What's going on in newspapers right now? -- Kevin Slimp

An overview of the state of community journalism in the U.S.

Transcript

2. Our Plan
3. During this hour, We will take a look at the results Of the Newspaper Institute Mid 2018 survey of North American Newspapers. At a later session, we will discuss how to use this - and additional -
 information to increase the
 readership and profitability
 of your newspaper. Our Plan
4. You will participate in an intellectual exercise
 as you attempt to guess the most common
 responses of 500 newspaper
 publishers/owners/ceo’s representing
 500 different papers/newspaper groups
 in the U.S. and Canada. Our Method
5. Your mission is to guess how these
 newspaper executives responded to
 questions concerning their newspapers,
 not to answer the questions as they relate to your newspaper. Our Method
6. The Survey The survey these newspaper 
 executives completed included 
 more than 35 questions. We will examine 22 of them today.
7. current
10. Make your best guess: What is the average 
 circulation/print run of a newspaper 
 in the U.S. 1.
12. 2.
14. 3.
16. 4.
19. 5.
21. 6.
23. 7.
25. 8.
27. 9.
29. 10.
31. 11.
33. 12.
35. 13.
37. 14.
39. Focus on national / regional news Improve writing quality Focus on local content Better design Improved customer service Other 15.
41. 16.
43. 17.
45. This does not include centralized printing
46. 18.
48. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS 19.
49. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS
51. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS 20.
52. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS
53. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS 21.
54. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS
55. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS 22.
56. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS
57. MIDWEST REGION U.S. MAN/SAS
60. Don't skimp on local coverage.
61. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right.
62. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right. Do a good job covering your community, become an active member of your community, become your community's go-to place for information as well as news!
63. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right. Do a good job covering your community, become an active member of your community, become your community's go-to place for information as well as news! Focus on local. You cannot compete with Facebook or Google.
64. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right. Do a good job covering your community, become an active member of your community, become your community's go-to place for information as well as news! Focus on local. You cannot compete with Facebook or Google. Keep it local. You can get national news anywhere. People want to read about their 
 community and their kids.
65. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right. Do a good job covering your community, become an active member of your community, become your community's go-to place for information as well as news! Focus on local. You cannot compete with Facebook or Google. Keep it local. You can get national news anywhere. People want to read about their 
 community and their kids. Try to keep your paper as local as possible, using local content at least 95 percent 
 of the time.
66. Don't skimp on local coverage. Keep fighting for what is right. Do a good job covering your community, become an active member of your community, become your community's go-to place for information as well as news! Focus on local. You cannot compete with Facebook or Google. Keep it local. You can get national news anywhere. People want to read about their 
 community and their kids. Try to keep your paper as local as possible, using local content at least 95 percent 
 of the time. Concentrate on community and schools.
67. What we learned? • Just over half of all newspapers in the U.S.
 are locally owned and not part of a group. • Statistically, very few newspaper changed hands
 in the previous year. Most that did changed hands
 to similar ownership models. • Most newspapers report they are in good shape,
 but more report being in worse shape than reported
 being in better shape than three years ago. What might surprise people?
68. What we learned? • The vast majority of revenue at newspapers comes
 from print advertising. • 60 percent of respondents still question the benefit
 of their digital news efforts. • Staff size of most newspapers has remained about
 the same over the past three years, with more
 decreasing in size than increasing in size. • Only 15 percent of newspapers belong to a large
 regional or national group.
 What might surprise people?
69. Differences in 
 Dailies & Non-Dailies The differences arise in response to Question 11, 
 "How do you feel about the following statement: "Our business 
 would do just as well or better without a digital version." A whopping 59 percent of daily publishers responded, "That's ridiculous. We would be in worse shape without a digital/online edition.” Conversely, 68 percent of weekly publishers believe it either 
 "is" or "might be" true that their paper would do just as well 
 without a digital version. When you add in the number of folks 
 who responded "other," then wrote they didn't have a digital presence, you have well more than 70 percent of weekly 
 publishers wondering if there is any advantage to having 
 a digital edition of their newspapers.
70. Differences in 
 Dailies & Non-Dailies The differences arise in response to Question 11, 
 "How do you feel about the following statement: "Our business 
 would do just as well or better without a digital version." A whopping 59 percent of daily publishers responded, "That's ridiculous. We would be in worse shape without a digital/online edition.” Conversely, 68 percent of weekly publishers believe it either 
 "is" or "might be" true that their paper would do just as well 
 without a digital version. When you add in the number of folks 
 who responded "other," then wrote they didn't have a digital presence, you have well more than 70 percent of weekly 
 publishers wondering if there is any advantage to having 
 a digital edition of their newspapers.