking areas, so long as the weapons are kept locked in vehicles."

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/02/03/20100203weaponbills0203.html#ixzz1prKiEXX1in 2009.

[Dewey]

Looks like their commenters are already making the transition to other venues.

[Les]

Westsider,

I believe the current legistature (at least a majority of them) have considered an individuals constitutional rights. That has resulted in the passage of gun laws that have returned individual rights to the people. My recent favorite would be Constitutional Carry legislation that passed as well which removed the requirement of getting a permission slip from elected people in order to carry a concealed firearm.

[westsider]

I don't think you are going to find 1.000 people paying $1,000 a year; the NY Times is about $450 for a year. (We all know the AZ Republic is no NY Times :)). The NY Times, being the Times, has now crossed the half a million online subscribers. What is the online subscription base for the Capital Times at this time?

[Charles]

The real problem as I see it with the eventual loss of the Republic will be for me to find a new material to put in the bottom of my bird cage. That is the most good that it does anyways.

[Gordie Howe]

If the Republic would just make an effort to appeal to more than the NPR crowd, it may actually have a shot at succeeding. Of course, they'd rather fold than do that...

[westsider]

Charles, there a lots of freebie job mags, etc. the grocery store, don't despair :)

ron

[Oranje Mike]

@Gordie Howe - Spot on. The Arizona Republic cannot survive if it maintains it's current left-of-center bias. The editorial board and the regular columnists like Montini appeal to very little. It's unsettling to see the press so biased and it makes no sense to cram that bias down the throats of a general populace that does not hold those same views. Especially when those same people have an option to pay for the material or not. I threw in the towel last week and cut The Republic out of my weekly expenses. Poor business model.

[Stewie]

But if the Star dies, where will we get our misinformation?

[Ken]

Good one, Stewie!

[Andy]

LA Times is doing the same thing, you get 15 free articles a month. Then you have to pay. Or use a different computer, or browser, or your iPad.

[RonJ]

It's my guess that E J Montini and Linda Valdez have driven away more Republic readers than all the reporters and even the editorial board combined. It started years ago with Montini and his nutty colleage David Lebowitz. It's one thing for the paper to have colunmnists who are critical writers--even cynics. It's something else when those columnists are just left-wing ranters (water carriers for the Democratic Party) with no points to make other than "conservatives are Neanderthals." Readers can't stomach a constant flow of negativism aimed at their values. The Republic's downfall is one of it's own making. There is little balance. As nice a guy and as talented as Bob Robb is (and he has his shortcomings as well), he can't make up for all the leftist dribble coming from the Republic on a daily basis.

[westsider]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/03/26/20120326gop-lawmakers-looking-revive-birther-measure.html

Media creation?

[oxygen monitor]

i think that if a newspaper doesn't touch enough people to generate its own buzz then no one cares about its coverage. (