I had a friend respond to one of my previous blog posts with an interesting reverse on my previous statement:
Is blogging really killing newspapers? Or is it that the decline in the quality of newspapers has lead to an increase in blogging?
This really has become a chicken-or-egg problem for me. Which cause is leading to what effect? Has it really been that blogging is killing newspapers, because people would rather get their news online? Or has the continual firing of local writers and publishing the national news wires meant that people are abandoning their newspapers for more local news?
I have always had a complaint about the Indianapolis Star, our local paper, which seems to be doing everything they can to get rid of their local writers. They’ve fired many of their local columnists and beat reporters, and they even got rid of their local blogger program. Last year, they worked with local bloggers to write about their local news — their suburbs, neighborhoods, and towns — and it was one of the most popular sections of the online newspaper. But they discontinued the practice, and readership declined once again.
Now, these dips on the chart are not the times they released their local bloggers. In fact, this is only a basic look at readership, and not even a totally accurate one. (Compete.com can tell us trends, not a completely accurate look, like you would get with an analytics package, like Yahoo Analytics or Google Analytics.)
But if I were the Indy Star, I would try anything to get rid of those dips. If local bloggers are able to attract readers, get them. If local writers covering local news brings in subscribers, hire them, and lay off the upper management who keep making these poor decisions.
I don’t think it’s the bloggers who are causing the drop. But rather, whatever is making people abandon their online local newspaper is what’s driving them to get their news from other sources.
About Erik Deckers
Surprised, yea startled, your post hasn’t generated a vritual gusher in others posting.
As I mentioned earlier, so much to do and so little time to do it. Start of school year, State Fair is underway, some undoubtedly vacationing, you and others refining presentations for Blog Indiana, myself included with the group seemingly lost in trying to focus on internet needs and committments, and at the moment a heat index of 115-degrees.
If it wasn’t for the 6-7 pm news hour for local and national news I’d likely have to resubscribe to the Star!
However the internet informed me earlier the real news today is in Alaska; former Senator Ted Stephens perishing in a plane crash and Sarah Palin’s ghost of a son-in-law planning a reality show detailing his run for mayor of Wasilla barely eeks out the headlines over Michael Seidle’s restructuring of his online business presence.
Always love these open-ended topics to which none of us hold definitive answers. Somewhat like what in the hell amI doing up at2 in the morning and adding to another Deckers post lol.
Blogging and newspaper publishing are reams apart IMHO. I see the former as an addendum to newspapers but nowhere close as a replacement and certainly not an improvement. That is not the speak of a former reporter,although much more broadcast time than as a newspaperman.
Though feature articles are a large part of what is contained in newspapers their primary content remains to be what you expect, NEWS! Granted there are “news” oriented blogs such as Huffington Post I find 99% of bloggers are geared to a single subject matter and singularly-focused. That, I believe,is what we expect from both media.
I can provide no raw data but my personal barometer has registered a decline overall in all news media each succeeding year the past two decades it seems with broadcasters being stung even before the print industry. The internet may be the prime culprit for certain yet to me the availability of so much social activities has to be factored as well. Especially in surveying our own community I am absolutely amazed at the constant stream of events available to Indianapolis area residents of all ages and income levels. Those with kids and grandkids are of course duty-bound as soccer and Little League supporters and they fight to find their own time for golf, jogging or biking; all on top of squeezing in household duties after a full workday etc. Arts supporters have something available every day of the week, as do Euchre players, computer geeks, and singles of all ages.
I used to ask myself how a man could afford to take his wife and three kids to a major league baseball game at $10 a head plus parking and who knows how much for refreshments and souveniers. Now I hold an additional thought to that…where does he even find the time let alone the dollars?
Speaking of time, one of my favcrite times of the day, and not that many years past, was early morning on the patio with coffee and the newspaper. Fresh air, hot coffee and fresh, hot news! What an American start to a day.
Now it’s early TV local news and The Today Show with coffee and my computer. No fresh air.
Cutbacks within the editorial ranks and the slimming of the newspaper thickness had nothing to do with this drastic transformation in my life. That came about solely from the drastic decline of service within the Star’s delivery system. Ten years back I got my paper at 5:30am and about five years ago it seemed to become more like a 6:30 norm and when it sagged to 7:30ish several months ago they lost me completely. Yeah,I often miss not having a newspaper but I don’t miss having to thrash all the way to the sidewalk in thunderstorms and knee-deep snow to retrieve it.
Always love these open-ended topics to which none of us hold definitive answers. Somewhat like what in the hell amI doing up at2 in the morning and adding to another Deckers post lol.
Blogging and newspaper publishing are reams apart IMHO. I see the former as an addendum to newspapers but nowhere close as a replacement and certainly not an improvement. That is not the speak of a former reporter,although much more broadcast time than as a newspaperman.
Though feature articles are a large part of what is contained in newspapers their primary content remains to be what you expect, NEWS! Granted there are “news” oriented blogs such as Huffington Post I find 99% of bloggers are geared to a single subject matter and singularly-focused. That, I believe,is what we expect from both media.
I can provide no raw data but my personal barometer has registered a decline overall in all news media each succeeding year the past two decades it seems with broadcasters being stung even before the print industry. The internet may be the prime culprit for certain yet to me the availability of so much social activities has to be factored as well. Especially in surveying our own community I am absolutely amazed at the constant stream of events available to Indianapolis area residents of all ages and income levels. Those with kids and grandkids are of course duty-bound as soccer and Little League supporters and they fight to find their own time for golf, jogging or biking; all on top of squeezing in household duties after a full workday etc. Arts supporters have something available every day of the week, as do Euchre players, computer geeks, and singles of all ages.
I used to ask myself how a man could afford to take his wife and three kids to a major league baseball game at $10 a head plus parking and who knows how much for refreshments and souveniers. Now I hold an additional thought to that…where does he even find the time let alone the dollars?
Speaking of time, one of my favcrite times of the day, and not that many years past, was early morning on the patio with coffee and the newspaper. Fresh air, hot coffee and fresh, hot news! What an American start to a day.
Now it’s early TV local news and The Today Show with coffee and my computer. No fresh air.
Cutbacks within the editorial ranks and the slimming of the newspaper thickness had nothing to do with this drastic transformation in my life. That came about solely from the drastic decline of service within the Star’s delivery system. Ten years back I got my paper at 5:30am and about five years ago it seemed to become more like a 6:30 norm and when it sagged to 7:30ish several months ago they lost me completely. Yeah I often miss not having a newspaper but I don’t miss having to thrash all the way to the sidewalk in thunderstorms and knee=deep snow to retrieve it.