Adventures in localism
 Oct. 30: From journalism students to top editors, the issue of local coverage has frequently been debated. But for large news outlets, it’s a pretty big challenge: they need to cater to the local crowd but also need to brisng awareness of events and issues beyond the metropolitan area. It’s a delicate balance, but in an effort to remain significant and buck the newspaper industry’s slow decline, a few of the nation’s largest papers are giving it a college try.
Recently, the New York Times launched a local edition called the Bay Area Report along with a blog called the Bay Area in San Francisco. The Times’ San Francisco staff, led by Felicity Barringer, is heading up coverage, although the Times may dedicate a staff solely to the section in the future. The blog’s daily Sampler features New York Times stories from the region as well as articles from competitors such as the San Jose Mercury News and the Contra Costa Times. Story updates, meeting times, and highlights from print Bay Area Report stories are included. The Bay Area blog also keeps up with an extensive blog roll with recognized news blogs and smaller personal projects.
As blogging has given readers an in-depth view of cities and their small neighborhoods, the call for relevant, local news has amplified in recent years. The New York Times will soon launch a similar local edition in Chicago, with the help of the newly formed Chicago News Cooperative (CNC). The CNC plans to provide news and commentary to the Chicago region through its own Web site and through collaborations with the city’s news organizations. The New York Times is the CNC’s first customer, and former Chicago Tribune managing editor James Warren will contribute a regular column for CNC that will appear in the Times’ Chicago pages.
Disputing fears that the New York Times is encroaching on the local coverage of hometown papers, Content Bridges analyst and blogger Ken Doctor wrote that the New York Times launch in San Francisco was a bright idea. “Why not start with the Bay Area, a highly educated, affluent, now under-served market?” he wrote, citing shrinking newsrooms at the Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle. The local pages offer something more to Bay Area Times subscribers, and the foray into local and hyperlocal news keeps the paper relevant, as readers seem to desire a mix of local, national, and international news in one edition. Creating partnerships, whether it is with local writers on a blog roll or with a reporting group like CNC, can be the key to keeping up with the demand for local news.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s local coverage is a work in progress. Its print and online local weekly Extra sections were replaced this fall with a customizable local news homepage and a new weekly Local Living tabloid section. As the Washington Post moves toward an integrated print and online news operation, it seeks to provide a “comprehensive, all-local online destination for the Washington-area audience,” according to a press release. Readers can choose between a “national” or “local” homepage and can tailor their news content further by region or topic. Readers aren’t latching on too quickly, however, as evidenced by an online chat with local editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz and Local Living editor Liz Seymour. Several participants in the chat noted that the new Local Living section, which appears on Thursdays, looks like an advertising supplement. Seymour responded that the new section combines the former Home section with the local Extras with increased local news and consumer information.
Like the New York Times’ Bay Area blog roll, the Washington Post’s Web Buzz highlights local blogs as they are updated. Locals can submit their blog for inclusion in the blog directory, creating a network of news and commentary that can fill in where the Post’s coverage falls short in the wake of multiple rounds of staff buyouts. The directory can be browsed by neighborhood or topic.
Lately, journalist types have been discussing the lengthy article, “The Reconstruction of American Journalism,” by Washington Post veteran Len Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson that appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review this month. According to the report, “credible independent news reporting” requires various news outlets in order to survive. As major metropolitan newspapers shrink, that independent, original reporting must be preserved, regardless of medium or profit margin.
The Washington Post and the New York Times probably aren’t going to make any money by linking to local blogs, but it’s an olive branch for the reader who might feel left out due to the shortage of local reporting. The blending of print and online localism is fresh and will take some tweaking over time, especially in the case of the Post’s vocal readership. But you can’t fault these news organizations for trying.
-- Lisa Rowan
Pitching the green
 Oct. 28: Nature lovers, fear-not. While it may seem daunting to discern which reporters cover green products from those who don’t in an increasingly environmentally aware world, newspaper reporters looking for the next big eco-friendly trend do exist.
For those making the pitches, it is important to separate the idea of green products and new green trends – green products are frequently looked at by reporters as “profit” news. Reporters are often more interested in writing “nonprofit” stories, which read less like an advertisement. For instance, The Oregonian’s sustainability reporter Abby Haight reports on neighborhoods and small businesses involved in promoting green practices while reducing the company’s carbon footprint, but she veers away from trends and products.
For the most part, local newspapers will only write about a product if it was made locally. “We don’t cover the latest green inventions because there is no local connection,” J.B. Smith told Vocus researchers. An environmental reporter at the Waco Tribune-Herald, Smith noted that many local papers lack the space to print articles on eco-friendly consumer products unless it has a strictly local angle.
So who is covering green products? Reporters who cover new green technologies, for example, can be excellent people to pitch products to. Katie Zemtseff, an environmental reporter for the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, covers the environment as it relates to man-made surroundings. She writes about green development and buildings that utilize cleaner technologies. She told Vocus that she is interested in receiving tips on new products especially if it has a connection to buildings in the Puget Sound area of Washington. In addition, most major newspapers, and many smaller ones, have going-green bloggers. Pitching the Boston Globe’s Green Blog, or The Oregonian’s environmental blog, PDX Green, may spell success for PR professionals marketing a new sustainable living product.
Despite the appearance of green-related abundance, the Columbia Journalism Review recently reported that Columbia University has suspended its environmental journalism program for the next academic year. According to the Review, the university’s program directors cited the rising cost of education, dropping employment in the field and not enough financial aid. Dan Fagin, director of New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, told the Review that he disagreed with the decision. “We’ve never needed well-trained science, health and environmental journalists more than we do right now.”
Although green and environmental reporters may dwindle along with the rest of the industry, there are still plenty of journalists to pitch. So if you run across a strange, slimy substance in the local lake, contact your local environmental reporter. But if you are sending a press release on a new lawnmower that runs on clean organic fuel, then contacting green bloggers can be a good way to go. Vocus software contains pitching profiles and podcast interviews with environmental reporters as well as green bloggers – so pitch green with grace by understanding the biodegradable ropes of a newer eco-friendly world.
--Monique Wilson
New hope for travel and tourist magazines
 Oct. 23: While magazines of all niches continue to struggle, tourist magazines may be heading to sunnier skies despite the turbulent economic climate.
Nationally distributed magazines across most categories have been hit by falling numbers, according to figures from the Vocus Media Database. Travel and tourism magazines with national distributions decreased in number by 11 percent between October 2007 and October 2009, which is better than average compared to other niches. National shelter print magazines, which cover home-focused topics, decreased by an approximate 27 percent, while magazines in the music, automotive, and financial categories decreased by approximately 13, 7 and 23 percent, respectively. The relatively moderate decrease in national travel industry magazines is surprising considering the increasing trend toward local travel, which is difficult to highlight in a national travel magazine with a wide distribution.
Meanwhile, the drop in regional magazine numbers for both travel and shelter categories are the same at around 15 percent. This figure sits at the low end of regional magazines’ dwindling distribution, as their companions in the music and automotive categories have decreased by about 28 percent and 23 percent, respectively. It appears that even though more people are traveling locally, smaller regional magazines across all categories still have a tougher time staying afloat. Partly to blame is their dependence on local advertisers, which are less equipped than their massive national counterparts to weather the economic storm.
In fact, it would appear that the health of travel publications is dependent on the health of the travel industry as a whole. The U.S. Travel Association said in a press release that while “tourism has historically been more resilient than other economic sectors, it has never been immune.” The Travel Association claims that worldwide international arrivals decreased in 2008 by 2 percent, with a continuing downward trend into 2009. However, if the U.S. Senate passes the Travel Promotions Act, which the House of Representatives passed in October, international tourist interest in the U.S. could increase, resulting in an increased interest in regional travel magazines and guides. If passed, the legislation would create a public-private partnership to promote the U.S. as a premier travel destination and better explain the country’s security policies in hopes to attract international visitors. Even if foreign tourists only visit big cities and tourist traps, regional tourist magazines that cover those areas could substantially benefit.
Even with the overall dip in travel activity, a number of magazines have found ways to pique the interests of new readers and retain them. “People will always fly in planes, they just might take business class instead of first class, or coach instead of business class,” said Steve Andrews, publisher of United Airlines’ in-flight magazine, Hemispheres. The advertiser-dependent magazine, published by Ink Publishing, underwent a redesign in June after United Airlines dropped their previous publishing agreement with Pace Communications. The magazine now employs a more assertive editorial bent and features writers who formerly wrote for big-name publications, including National Geographic. According to Andrews, the magazine is doing well and is advantageously positioned in the market due to its method of distribution: United’s flights are fully booked, enabling every magazine in every seat to have at least one probable reader.
Afar is one of the biggest and gutsiest travel magazines to launch in the last few months. Hoping to provide for a new niche, it chose to take a different angle on travel. According to its Web site, the publication’s mission is to emphasize the “connection between the traveler, a place, and its people,” appealing to a more socially and environmentally responsible audience. Catering to tourists more interested in cultural understanding than in spas and tchotchke shops was a forward-thinking move for a national travel magazine.
Despite some of the difficulties the travel industry may have endured, it appears to be relatively strong and will possibly get stronger with federal promotion efforts and eventual economic recovery. While people may spend less when times are hard, their desire to explore new places will not go away, and travel publishers will only benefit from that wanderlust.
-- Sarah Green
Staying traditional in a digital world
Oct. 21: Wayne Hill doesn’t have time for the hassle of a Web site. He’s too busy running a  newspaper as the owner, publisher, editor, reporter, photographer and gopher for the Afton Star-Enterprise.
“Most everyone I have heard speak of Web sites say that they make a small fraction of their newspaper’s income or sustain a loss, but put in a tremendous amount of time,” said Hill in an e-mail interview. “I work for one reason – to make money at something I love doing. I will not stress myself any farther for little or no income.”
Though the Iowa-based weekly is small with a circulation of approximately 1,000, Hill claims that circulation has grown in the last three years and that financially, the paper does quite well. The only time community members complain of a lack of a Web site is when they want to buy a picture of their kids that appeared in the paper.
All over the Web, articles and sites can be found that offer advice and services to newspaper publishers wanting to build or revamp a Web site, but there are still newspapers out there that exist and survive without providing online content. As the debate over paywalls versus free content becomes more charged, a number of papers are content to remain in what could be termed the “dark ages” by keeping their content in print and shunning the digital world.
Like Hill, Dan Jacobson, publisher and owner of the New Jersey-based TriCity News, has declined to join the Web revolution. “Why would I put anything on the Web?” said Jacobson in an interview with the New York Times last December. “I don’t understand how putting content on the Web would do anything but help destroy our paper.” Almost a year later, the paper still does not publish content online, but hosts a site that contains some general information about the paper.
Philip Meyer, Professor Emeritus at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, called it a “cultural lag.” “Progress always occurs unevenly. The nonadopters are probably in relatively isolated communities without print or Internet competition, and they are doing just fine – for now,” he said in an e-mail interview.
Meanwhile, Journalism Online – a startup whose goal is to help publishers transition to a paid online model – is still making headlines with a reported 1,000 newspaper publishers signed on. And recently, MediaNews Group announced that next year, all the publishing group’s papers will have paywalls erected around content. Similarly, Boston Herald publisher Patrick J. Purcell was recently quoted in a Boston Business Journal article saying that he believed most major newspapers would start charging for access over the course of the next year. “I think that we have to move to a subscription model,” Purcell told the Journal. “It’s going to take everybody moving together. The newspaper industry will not survive without an additional revenue stream.”
In an article from Reflections of a Newsosaur, Alan Mutter cites a study conducted by Greg Harmon of Belden Interactive for the American Press Institute. In a sample of 450 people, Harmon found that 53 percent of respondents said they would be willing to pay an average of $4.64 a month for online newspaper access, while 47 percent of the group said they would not pay at all. So the debate on whether the online fee model will work or not remains to be seen, but there is one thing for sure: despite this digital world, newspaper owners across the country are holding fast to the traditional idea of a newspaper.
In May 2008, the Palo Alto Daily Post launched with no Web site. Today, the paper provides a site that contains general information but no news content. When recently asked if he had ever considered going online, co-founder James Pavelich was quick to respond: “Don’t write about us,” he said in an e-mail. “Spend your precious time convincing the rest of the industry to stop the mass suicide. Hollywood does not give away their content free online the evening before the premiere. Tell them to shut down their Web sites and hire intellectual property lawyers to protect their content.”
-Katrina M. Mendolera
iPod and radio unite
 Oct. 15: Last month, inVocus reported that while some jobs in radio will disappear and formats may go stale, radio itself is safe from becoming an obsolete tool in an increasingly technology-dependent age.
That theory gained credence on Sept. 9, when Apple CEO Steve Jobs debuted the new generation of the iPod Nano – complete with FM radio tuner. The radio industry cheered. The National Association of Broadcasters sent a public “thank you” letter to Jobs. Stations like WTOP-FM in Washington, D.C., began giving the new Nanos away in contests. In a marketing strategy, All Access reported that Apple had even offered to engrave the logo and callsigns of radio stations on the radio-friendly gadget.
With all the anticipation over an FM receiver in the latest Apple player, you’d think no one had attempted this kind of technology before. But it has been done. In fact, it has been done by Apple’s number one competitor: Microsoft.
In November 2006, Microsoft debuted the first edition of their portable MP3 player, the Zune, complete with built-in FM radio capabilities. In September 2008, Microsoft released the Zune 3.0, which allowed users to tag songs they were listening to on the device, then purchase and download them off of the Zune Marketplace – Microsoft’s equivalent to the Apple iTunes Store. Just last month, Microsoft released the fourth generation of the Zune, Zune HD, complete with a built-in HD radio.
So a full year before the radio industry went crazy for Apple’s FM-ready iPod Nano, Microsoft already had an MP3 player waiting on storeroom shelves, with even more capabilities than the Nano now boasts. All of this ultimately begs the question: why all the excitement over something that is technically outdated? The answer is market share.
In the first half of 2009, Apple’s line of iPods, iPod Nanos and iPhones accounted for roughly 70 percent of the MP3 market, while Microsoft’s Zune only held 2 percent of the market. The popularity of the iPod Touch and iPhone continued to increase, and then this week the radio industry got even better news when rumors began circulating that Apple was developing software to finally utilize the FM receiver already built into iPhones. The new software upgrade would allow users to tag and download songs off of the iTunes Store, putting the iPhone at ranks with the already-dated Zune 3.0.
It’s hard to say whether the radio industry should be blessed that Apple has finally added an FM tuner to their iPod collection, especially when the technology has been available for several years and has even been utilized by their competitors. But when the market share leader of a technological device that has threatened the radio industry since the iPod gained popularity finally acknowledges and reaches out to you, it’s hard not to get excited. So party on radio … party on.
-- Jeff Peterson
Media casualties start slowing in third quarter of 2009
 Oct. 9: While the media industry continues to weather hard times as publications close and shows are canceled, the drop-off rate seems to have slowed compared to the swift casualties seen at the start of 2009.
Although the newspaper industry said goodbye to the Ann Arbor News in July, it’s the only large daily paper to see an untimely end in the past three months. According to the Vocus Media Database, a total of about 35 papers closed from July 1 to Sept. 30 – the majority being corporate-owned community weeklies. The numbers are pretty consistent with last quarter, when about 37 papers closed and 11 launched.
While the gutting of the newspaper industry continues, the pace in which this is happening appears to be slowing down. The first quarter of 2009 saw massive closings when two large dailies, the Baltimore Examiner and Rocky Mountain News, as well as approximately 90 community papers went under.
In the realm of radio, the numbers are also holding steady. “While the number of radio stations has remained constant from last quarter, the number of programs has fallen by about 40,” said Kyle Johnson, managing editor of Vocus Media Research Group’s radio division. “Most of the programs that have been eliminated were local, suggesting that the economy has forced some stations to scrap local programming in favor of nationally syndicated (less expensive) shows.” The same could be said for television as the majority of cancellations happened in the smaller markets.
Ultimate Magazine, Time Style & Design, and Page Six: The Magazine, are only three of the approximately 211 consumer magazines that folded in the past three months. However, roughly 54 consumer publications launched, bringing the total for the quarter to about 377 magazines closings and 82 launches. Vibe Magazine, one of the major titles of the bunch, didn’t go quietly: the Web site re-launched in August, and a buyer has revived the magazine, planning a print edition for November.
About 36 online magazines were lost, while 14 were launched. Despite there being more magazine ends than beginnings, a recent Magazine Publishers of America study found that more than one in five online subscriptions will be sold in 2009 – up almost 70 percent from three years ago. In fact, the study goes on to say that it’s not all doom and gloom in the magazine industry. Subscriptions are up from the same period last year and newsstand sales have increased in May through July.
According to a study by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), the same holds true for newspapers – canceled subscriptions fell 31.8 percent in 2008, compared to 54.5 percent in 2000. “Newspaper companies have made substantial progress with a range of new initiatives as they move aggressively to adapt their business models for success across multiple platforms,” said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm in a press release. “As the fall in subscriber churn indicates, publishers have focused their efforts on retaining subscribers in key market segments that translate into maximum advertiser value.”
Overall, the four mediums appear to be remaining steady compared to last quarter, and faring better than they did at the start of 2009. While change within the media industry is continuous and sometimes cruel, it’s evident that newspapers, television, radio and magazine will fight the good fight in order to survive and evolve with the times.
-- Katrina M. Randall
Despite recent foldings, magazine industry still 'alive and kicking'
 Oct. 6: Foodies hold fast: while Gourmet magazine may be sliding into the depths of recession-driven non-existence, Condé Nast’s Bon Appétit magazine still appears to be clinging on.
On Monday, magazine publisher Condé Nast announced that four of its titles would fold: Cookie, Elegant Bride, Modern Bride and Gourmet. “We have now completed an extensive review of our business – an important undertaking given the dramatic changes in the U.S. economy,” Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend wrote in a staff memo. “The review has led us to a number of decisions designed to navigate the company through the economic downturn and to position us to take advantage of coming opportunities.”
According to the memo, Brides will increase its circulation from bimonthly to monthly to make up for the loss of the two other bridal magazines. While Gourmet ceases publication, the brand remains, meaning Gourmet’s book publishing and television programming will go on.
Despite this dismal news, a recent article in Folio points out that new magazines have been popping up frequently in the last several months, such as Afar, a San Francisco-based travel magazine that launched Aug. 18. “But Afar, while arguably one of the more high-profile launches so far this year, only scratches the surface of a wave of emerging magazines,” wrote Folio senior editor Jason Fell. Certainly, inVocus has announced a number of recent launches, including Florida entertainment publication, The Scene Magazine; Texas-based Woodlands Family Magazine; sustainable living magazine, Urban Farm; women’s bicycling magazine, She Pedals: The Journal of Women in Cycling; pet lifestyle publication, Cesar’s Way; and the Ultimate Fighting Championship publication, UFC.
According to Samir Husni’s Mr. Magazine blog, 71 titles were launched in September alone, bringing the total for 2009 to about 528, compared to 685 for all of 2008. So while it seems magazines may be dropping like flies, new ones are being born. “Our industry is still well, alive and kicking,” said Husni, who is the director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi School Of Journalism. “Just look at the other side of the coin, for every tail there is a head. Do not dwell on the tail, look at the other side. Be creative, be innovative, be a publisher of a necessary, sufficient and relevant medium and you will see the light at the end of the tunnel that is not the train coming.”
-- Katrina M. Randall
Local ownership revival?
 Oct. 2: In the three months since Clifton Robinson and his son Gordon took ownership of the Waco Tribune-Herald, the response has been overwhelming and the change has revealed what local ownership can mean to a community.
In the last eight to nine weeks alone, the paper has generated about 1,500 new home delivery subscriptions, said Gordon Robinson. “We believe the corporate ownership was little bit out of touch with this community, meaning the slant of the newspaper was leaning a little more liberal than our community was. The readership had also been falling, which it had been transnational.”
Clifton and Gordon Robinson purchased the daily Waco Tribune-Herald of Texas from Cox Enterprises in July. They were in the midst of having a conversation with retired Tribune-Herald publisher Dan Savage when he suggested the two Waco businessmen buy the paper from Cox, which had put it up for sale in August 2008. Although they had never owned a newspaper before, they believed that their local ties to the community could help make it better.
What they changed in the paper could be considered somewhat unconventional. At readers’ request, they increased the size of the crossword puzzle and each week a section of the paper welcomes new subscribers. In addition, appearing on the front page of every edition are the words: “In God we trust,” which Robinson noted has been popular with the community.
In 2009, various corporate-owned papers have gone back to their roots: local ownership. The latest in this series is Nick Sloan, a former reporter for the Kansas City Kansan, who purchased the paper from Gatehouse Media early last week. Launched in 1921 by Sen. Arthur Capper, Gatehouse closed the print publication in January, opting to keep the online version active. According to The Pitch, the one-man show has kept the publication’s three main advertisers and is looking for an office in downtown Kansas City.
In April, the Hearst Corporation put the weekly Ballston Journal (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) back in the hands of local ownership when Angela McFarland, who also owns several other local monthly publications, purchased the paper and took the reins.
A month later, Gene Hall of Charles City, Iowa, bought the Charles City Press, which he had sold 21 years before, back from Gatehouse Media. “I am coming to the realization that in order for community papers to be the best that can be they must be locally operated and better yet, locally owned,” he said in an article from the Iowa Newspaper Association Bulletin. He goes on to say: “What has and is ruining American media is that, like even baseball, it came to be run solely as a business. Newspapers are more than a business. They have obligations and responsibilities far beyond what a big-box retail store or widget manufacturer has.”
Then in June, after many months of negotiations, Richard Connor finally took ownership of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and associated papers from Blethen Maine Newspapers, The Seattle Times Company’s Maine media holdings. The other publications included the Kennebec Journal in Augusta, the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, Web sites and other niche publications.
While much of the country’s media is still corporate owned, is it possible that there could be a revival in local ownership?
“For nearly 40 years, newspapers have been acquired by publicly traded corporations or ever-expanding privately held, but highly leveraged, companies,” wrote editorial page editor Ryan Blethen in an editorial for The Seattle Times. “In the detritus comes real opportunity. Some of the remaining Bigs are going to have no choice but to get out of the newspaper business or shed a number of what corporate types call “properties.” This jettisoning of newspapers and the near valueless Wall Street assessments could give rise to an era of independent and local ownership.”
Indeed, the 2009 State of the News Media, an annual report put out by the PEW Project for Excellence, said that in the last several years “more than 10 percent of the industry passed back into private hands.”
While the resurgence of locally owned newspapers as a majority may be a long way off or may never happen, the communities that do have locally owned media appear to be content. Everywhere Robinson goes, people within the community thank him for putting the paper back in local hands, he said. “The entire newspaper industry is changing as everyone is well aware of. The days of corporate ownership as far as community newspaper are certainly waning.”
-- Katrina M. Randall
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