Newspaper Circulation Woes
November 23, 2009
I find that I am spending less and less time with the Sunday newspapers. I subscribe to the Courier Journal (I used to work there) and the New York Times (I did some projects for this outfit years ago). I suppose that is the sentimental side of the addled goose. This morning I flipped through both papers and watched number one son and founder of Adhere Solutions read a couple of stories on the sports page. We talked about the “old news” in both papers. He went for a run, and I rode my bike. On the way out the door, we dumped the papers in the recycle bin. Another Sunday with newspapers becoming less and less useful to a couple of wired dudes, one old and one considerably younger.
I urge you to read this AP story by craft master Michael Liedtke, who certainly has a stake in the health of traditional publishing. His article “Newspaper Circulation May Be Worse than It Looks” is probably old news to newspaper mavens and sort of obvious to me. The addled goose is terrified of the AP, so I won’t quote from the scintillating write up. Without a quote to anchor my remarks, I know that my seventh grade teacher (may she rest in peace) would have hit me on the head with her ruler. But quoting is one quick way to get into a fair use squabble. The goose is too old, tired, and jaded to want to get tangled in that thorn bush.
The point of the write up is that after a romp through circulation data, the newspapers in the sample are not having banner years. There were lots of reasons, but none of them nailed the core problem in my opinion. The children of the newspaper industry executives and pundits are the reason. The demographic shift finds that mummy and daddy produce information in a way that is not what the Trents and Whitneys want.
Mr. Liedtke wrote a long article, stuffed with data, and explained everything except the obvious. The traditional media are like the Babylonian cuneiform crowd when sheepskin caught fire among the scribes. Times changes. Needs evolve. Kids ignore mummy and daddy.
Stephen Arnold, November 23, 2009
I want to report to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing that I was not paid to point out that children want information in a relevant medium. Oh, while I have the Bureau’s attention, the quality of the $5 bills seems to be deteriorating. The DC subway ticket machine could not read the three fives I had with me. I suppose these machines are like some of the kids who are reading averse.
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