  E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1869 Registered: 11-2004 |
The rubber is really starting to hit the road in the newspaper industry. First the Christian Science Monitor stops print publications to concentrate on its website publishing. Now Royal Oak's Daily Tribune is cutting its Monday and Tuesday print editions. Tribune changes start Monday http://www.dailytribune.com/ar ticles/2008/11/30/news/srv0000 004159245.txt You gotta wonder how long local print editions will stick around, especially in this economy. Will some of these newspapers (I'm looking at you Detroit News)even be around five years from now? | ||
Barnesfoto Member Username: Barnesfoto Post Number: 5571 Registered: 10-2003 |
that's nothing. Read this: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11 /30/opinion/30dowd.html?em | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 1183 Registered: 10-2003 |
Is the Trib still an afternoon paper? Although all papers are having problems, afternoons are hurting more than morning papers. I would also assume that surburban papers, with their more limited advertising base would be having more problems than their big city counterparts. And speaking of small papers cutting back, when did the Ypsilanti Press fold up its tent? | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 5682 Registered: 02-2004 |
It's going to get worse. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1841 Registered: 12-2003 |
Doug, That might be true if there were such a thing as "morning" and "afternoon" papers anymore. Most went to all-day editions in the late '80s. | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 1186 Registered: 10-2003 |
Pffft..... .....I'm talking about home delivery. The Seattle Times, Seattle P-I and Spokane Spokesman-Review hit the porch about the same time each morning. When does the Trib hit the porch, about 4pm? | ||
Lowell Moderator Username: Lowell Post Number: 5180 Registered: 09-2003 |
The fact that we are discussing it here underlies the challenges pulp media faces. First the cable news, then the internet. It is too much for slo-mo print. I wish there was room for both hard and soft copy, I have two friends dangling in this cut back, but there isn't. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 3116 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Trib is on my doorstep by 8am each day. I'm disappointed that they are cutting back their schedule to 4 days, Wed-Fri and Sunday. The only reason I subscribe is to get the daily news coverage in my community and nearby, since the big dailies (News and Freep, both of which I receive via home delivery) don't provide the in-depth coverage for the local communities. Still will have to rethink whether to keep up the Trib after a month or so of the 4 per week experience. | ||
Townonenorth Member Username: Townonenorth Post Number: 405 Registered: 10-2007 |
The RO Tribune lost relevance years ago in my opinion. Their coverage of the local news outside of Royal Oak has been spotty at best. The only truly interesting portion of the paper lately has been Soundoff, and that's not saying much. Getting coverage for local events has been problematic. Their online edition is vastly improved, though. I think they are being hurt by the C and G "free" newspaper that is a biweekly. A lot of their ad dollars are probably flowing in that direction, since it reaches every household. | ||
Oldredfordette Member Username: Oldredfordette Post Number: 5684 Registered: 02-2004 |
How will you feel if the News or Free Press go to three days a week? | ||
Douglasm Member Username: Douglasm Post Number: 1187 Registered: 10-2003 |
Kathleen..... .....so it's a morning paper competing for reader's eyes with both the News and the Free Press, right? You'd think it would have an exclusive market in the afternoon, where it used to be. I wonder if over the course of a few years will open up the market for a revival of weekly newspapers? When I was (much) younger, Parker Publications used to publish a string of weeklies like the Ferndale Gazette-Telegraph and The Highland Parker, their editorial content focusing on local news and sports. I wonder if their time is coming again..... | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 3117 Registered: 10-2003 |
Douglasm: Not sure that the morning vs afternoon delivery makes that much difference these days if the subscribers work, as I do. I glance at the Freep and News in the morning before I leave for work around 7:30am. Then I read the papers more fully in the evening. In addition to The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, we also have the weekly Royal Oak Mirror (delivered to the house for something like $30/yr. fee or 50 cents from a box) and the weekly Royal Oak Review, a freebie that is delivered via the USPS. The Mirror has been around for a number of years while the Review is only a couple years old. So there is already a lot of competition in the market here. | ||
Townonenorth Member Username: Townonenorth Post Number: 407 Registered: 10-2007 |
Douglasm, the weekly format might be the direction the local print media may be forced to migrate to. Is there a market for these? Time will tell. If the Tribune concentrated their efforts on local news, versus national, they may do better in my book. Trying to be a competing daily with News and Freep isn't doing it. Lots of local stories get pushed out by that practice. I'd hate to think that the daily newspaper will become extinct. ORF, I'd hope that that 3 a week scenario is not the case. I'd miss the newspaper in a PAPER format, of course some might not. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1842 Registered: 12-2003 |
Doug, The Royal Oak Tribune doesn't compete with the Detroit dailies; it covers hyper-local news and crime that, as Kathleen points out, the Detroit papers don't. Morning vs. afternoon is no longer an issue, home delivery is available for all in the a.m. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1555 Registered: 11-2005 |
Sign of the times. The Internet is an amazing thing, but it is killing brick and mortars, record stores and newspapers. The Internet giveth and it taketh away. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5765 Registered: 06-2004 |
The Royal Oak Tribune is an afternoon paper except on Sunday. The Ann Arbor News is also an afternoon paper, albeit early afternoon now - they try to be at the newsstands by noon or one o'clock. | ||
Jim Member Username: Jim Post Number: 992 Registered: 10-2003 |
After reading the NYtimes online article, I am wondering how I could outsource the wiping of my ass to India. Hell I wouldn't even supply gloves. Since too many US citizens expect everything to be free, why isn't the internet if online newspaper articles are. | ||
Townonenorth Member Username: Townonenorth Post Number: 412 Registered: 10-2007 |
That is a good point. But deciding where the dollars go will be the test. Consider if the economy further tanks. Will the digital divide grow? There's plenty of people now that can't afford computers and internet access. Does that deprive them of the right to read news? And the TV news is no substitute. | ||
Pffft Member Username: Pffft Post Number: 1843 Registered: 12-2003 |
Lilpup, If one gets home delivery of the RO Trib in the morning, is it still an afternoon paper? I guess the semantics kind of amuse me ... | ||
Sludgedaddy Member Username: Sludgedaddy Post Number: 238 Registered: 01-2008 |
I miss the Weekly World News. | ||
Lilpup Member Username: Lilpup Post Number: 5766 Registered: 06-2004 |
I don't know anyone who gets the Royal Oak Tribune in the morning (a "morning" paper means at home delivery prior to 9 a.m.) - Macomb Daily perhaps, Oakland Press perhaps, but not the Tribune. When I delivered the Tribune it was dropped to us around 3-3:30 and we were expected to have it delivered by 6 p.m. | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 3118 Registered: 10-2003 |
Having been a subscriber for some 25 years, I certainly can remember when The Daily Tribune was an afternoon paper. But as I mentioned above, the Trib is on our doorstep before 8am every day. It's been that way for quite a while now. |
