It’s not easy being a daily newspaper…
Oh, it used to be.
Once the competition was out of the way and pretty much every major market had but a single significant publisher – the Star in Kansas City, the Journal World in Lawrence – it was like printing money.
Still is, albeit on a far smaller scale.
Where radio and television stations have had to duke it out with myriad competitors, once newspapers were established there was no direct competition. They might lose some biz here and there to radio or TV, but prior to the Internet the electronic media just couldn’t really compete.
Nor could they afford the staffing to provide anything approaching comprehensive local news coverage. Plus print readers could access their news anytime they wanted to, 24/7 once they laid their filthy hands on the ink stained rags.
However as the internet ramped up supplying instant news and updates, printed papers became less and less relevant. Something that oldsters clung to (and still do) as creatures of habit, the same as they cling to outdated fashions and beliefs.
Make no mistake, print’s still far and away where the profits are at.
That said, the handwriting’s on the wall and as the dinosaur print readers die off, younger consumers of news are looking online for their info. Unfortunately the internet profits just are not there – not enough to keep the ship of state at 18th and Grand afloat with what a dozen years ago was more than 2,000 employees versus the 400 or so today.
Meanwhile back at the ranch a tale of two cities is unfolding.
That of the Kansas City Star and Lawrence Journal World.
In Kansas City, for example, for some reason or other the Star is fighting a losing battle – and not just in supplying outdated information in print – but in trying to merely deliver its diminished product to subscribers homes and offices.
Look, they’re not putting this out there, so the information is anecdotal, but it’s clear that Star delivery drivers (or carriers) have struggled mightily to just get the newspaper into readers driveways in a timely, consistent manner. The net result being that dedicated-but-frustrated subscribers like Jack Poessiger have run out of patience and allowed their subscriptions to lapse.
By the way, that’s not the case with the Journal World which seems to have zero problem delivering its newspapers. Even the Kansas City Star seems to be delivered to the Lawrence market with little to no problem.
In terms of online access, the Star switched to a primarily pay basis a few years back while the Journal World remained free, requiring only that readers answer two or three innocuous marketing questions in order to read a given news story. Questions like, “How often do you travel each year?”
However now – following another round of layoffs – the Journal World‘s starting to charge.
“No banner ads. No surveys,” reads its pitch. “Introducing the All-New, Ad-Free…app….Just $3.99/month or $39.99/year.”
Hey, compared to the Star’s just under $12 a month and $142 annual online subscription rate, it’s a steal. Granted, there’s a lot less to love information wise, but Lawrence readers still get what passes for comprehensive, basic local news coverage, plus a really high quality USA Today edition to boot.
That said, here’s where the battle lines are going to be drawn.
Whereas maybe 10,000 newspapers – if that – go out each day in Lawrence, most locals I know, especially younger readers, consult the Journal World online daily or several times a week…and have for years.
Which means a potential for far fewer eyeballs/readers is likely unless after years of freebies they decide to whip out their debit and credit cards.
And as for Kansas City Star readers disappointed by the fact that that the news content has shrunken so greatly in the past eight or nine years while subscription prices have soared, relief is at hand.
All you need do is let your print subscription lapse for a month or so and they’ll call you up and sell you a year’s subscription at less than half off the current annual rate of $381.
Just don’t expect to find it in your driveway on anything approaching a consistent basis.
Credit where credit is due: while content here has also shrunk dramatically (!) the price remains right. Thanks Hearne!
Unfortunately, The KC Star is not a bargain at any price if they can’t get it delivered in a timely and consistent basis. I’ve given them three chances at subscription delivery, and all have seriously failed. One time delivery stopped for four days in a row without apparent cause. Whereas the Wall Street Journal and New York Times made it through some tough snow days by 6:00AM to my plowed-under driveway.