Columbian newspaper sails into pay territory

The Internet has turned the consumer into the publisher.

Washington paper sails into new pay territory.

There are an incredible number of people who enjoy writing and turn their craft into a website, a blog, or at a minimum a micro-blog such as Twitter.

All this information has flooded the world, offering a vast array of content and opinion and as a result has made it tough for those who write for a living to, well, actually make a living.

The largest newspaper in Southwest Washington, The Columbian Newspaper, announced this morning that they are initiating a paywall. A paywall means that not all the content on the site will remain free – some content will require a fee to view, and it’s likely to be the content most highly desired.

This morning, owner and publisher Scott Campbell posted an open letter to his readers titled Changing with the Reality of Online News, noting that section fronts and information produced by the advertising department will remain free. For the rest of the content, after 30 visits the user will be prompted to pay.

A handful of newspapers have been successful in building paywalls to help underwrite the cost of doing business. A larger number of newspapers have laid an gargantuan number of people off trying not to ask readers to pay for online news.

Readers who value journalism will likely respond first with howls and then a begrudging, “I guess it makes sense,” and move to open their pocketbooks or smartphone stash of cash.

Those who enjoy a less pure style of journalism will surf the Internet for the free stuff.

Which one are you?

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Writing in a digital world

Carol Doane addresses Vancouver Writer's Mixer. Photo: Chris Martin.

Writing for a community website is different than writing for a national website, different than blogging, obviously different from fiction writing that many of my friends do, and different from writing for a print publication.

I came out of a print background. For two decades I sold and wrote advertising copy. The messages were short, targeted, timely and compelling. Very much like social media.

As I engaged in social media, I could see that the goal of a friend’s social media message wasn't to sell me something, but it had the same components as advertising – short, compelling, timely or targeted, but more entertainment oriented.

My Facebook friends shared what they observed and experienced – and made me laugh out loud.

Work is no laughing matter
I wasn’t laughing much in my day job. Our company struggled for survival; our subscription base was eroding as well as our advertising stream. We were deteriorating. The reorganization benefits of Chapter 11 offered the life raft to start the arduous task of digging the company out of bankruptcy – which ultimately we did.

Our incremental corporate moments of success brought cheers around the office, but relief came from online. People I knew told me about places I loved and their short, pithy messages made me laugh. It rekindled friendships and coffee dates soared. That brought more online discussion, and not just on Facebook, but spilled over into Twitter, blogging, Foursquare and many other social media sites. I could go online and be entertained and expand my friendship circle.

Social media became a place to meet local people, get them off the computer and bring them into real life.

Working for a community website is just the opposite – taking real life and putting it back on the computer, making it digital.

The Tabasco of work life.
To get a foothold in the digital marketplace – you can’t be bland.

If you want to write for a community website you have to find a way to have an edge, but because it’s local it can have consequences. A story I wrote elicited a letter to be boss asking me to apologize to our corner of the state – or be fired.

I’ve shared the story I wrote with other writers and they shake their heads. They don’t get it. If you aren’t vested in the subject matter it doesn’t engage your full emotions. If the story threatens your home, your fence line, future job potential it pulls hard on your emotions. You read emotions into a story you're emotional about.

Point of view, though, is what alternative news sources need to survive. It can’t be a boring read, it can’t be like reading the minutes of the last board meeting. It has to have content with an engaging delivery.

I find that print is more about properness – proper form, proper paragraphs, while online you might break a paragraph up because of how it looks visually on the screen or how it wraps around a photo.

It's less about being perfect. It's more about discovery
What I’ve discovered in the past year in a start-up is to take everything on. Be surprised. Be willing to discover you may not have been doing it right, but you're willing to morph and move as the mystery unfolds.

And above all, be willing to learn.

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Newspapers' collaspse reported by insiders, the cut that keeps bleeding

There's a group of people in the neighborhood discussing what it means to be a newspaper. The print vehicle, which currently experiences downward pressure on doorstep distribution, and the electronic version that competes with every other website in the information arena, bobble along searching for identity.

During the identity crisis, the dueling concepts of newspaper—print or online—occasionally sound like children asking, "Are you my mother?"

Except it sounds a lot like, "Are you my audience?"

What does it mean to try and keep a toe-hold in the current disrupted, disloyal marketplace? How does it affect your business model, your view of life, and the life expectancy of your job?

At the first sign of business distress, watchful employees will administer an online search of available jobs. Instead of finding comfort, Google produces an intense list of newspapers that have executed layoffs.

Another looming list appears when the eager inquirer searches for newspapers that have recovered from the economic crisis. 'Newspaper reorganization' produces items such as:

Baltimore Sun offers employee buyouts
Chicago Tribune trims staff
Newsroom staff cut by 25% (or more)
Calista Corp liquidates six newspapers
Gannet lays off 700

. . . and on, and on.

To adjust the toe-hold on the changing landscape, some newspapers have drifted from full disclosure to less than robust reporting, Inquirers now must rely on competing media outlets to post the behind the scenes events:

The Oregonian admits to more layoffs
Dozens laid off
Photography and sports departments cease to exist
Star confirms 52 laid off.

The business model has morphed. A little scandal now flavors the mix. Read Guardian Broke the News of the World Hacking Scandal and Santa Barbara News-Press Found Guilty of Multiple Labor Violations and you've got a tangled mess of journalistic pursuits.

More disruptions by the minute.

The reports from the newspaper industry get pushed deeper into the void because non-disclosure agreements buy silence as a condition of severance pay. Sub-industries have formed to bring clarity to newspaper staffers, as well as others in the community who care about what is happening. An intriguing site called Paper Cuts is found at the URL NewspaperLayoffs.com.

Site owner Erica Smith, a currently employed newspaper multimedia producer (and print designer), tabulates the job cuts. She started her list in 2007. She moved the stats to a blog in 2008, and at the end of 2010 determined the total exceeded anyone's expectations.

Mid-August, Ericia Smith gave 360 Convos a recap of the situation:

2007: 2,293+ (not the complete year; project started mid-year)

2008: 15,993+

2009: 14,797+

2010: 2,907+

2011: 2,988+ so far

Total: 38,978+ reported layoffs and buyouts.

"I'll be adding more tonight."

And the bleeding goes on.

If you were handed a newspaper company, with the current business model, current marketplace and current life expectancy of the job, would you buy billboards and pass out flyers like the guild trying to save the Chicago Star?

Or would you try something else in this disrupted, disloyal marketplace?

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Relevant links:

ERICA SMITH
Website: newspaperlayoffs.com
Facebook: facebook.com/newscuts
Twitter: @newscuts

Is Kindle the life raft of newspapers?

The newspaper built its reputation by writing the equivalent of a novella every day, printing it while we slept and delivering it to our door by the time we turned on the morning coffee pot.

Now, paper--as in the paper product--feels either like a luxury we can't afford, due to the cost of the tree it takes to print it, or the whole idea of a printed newspaper feels old-fashioned.

Fewer of us want an information push. We want information customization.

Fewer of us want to read a report of what happened at a meeting (read the minutes of any board meeting). We don't want verbatim, we want to know what it means.

Newspapers are both the most objective voice in the community, and at the same time they harbor some of the most cynical (flip to the opinion section, or have a beer with a reporter).

Newspapers have the greatest reach in the community, bar none, and they are losing audience for the print product at a steady, tumbling pace that probably hasn't hit rock bottom.

That makes newspapers the biggest loser. On TV that makes you a winner. In real life, well, that remains to be seen.

For an industry that hasn't changed all that much in the last 400 years, with the exception of the entrance of the Internet, I wonder what would happen if tomorrow the paper wasn't delivered to my door. Would I be able to figure out where to buy groceries, where to eat for lunch, what's playing at the movie, what the next workshop at city hall is about, when the school board meets.

I wonder for about two seconds, because, of course, I can find all that information online.

What would happen if the newspaper was delivered, not to my doorstep, but to my Kindle? Would I feel differently about the newspaper, would I read it differently, would I connect with it differently, would I pass it along as easily as I forward an online link or place an open newspaper section on someone's desk?

In July, Geeky Gadget reported that "Amazon’s Kindle App now offers 100 newspaper and magazine subscriptions."

Is this the last throws of a drowning man splashing in the Internet pool, or a way for consumers to highlight, tag, and archive the content they want?

I wonder.

What are the top three newspaper publication dates that you would keep on your Kindle? 9/11, Obama Wins, the article of your kid?

Let me know -- I'm pondering at the crossroads.

What high school sports taught me about the future of newspapers

"Welcome to high school swimming," declared coach Heidenriech, as he passed out a 12-page document complete with the team's slogan, "You Have To Believe."

I thumbed through the packet and skimmed through page one on expectations. My eye caught the two-inch ruled line hovering above 'Parent or Guardian's signature.'

I'll have to sign there, I thought.

I flipped to the next page that detailed how to earn a letter in swimming and wondered if a Letterman's jacket was in store for the swimmer in our house. I ran my finger over the page looking for the issue that had caused consternation at the household. Apparently, the rules were more restrictive this year with the new coach.

Couldn't find it. Moved on.

The next series of pages were mapquest aids to get the parent from Point A, the school, to Point B, the select pool for each of the swim meets.

Once the packet had been thoroughly scoured and assimilated we moved on to other topics of merit: who would bring snacks to the meets or practices, making sure your student athlete took vitamins with an iron supplement, last year's biggest competitor graduated their fastest swimmers, and the upcoming fundraiser organized to underwrite the purchase of matching sweats.

"Is it too late to run an ad in the paper?" one mom asked.

The entire room erupted in unison (I kid you, not),"You can run an ad on Craig's List."

And that, dear friends, tells me that newspaper classifieds are dead.

Fav quotes and a newspaper that serves lunch

Winnipeg News Cafe

Conversations, lively banter and laughter happen all around us. Most don't make the newspaper. That may change. A Winnipeg newspaper pushed their reporters out of the news room and into a cafe.

I'm not sure the newspaper staff is making sandwiches yet, but they're making headlines: Chats don’t have to be online: A newspaper finds success with its downtown news cafe

BUT here's my favorite quotes of the week!

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Found	Source	Quote
Fri, Aug 26	Twitter	“I successfully completed the unofficial first leg of #hoodtocoast in which i caught my bus and boarded with all my stuff!” Becca Pollard.
Sat, Aug 27	Twitter	“...Blog @360Convos rocketed into the international scene with a featured post on @Renbor | http://t.co/IYyWXzd,” Tibor Shanto, speaker, author and top sales trainer.
Sun, Aug 28	Twitter	“Now updating my LinkedIn bio to include the words "award-winning pie-maker." Yup.” @mediaChick, M. Rae Anderson.
Mon, Aug 29	LinkedIN	“Don't wait for someone to promote you. Promote yourself.” Ken Bilderback
Tue, Aug 30	Twitter	“Currently installing a Bootcamp partition on my Mac Pro at work. It's necessary, but I still can't help feeling a little dirty.” Gus Torres, dirty Mac user.
Wed, Aug 31	Foursquare	“Oh Drupal you vex me today! #fb (@ Multnomah Library Administration) http://4sq.com/ruKcXm” @pattipdx.
Thur, Sep 1	Twitter	“I'd like to be deported to Paris please. Or maybe New Zealand.” Bill Cameron, NW author and humorist.

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Leave your best stuff it in the comments section. Let's share!

The Flipside of the news

We flipped the news over to understand the whole story. Here's how we interpreted it.

News Item: 56% of Americans Check Online News Daily.
The Flipside: the remainder, or 44% of Americans, check Groupon and are exposed to name-calling; Groupon users 'stingy' say participating merchants.

News Item: Direct mail program for the post office targets advertising clients of newspapers. (FYI, newspapers are the post office's biggest clients).
The Flipside: Newspapers threaten to use online payment programs for subscriptions instead of mailing bills. Wait. Who has a subscription to the newspaper? Okay, newspapers threaten to switch  TMC products from direct mail to porch delivery.

News Item: American Express hires advertising exec from Google to promote luxury online private sales.
The Flipside: the rest of America checks Groupon.

News Item: Twitter pushes ads into the timeline...again
The Flipside Prediction: Number of fans for participating companies plummet as Twitter users unfollow them to get away from the featured ads, but look for discounts on Groupon.

News Item: Newspaper that never made money closes.
The Flipside: Laid off workers are told they can apply for jobs at newspaper that almost makes money, should they ever open up (info from same link).

News Item: Los Angeles Times decides to lay off more workers, but before they could call them in, some begged to go.
The Flipside: "They were in talks with senior executives to decide whom to cut, some staffers offered to leave." (Info from same link).

News Item: Yahoo Exchange Adds Publisher Real Time Basis Tools
The Flipside Prediction: In order to control advertising quality, publishers spend too much time deciding what inventory to sell to which buyer at what price, and overall site content slips.

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Smart is the new sexy, but is this smart?

The newspaper industry decided to take their 'career' into their own hands.

Instead of allowing everyone else to tell them who they are they took control and are telling us via a new slogan.

For decades, I worked for a newspaper and never liked any of their marketing slogans. The first one I endured, was, "Hey, Clark County, we've got you covered!" The mainstay of the campaign was billboards touting winners of local bowling 'tourneys' announcing you could read their achievements in the paper.

First of all, no one I knew called a bowling tournament a tourney. And who wants their community portrayed as a bunch of bowlers? Lastly, any slogan that starts out with 'hey' needs to be retired to the pasture.

Lastly, any slogan that starts out with 'hey' needs to be retired to the pasture.

A more recent and more memorable slogan was, "It's your paper." For me, that conjured up images of the board of directors pointing fingers at the readers and trying to convince them they were the owners. If it's yours (or did you mean mine?) then couldn't I (the reader) tell you what to print? Not really. So, in reality, it felt like the paper was driven by the directors.

Yours, ours, mine. The pronouns are all fairly confusing in a slogan. But the fact remains, newspapers have never been confused about their role in the community as a source of information. They continue this mission into the present day, which has delivered not a competitive landscape but a devastating landslide of losses. External forces pummel the industry -- competition for potential readers' time, complete decimation of the classifieds, disruptions in acceptable modes of delivery, rivals or even non-rivals siphoning talent away from every department.

Amid the challenges and chaos, newspapers have organized around a central rallying point, agreeing they need to protect their content, monetize it, build a presence in the mobile marketplace, and communicate their value to the potential audience. That communication comes in a the form of a new marketing campaign.

Talk to anyone in the sales or survival departments, and they'll flood you with stats. The local newspaper reports 1.7 million pageviews. That is awesome.

But.

There isn't ONE advertiser who receives 1.7 million pageviews. That's right. Newspapers have exerted a lot of effort over the years to tout how much better their stats are over any other media, and now they have an astounding online audience. But it's their audience. When it comes time to buy advertising, the pageviews are portioned off into smaller dollops that may or may not reach the advertiser's preferred target.

This campaign is less about numbers and more about perception. The newspaper is throwing the numbers to the sidelines and getting cozy with a new slogan that tells us  staying informed is smart and smart is sexy.

I'm having a hard time imagining that tactic will grow their audience.

Let me rephrase it and illustrate why I think that.  "Read my blog--stay informed--you'll look smart--everyone will think you're sexy." What do you think? Will it grow my audience? Maybe as much as dying my hair green like the illustration above.

Good or bad, what is most irksome about the slogan is that the concept is neither unique or original.

It's not original to groups. There is a Facebook 'Smart is the New Sexy' page with 100 plus members. I actually think it is incredible there are 100 people who want to promote themselves that way. How do they prove it?

It's not original to websites. 'Smart is the new sexy' is the subtitle of Max Kaizen's website.

February 2010, it was used in a YouTube video.

September 2009, devilishly handsome, attorney Adel Tamano was said to have coined the phrase.

As cute as he is, Tamano can't own the phrase. It was already out there in an April  2009 YouTube video.

And even farther back to August 2007, where the phrase was used in a blog post, Smart is the new Sexy! (The evolution of behavior and the brain).

If you truly love the phrase it can also be purchased on a zazzle t-shirt.

Bottom line, the critic has the advantage every time. We can punch holes in the concept, but can we come up with a better slogan? What do you think -- how would you save and sell the concept of newspapers?

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OTHER RESOURCES:
Editor & Publisher ® | The Smart and Sexy Story of Newspapers
Redoing Media | Smart, sexy, stupid…or shameless? You decide

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have nothing against bowlers. My daughter participated on her high-school bowling team, and I like her a lot.

Hedge fund purchases paper, what are they betting on?

A hedge fund recently purchased a newspaper that had pulled itself out of bankruptcy. The York City-based investment firm, Alden Global Capital, apparently first came on scene after the newspaper filed Chapter 11 with a small investment in the company.

All debts 'paid.' Alden purchased the paper.

The paper is the Journal Register located in Philadelphia. In order to increase the chance of viability, it made significant strides in expanding its digital presence, moving from emphasis on print to emphasizing online. This re-positioning ignited the belief in the investment community that this newspaper will survive.

Could the belief in newspaper survival happen closer to home? If that concept sparks you. You have the opportunity to take it to the next level.

The Vancouver Voice is an alternative paper in Southwest Washington. In September 2010, it threw out a life line and expanded into North Portland. It was more of a flare gun shooting into the dark than an arrow fired at the bull's eye of good sense.

Their next big decision was to put the paper up for sale.

For $75,000 you can sit in the publisher's seat and drive. Where you would take the publication seems up to speculation. Local discussion on the content is not necessarily flattering. Response from advertisers is that it's cheap, not necessarily that it works. To survive the business needs consistent content and advertisers who understand they should buy what adds value not what seems like a good deal.

Here's your chance to add value to the community.

Save a newspaper. Buy the Vancouver Voice.

But first thing I'd recommend is negotiating the asking price.

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Read more:
Biz For Sale: monthly alternative newspaper, Vancouver Voice.
July 14, Times Union report, Albany New York.
July 14, Times Union Blog, Albany New York.
July 15, Times Union report, Albany New York.