WIRE —
It seems like each time a newspaper implements a bold new strategy or deviates from its traditional business model, pundits interpret those changes as acts of desperation. Interestingly, these are often the same pundits who claim newspapers are not changing fast enough.
Developments such as reduction of publication frequency and online subscriptions should be viewed through an objective lens — as the innovation needed to secure quality journalism and a sustainable business model for the future.
The transformation of newspapers is based on several factors. Changing business dynamics are forcing newspapers to rethink how best to use their strengths — local news and content, local sales forces, insights about the community and strong local brands.
For example, newspapers are focused on investing in original content most valued by their communities — enterprise journalism essential to society — and finding new approaches to other kinds of news. Digital platforms are giving newspapers the ability to offer advertisers more choices, better measurement tools and a greater return on their investment.
Second, newspapers are working to build sustainable online businesses. While printed newspapers certainly have an audience for the foreseeable future, there is no question that digital is the platform of the future. News products that use the best of both — the serendipity, brows-ability and depth of newspapers with the immediacy, share-ability and discovery of digital — have an advantage among consumers.
Finally, newspapers must focus on their position at home. Research shows newspapers are the most trusted media outlets in their communities. They are working to maintain that position as hubs of local information, activity and conversation.
Newspapers will survive because the value they provide to readers and advertisers is enduring in this new digital ecosystem, as the data show.
A Newspaper Association of America study conducted by Frank A. Magid Associates shows 74 percent of Internet users in a given week turn to content originated by newspapers. For newspapers, this means more ways to attract new audiences and build revenue.
An Online Publishers Association study reveals 41 percent of tablet users regularly access local news — the third most popular activity on the device. (Watching video and getting weather information — both of which can be done with newspaper sites and apps — rank first and second.)
And, according to comScore, newspapers are better at building audience from mobile devices than the Internet overall. Mobile has yet to find a solid advertising proposition but when it does — along with video and other new platforms — newspapers will be well prepared to take advantage of that growing business.
A key area of strength for newspapers is top-notch journalism. Consumers still value quality journalism by trained reporters and informed judgments by editors. Their stories start the conversation in the media ecosphere.
Let’s not forget print: It continues to be a valued way to access local information and find advertising deals for many readers. Pew Research Center reports that newspapers are a top source for readers — or tied as the top source — in 11 of 16 areas of news. According to Magid Associates’ research for NAA, readers overwhelmingly view ads in newspapers as more trustworthy than those in other media.
Last November, newspapers online accounted for more than 113 unique visitors a month, which represents nearly 64 percent of Internet users. Newspapers in print and online reach 58 percent of the 18 to 34 age group in an average week.
Industry leaders are not naïve, nor are they in denial about the challenges they face. But while there is no magical solution, a strategy is in place: Find new revenue sources; lessen reliance on traditional business models; and find new ways to use newspapers’ competitive strengths to serve readers and advertisers.
Newspapers won’t get it right every time. What industry or company ever does? But the path to success requires the continual innovation, based on deep research and measurement, we now see taking place industry-wide.
Passionate discourse about the future of the newspaper industry, I believe, is driven by anxiety about the potential disappearance of the vital role newspapers play in our society. That anxiety is understandable. Industry leaders are working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen.
The pundits may write us off. The marketplace has not.
CAROLINE LITTLE is president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America.
Opinion
Why doomsayers are wrong about newspapers
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
Whenever we witness the type of devastation wrought by this week’s killer tornado, we naturally struggle with a host of emotions. Those of us in the neighborhood battle to control our anxieties as we gather the information we can about the storm’s strength, location and direction. We experience dismay when we hear the threat above us has touched down and become a real physical menace to our friends, neighbors and loved ones. When the “all clear” sounds, we are thankful that the nightmare is over. When we realize our loved ones are all safe and sound, we rejoice.
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Spirit of Oklahoma strong in tornadoes
Because we’ve been through so much, we are a people who get perturbed when those on our nation’s coasts look down their noses at us. We are a people who get irritated when others tell us how we should live, or what we should believe. We are a people who cringe when others see our waving wheat fields as only flyover country.
We know that we are not perfect, but we are good, we are compassionate and we are giving. It is this spirit which led the teachers at Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary this week to use their bodies to shield students from tornado debris. It was this spirit that enabled law enforcement officers to stand in the way of the oncoming tornado to divert traffic from the storm’s path. It was this spirit that compelled Oklahomans around the globe to rush to the aid of their friends and neighbors. -
Let kids start school on a normal schedule
Q: Our son’s fifth birthday is in August. He did just fine, socially and academically, in preschool, but the counselor at the school he’s slated to attend has recommended that we hold him back a year because of his late birthday. She says that kids with late birthdays, especially boys, do better if they’re given an extra year of maturation before starting school. What do you think?
A: The practice of postponing Kindergarten for so-called “late birthday” children — generally defined as children having birthdays after May — got its start about 20 years ago and has generated the usual unintended consequences. Prime among those is the fact that by delaying the start of school for children having birthdays after May, schools only create a new crop of children with late birthdays — those occurring after January.
It’s true that during early elementary school, boys are less mature in several respects than girls. In general, their attention spans tend to be shorter. Therefore, they’re more impulsive and more easily distracted. It’s also true, however, that some children, boys as well as girls, experience developmental “spurts” during Kindergarten. The slightly immature, impulsive 5-year-old may be at the norm one year later. -
No one realizes how tough Okies really are — until this happens
Like many of you, I’m ending this tragic week emotionally drained. I was either glued to the weather report throughout the first part of the week or — when Su-the-dog and I weren’t settled down inside the storm shelter waiting for the all-clear to sound — I hovered with her about the shelter door leading down to it. Now as the week ends, I just might have changed my mind about a couple of things.
Many of us have been on our knees throughout this week praying that God will strengthen and comfort the state’s numerous tornado victims and their loved ones. Some have already contributed to organizations such as the Red Cross or the Salvation Army to aid this week’s victims of various tornadoes, and those who are able have either donated blood or else they will when the Bloodmobile makes its rounds. -
Seeing yourself as the world sees you
Ever try seeing yourself as others see you, or your piece of the world as others see your piece of the world?
You know, if you could get others to see you, or if you could get other parts of the world to see your part of it?
Narcissism and inferiority, both, can trap us in front of a mirror, admiring or lamenting, pleased or not pleased by the vision we presumably offer others.
Yet, what’s happened over the last three days, since yet another deadly tornado rolled through Moore, offers an entirely different perspective.
Through strength or weakness, we may take an interest in how we project. But when the “Today Show” is broadcast from the rubble and the network evening news has placed its anchor amidst the carnage; and when the news channels descend upon the destruction and every newspaper in the country is playing your and your neighbors’ plight bigger than its own hometown news, it turns surreal. -
ROCK DOC: Japanese find a new source of natural gas
The name “natural gas” might be a puzzle. After all, how could there be such a thing as unnatural gas? The reason we call natural gas what we do has to do with history. There was a day that people made burnable gas by heating coal. The gases that came off the coal were piped around cities where they did things like light street lamps and even power cook stoves in homes.
Coal gas had its down side. For one thing, it often contained carbon monoxide. And it took energy to make the gas, so it never could be truly cheap. -
Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
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Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. - More Opinion Headlines
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Oklahomans unite in tragedy; set example for country
