So how are things in the newspaper world?
Pacific Business News reported yesterday that the Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s circulation has remained steady at about 64,000 since the newspaper’s sale in 2001. That figure was released by the Star-Bulletin, which says the circulation is audited by a local accounting firm. But PBN notes that the number of Bulletin’s delivered to homes has fallen by 19 percent, perhaps why we’ve had those $1 deals for home delivery recently.
S-B Publisher Dennis Francis defended the company’s push to increase readership by relying more on free distribution.
“This approach works quite well for us, while I recognize it runs against ‘industry norm’,” Francis said in an e-mail. “However, I think everyone would agree that the industry norm hasn’t been doing very well for quite some time.”
A reader notes:
Oh jeez, what a transparent attempt to fuzz the discussion: Take a very specific argument — emphasizing readership numbers vs. hard circulation data — and back it up with a vague generalization. You could take this approach and say, “Yes, it is against the industry norm to have our advertising executives dictate the stories, but I think everyone would agree that the industry norm has not been doing very well.”
Flogging readership numbers is nothing new, and it’s not surprising in an era of falling circulation.
I agree that readership data, in theory, can be more effective than circulation data to measure how many people see an ad. But there is also more potential for readership numbers to be manipulated. The only way to measure how many people read a newspaper is through a survey, and it’s very easy to make a survey tell you what you want to hear, as we all know.
As for the SB’s claim of audited circulation of 64,000, I’m skeptical. It’s somewhat weird that Publisher Dennis Francis won’t say exactly how many SB papers are free. Either he doesn’t know, which is alarming, or he is not telling, which is suspect.
Meanwhile CNNMoney.com reviewed newspaper industry stocks this week, and while it found some interest in newspaper stocks among some institutional investors, generally the news is not good.
The story ends with this quote from Scott Black, a Boston investment manager.
“The halcyon era of newspapers is long gone,†Black said. And so, it seems, are the days when these stocks can reward their shareholders.
American Journalism Review looks at newspapering in the San Francisco area. More bleak news.
Perhaps this isn’t the best stuff to be reading on Friday.
I haven’t been home enough to build up a good supply of new cat photos, so I’m offering a photo of Mr. Silverman taken last week for today’s Friday Feline.
It’s probably appropriate, given today’s newspaper theme. He is, after all, the cat who took the initiative to join our household during the same week Gannett made its 1999 move to close the Star-Bulletin. It helps me remember just how long he has been with us.
Just finished reading David Verklin’s “WatchThisListenUpClickHere”. Verklin is the CEO of Carat International and a widely respected commentator (dare I say visionary in this day and age of intense skepticism:?).
I found it interesting when he said, on page 183 of his book, “Odd as it may sound, other publishers have also slashed distribution of many titles to save money. Time cut its annual distribution fo 22.5 million copies in 2005 from 32.5 million in 1997.” Verklin further states “five years ago, this would have caused a media buyer’s eyebrows to rise, now media buyers looks askance when the publishers announce circulation increases, wondering what tricks they’ve got up their sleeves to lure the additional readers.”
Although this is out of context with the rest of the book, which is riveting in itself as a total overview of the media world as it is changing today, he does point to the publishing industry’s attempts to save on costs as paper and other commodities have risen in price. He is illuminating the fact that major publishers have reduced single copy distribution to save money.
The fact that the Star-Bulletin is printing a high number of papers and is obscuring the percentage that is free, leaves nothing but questions about the fiscal viability of their operation in my mind.
Verklin’s book speaks a lot about consumer engagement as a metric that the advertising world is seeking and measuring these days. It is incumbent to all media, including the Star-Bulletin to maintain high standards of transparency in their business operations so as to hold on to their credibility with advertisers and ultimately with readers.
I recommend reading Verklin’s book.
Connecting News, Commentaries and Blogs at NineReports.com - // Oct 18, 2007 at 11:52 pm
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