Everyday Cool Tips: Big Changes in the Newspaper Business

If you do any work in the realm of journalism, you have probably heard, over and over again, that print is dying. Well, recently, part of it actually did.

This fall, New Orleans will be the largest U.S. city without a daily newspaper. The Times-Picayune, with a weekday circulation of 134,000 and Sunday circulation of 155,000, will be published only on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

The Times-Picayune, which has published since 1837, was bought by the Newhouse family in 1962 and later merged with the afternoon daily. Up to now, the paper has avoided some of the deeper cuts in the industry, in part because the newspaper played such a critical role in the coverage of Katrina and its aftermath. ?NYTimes

Poynter.org points out that before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and its population, the paper had a weekday circulation of 257,000 and 285,000 on Sundays.

?I think this is a big blow,? said Poynter business analyst Rick Edmonds. ?Yes, it?s happened in a few places, but Saginaw and New Orleans are not the same thing. You?re talking about a major-league city.? ?Poynter.org

A new company has been formed that will take over The Times-Picayune and its website, NOLA.com called the NOLA Media Group. According to a story on NOLA.com, the NOLA Media Group will ?reshape how the New Orleans?s area?s dominant news organization delivers its award-winning local news, sports and entertainment coverage in an increasingly digital age.?

Why did the company choose to publish the print edition on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday? Because those days have proven to bring in the most value for advertisers.

The head honchos at the paper are saying that the papers that are printed three times a week will be more robust, and include more information than what has previously been offered. What sort of information? A richer and deeper news, sports and entertainment report, as well as a full week’s worth of features such as society coverage, puzzles and comics, says Jim Amoss, the paper?s current editor.

The paper will also significantly increase its online news gathering 24/7, so daily news will be shared with the public, it just wont show up on their doorsteps every morning.

Will there be cuts in staffing? You betcha?but no one has revealed how severe they will be. I would assume they?d be pretty heavy. Going from daily publication to a thrice-weekly publication will take a lot less manpower.

You won?t need as many people in the production department, even with the ?more robust? editions being printed. And that proposed additional information?entertainment, society coverage, puzzles, and comics?do not need to be created by the staff. These things are usually blurbs, photos, and content that can be purchased from larger conglomerates. So really, the added information isn?t all local features and news. My prediction is that there will be a lot of uninteresting fluff. More comics? Really?

While it sounds like full-time positions will be hard to come by, the opportunity for freelancers could be great.

While this is certainly dire news for The Times-Picayune staffers, it could be great news for area freelancers.

I?m sure many employees who are facing cuts will be looking for other full-time jobs; many may have to move away from the area to find them. While it sounds like full-time positions will be hard to come by, the opportunity for freelancers could be great.

Hiring a freelancer to cover a story here and there is certainly cheaper than having a full-time staff writer on board. These types of contributors for newspapers are called stringers?someone who works for a publication in an ongoing basis, but is only paid for the work they produce that is published. It’s sort of like having an on-call freelancer.

Plus, if the paper is going to seriously ramp up their online news gathering, they may need savvy individuals to call on for advances made to their website.

I do not believe that newspapers will go away completely in my lifetime. I do, however, believe they will change?in the very same way that is happening here at The Times-Picayune. Clearly, the dwindling population of New Orleans has demanded this change.

What never ceases to amaze me are the people who complain about their local newspaper getting smaller and smaller in size?but who are not subscribers. If you love your local daily newspaper, weekly newspaper, or regional monthly magazine, support them by subscribing.

If The Times-Picayune had more subscribers and advertising dollars in their pockets, they wouldn?t have had to make this dramatic shift. The news is a business?and without money, a business can?t afford to pay their employees to create a product that they can?t afford to have printed.

I think the change in the newspaper landscape is coming?and it will have a profound impact on what people do for a living. There will always be news to share and an audience to absorb it, but there may not be large full-time staff to collect, report, and produce it.

The newspaper world will not cease to exist, but it may be made up largely of freelancers in the near future. We’ll have to wait and see.