I used to love the weekend papers.
I loved the ritual of going to the corner shop to pick up the weekend editions and an extra-large medium roast for my journey through the thick stacks of newsprint.
But lately, I’ve been living in places where my favourite papers aren’t readily available, so I’ve been reading them online. And I haven’t missed those print editions one bit.
For some, this makes me a parasite, sucking the life out of the newspapers; a freeloader who won’t buy the print editions, where the real money is made.
Therein lies the problem. Newspapers were built on ad revenue generated by delivering the news in print. They’re saddled with expensive printing plants (run by cranky unions), vast circulation departments, smog-producing delivery operations, pricey office buildings…and old-school managers.
Those managers, blaming the Internet, have responded by slashing newsroom costs, while keeping their failing business models intact. Meanwhile newspapers continue to decline. Journalism, some say, will die with them.
I disagree. I think journalism will enter an exciting new era where the reporter and the reader will connect like never before. I offer GlobalPost as proof.
Launched earlier this year by veteran US journalists, and backed by far less money than the Toronto Star lost last quarter, GlobalPost is an interesting reinvention of the news organization. The heart of the company is a worldwide network of 65 journalists, who report the news directly. The reportage has an intimate feel, but make no mistake: These are trained reporters. Outstanding recent coverage includes first hand reports about the US pullback in Iraq, marching season in Ireland, the first signs of rapprochement with the Taliban, the treatment of gays in Lebanon and the swine flu crisis in Canada’s native communities.
GlobalPost is a for-profit business, and to that end they are developing three revenue streams: advertising, syndication and subscription. The latter intrigues me. When you subscribe to the GlobalPost Passport you get a myriad of benefits including emails on breaking news directly from reporters, participation in conference calls with reporters in places like Kabul, and more.
You feel like you are directly involved with the news organization, a unique experience that is like smack to a news junkie like me. I’m gladly paying three bucks a week for all that.
Which, by the way, is not much more than those extra-large medium roast coffees.
Image courtesy of William Couch.
Will the local news in St. John’s be covered by GlobalPost once the daily shuts its doors? I think not! Will the online “for profits” have the gumption to put up the time and money required to staff up and do real, local reporting? To man bureaus throughout cities? Hire and pay columnists who do more than crank out uninformed hot air from their basements?
The “favourite” online newspapers you read are still paid for by the bricks and mortar papers. That means they are paid for by advertisers who pay more for print, by subscribers and those still enjoying the trip to the newsstand. The online advertising revenues are a trickle — a fraction of what ad dollars once were — and you would know that from personal experience.
This week a Toronto Star investigation revealed that only 18% of Toronto’s religiously-sorted green bin waste is actually diverted and some is even incinerated (not a crime but certainly proof we’re being misled by our mayor and would continue to be, were it not for the investigation).
Can you give me an example of a pure online daily, not funded by a printed paper, that would take a chance on an investigation like that — on a LOCAL level?
Your headline could just as easily state that newspapers are in big trouble, and so is Canadian journalism. It will take a long, long time to grow it back to what it was, once it dies. The Internet can’t take it there. Politicians on every level are crossing their fingers, and your local politician won’t shed a tear at the funeral, I can assure you.