bear_mkt

Newspapers: Any Options Beyond Cutting, Selling or Closing?

There are few papers I go out of the way to buy anymore. Sorry about your business model Mr Big Publisher, but when my 3-paper a day habit met your last price hike, I found I could get enough news on the web. (saving $4.50/day: The Journal, $2, the Times, $1.50, The Sun $1.00, In Memoriam - great Arts coverage and cave-man editorial politics.)

I read Tri-Ciy News everytime I go to the Shore. It's got bright and irreverent content and good "get you mad" investigative reporting. It's at its best at focusing on Asbury when the City is doing stupid things like suddenly installing weird parking meters in mid-Summer or wanting to tear down historic buildings to turn funky Asbury into a bland Sunbelt-type suburb.

While it is annoying that I can't read Tr-City on the internet, I sure do look for it when I head to the beach. I do read the ads, too, so I guess their business model is working.

I couldn't see TriCity's local-ad based free-paper model working for larger papers with big overhead for plant and equipment and the need to cover national and local stories and sports. Especially where national retailers like WalMart or Sears can move their ads out of the papers and onto their websites. High fixed costs, rigid union work rules, expensive newsprint and declining revenues from display ads or classifieds don't work.

I guess the other viable business model is out of the magazine area. The Economist charges relatively high subscription rates, discounts less than the competition and has a smaller staff than comparable publications. Don't know that it would work for daily newspapers, except the Wall Street Journal.