Other Media is in Trouble Also

[Stretch 74]

An amazing drop in one of the Nation's oldest and largest newspapers. Looks like they are really in trouble. Of course, this has been happening all over on a large scale, as large and small daily (and weekly) papers have been doing layoffs, cutting costs, eliminating days of delivery, and RAISING prices. Locally, the CDA Press has eliminated the Monday delivery, and the Spokesman-Review has eliminated the Saturday delivery. Also, the SR has increased the annual subscription price by a factor of 3 to 4 in a period of only a few years, probably about 5-6 years. I reached my breaking point with them, dropped my subscription last spring.

The Washington Post Is in Full-Scale Collapse

redstate.com

 

[95coug]

An amazing drop in one of the Nation's oldest and largest newspapers. Looks like they are really in trouble. Of course, this has been happening all over on a large scale, as large and small daily (and weekly) papers have been doing layoffs, cutting costs, eliminating days of delivery, and RAISING prices. Locally, the CDA Press has eliminated the Monday delivery, and the Spokesman-Review has eliminated the Saturday delivery. Also, the SR has increased the annual subscription price by a factor of 3 to 4 in a period of only a few years, probably about 5-6 years. I reached my breaking point with them, dropped my subscription last spring.

The Washington Post Is in Full-Scale Collapse

redstate.com

I think part of the problem with platforms like this is that they have everything behind a paywall now. The supposed 139M monthly visitors several years ago probably measures those who were reading for free. Once they moved behind a paywall, it better represents their actual subscribers. I think they’d be better off letting people read a few things for free. If they see something they like, maybe they pay to read more. By not letting them read anything, they’re just going to look somewhere else.
Besides that, the media model now doesn’t support analysis and/or in-depth reporting. Sound bites and incendiary opinion are where the money is, and readers don’t have to pay for subscriptions to get that.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

I dropped our local paper when they moved the printing to Kansas City. That move meant that anything that happened after 4 pm wouldn't be in the paper until a day and a half later. Given the availability of news online, why would you pay for the day before yesterday's news today?

It doesn't help that their reporting is pure crap and they do absolutely no backchecking of any information. In their world, if you are willing to talk to a reporter...you're an expert.

 

[COUGinNCW]

I think part of the problem with platforms like this is that they have everything behind a paywall now. The supposed 139M monthly visitors several years ago probably measures those who were reading for free. Once they moved behind a paywall, it better represents their actual subscribers. I think they’d be better off letting people read a few things for free. If they see something they like, maybe they pay to read more. By not letting them read anything, they’re just going to look somewhere else.
Besides that, the media model now doesn’t support analysis and/or in-depth reporting. Sound bites and incendiary opinion are where the money is, and readers don’t have to pay for subscriptions to get that.

It would be great if they could find an easy way to charge you .99 to read an article without having to set up a new username and password, enter a credit card and remember to cancel it the next month.

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

It would be great if they could find an easy way to charge you .99 to read an article without having to set up a new username and password, enter a credit card and remember to cancel it the next month.

103% If they could monetize volume over margin. News"papers" need to form some sort of collective where your payment info could be logged that linked you to hundreds of sources. Clicking the "agree" automatically charges your card 99cents or whatever.

Newspapers will join those other archaic technologies (payphones, mix-tapes, typewriters) that zoomers will drop their jaws at when you explain how things used to be:

there was once a time when you paid a young child to ride around on a bike and deliver you your news from yesterday (or even the day before yesterday) by tossing it onto your driveway or lawn. Good times indeed! That's all I have to say about that

 

[Loyal Coug1]

It would be great if they could find an easy way to charge you .99 to read an article without having to set up a new username and password, enter a credit card and remember to cancel it the next month.

That's a pretty good idea, I could get into that. Just have some sort of subscription that only charges you when you click on the desired article.

 

[froropmkr72]

103% If they could monetize volume over margin. News"papers" need to form some sort of collective where your payment info could be logged that linked you to hundreds of sources. Clicking the "agree" automatically charges your card 99cents or whatever.

Newspapers will join those other archaic technologies (payphones, mix-tapes, typewriters) that zoomers will drop their jaws at when you explain how things used to be:

there was once a time when you paid a young child to ride around on a bike and deliver you your news from yesterday (or even the day before yesterday) by tossing it onto your driveway or lawn. Good times indeed! That's all I have to say about that

That went to adults driving by and landing the paper somewhere near your driveway. I cancelled the newspaper when I discovered I wasn't reading it anymore. That, Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily all piled up for months before I cancelled them all and found everything online. Old habits were hard to break.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

That went to adults driving by and landing the paper somewhere near your driveway. I cancelled the newspaper when I discovered I wasn't reading it anymore. That, Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily all piled up for months before I cancelled them all and found everything online. Old habits were hard to break.

Yeah me too - but I enjoyed coming home from work and reading the paper after being hunched in front of a computer all day. Online news wasn't as prolific back then either, but I dropped the paper eventually.

 

[95coug]

103% If they could monetize volume over margin. News"papers" need to form some sort of collective where your payment info could be logged that linked you to hundreds of sources. Clicking the "agree" automatically charges your card 99cents or whatever.

Newspapers will join those other archaic technologies (payphones, mix-tapes, typewriters) that zoomers will drop their jaws at when you explain how things used to be:

there was once a time when you paid a young child to ride around on a bike and deliver you your news from yesterday (or even the day before yesterday) by tossing it onto your driveway or lawn. Good times indeed! That's all I have to say about that

That went to adults driving by and landing the paper somewhere near your driveway. I cancelled the newspaper when I discovered I wasn't reading it anymore. That, Wall Street Journal and Investors Business Daily all piled up for months before I cancelled them all and found everything online. Old habits were hard to break.

I was one of those kids, riding my bike around and delivering the spokesman review. Had to walk the route on Sundays because those editions were too heavy to handle on the old Huffy.
And yes, when I got wise to how the newspaper industry still made bank on screwing underage kids out of nickels and found a job with an actual paycheck…my route got transferred to an adult driving a car, who had incorporated as a delivery service.

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

I was one of those kids, riding my bike around and delivering the spokesman review. Had to walk the route on Sundays because those editions were too heavy to handle on the old Huffy.
And yes, when I got wise to how the newspaper industry still made bank on screwing underage kids out of nickels and found a job with an actual paycheck…my route got transferred to an adult driving a car, who had incorporated as a delivery service.

My sister was almost kid apped doing that gig in 1972.

Guy approached in a car asking how much the paper went for. She said a dime. My 10byr old brother was on a.differrent street on the south hill.

He came back and held out his hand through the passenger side with the dime in his palm. She reached for it and he grabbed her arm trying to pull her in. Our family dog jumped in and bit his hand and he let her go. This was around the time another paper delivery gal was killed. Don't think that was ever solved.

 

[random soul]

Yeah media is getting wrecked everywhere, and the degradation of the information environment is going with it. The dystopian future of chatbots spitting out ridiculous clickbait to make ad revenue for scam sites is pretty much here. Execs are realizing that the returns from advertising online aren't that great, and nobody really reads print anymore at volumes that justify rates that can sustain the model. Subscriptions for online content, or as suggested here, a pay per content piece model, will end up being the way forward, but the only providers that can make money on that will be big names with big audiences. Local journalism is doomed. The only small satisfaction I can get is watching social media get squeezed between the dropping ad revenue and the rising interest rates, but that's cold comfort indeed.

 

[COUGinNCW]

My sister was almost kid apped doing that gig in 1972.

Guy approached in a car asking how much the paper went for. She said a dime. My 10byr old brother was on a.differrent street on the south hill.

He came back and held out his hand through the passenger side with the dime in his palm. She reached for it and he grabbed her arm trying to pull her in. Our family dog jumped in and bit his hand and he let her go. This was around the time another paper delivery gal was killed. Don't think that was ever solved.

I remember that time period. My cousin had a paper route in that era when the newspaper delivery girl was murdered and everyone was on high alert. I believe it was 1976 based on what I could dig up. Also hope your family dog was allowed to get on the furniture from that point forward.

Nearly 50 years later, slaying still brings out strong emotions

The unsolved 1959 rape and murder of 9-year-old Candy Rogers is a story that's burned into Spokane's collective consciousness. It has never been forgotten – not by residents, not by police.

www.spokesman.com

 

[KRUSTYtheCOUG]

I remember that time period. My cousin had a paper route in that era when the newspaper delivery girl was murdered and everyone was on high alert. I believe it was 1976 based on what I could dig up. Also hope your family dog was allowed to get on the furniture from that point forward.

Nearly 50 years later, slaying still brings out strong emotions

The unsolved 1959 rape and murder of 9-year-old Candy Rogers is a story that's burned into Spokane's collective consciousness. It has never been forgotten – not by residents, not by police.

www.spokesman.com

A few corrections from my blurry recollection. I was 8 and my brother was 12, making this 1974. I erroneously thought he was 10 when this happened. So my sis was 16.

Yes the dog (a mutt named Rags that we found as a stray when she was 6 mo old was def elevated to queen status. Lived to be 18.

Here's probs the culprit if this link works:

Article clipped from Idaho State Journal

Clipping found in Idaho State Journal published in Pocatello, Idaho on 4/23/1976.

www.newspapers.com

 

[WillieThePimp]

A few corrections from my blurry recollection. I was 8 and my brother was 12, making this 1974. I erroneously thought he was 10 when this happened. So my sis was 16.

Yes the dog (a mutt named Rags that we found as a stray when she was 6 mo old was def elevated to queen status. Lived to be 18.

Here's probs the culprit if this link works:

Article clipped from Idaho State Journal

Clipping found in Idaho State Journal published in Pocatello, Idaho on 4/23/1976.

www.newspapers.com

1974? Well that gives me the chills: Laurie Partridge disappeared in 1974 walking home from Ferris never to be heard from again. She was 17.

Traces of hope

Laurie Partridge’s disappearance not only stumped detectives, it pushed her parents apart and prompted her family to move far from Spokane County. “It determined the whole way my family lived,” said Partridge’s sister, Taryn Chambers, who lives in Florida.

www.spokesman.com