Bad News
February 1, 2024 1:58 PM Subscribe
It would be far too dramatic to extrapolate from the disastrous week that journalism itself is dying. The New York Times is healthy. Thanks to good management and demographically vigorous readerships, the Boston Globe and Minneapolis Star Tribune carry on. Cable, network and local TV news still toss off profits. But no matter how many heroic nonprofit newsrooms like the Baltimore Banner and Daily Memphian take root, no matter how many Substack-like newsletters blossom or creators emerge to drop their videos on YouTube, you can’t deny the journalism business’ decline. from The News Business Really Is Cratering [Politico]
Meanwhile, breaking bad news: The Messenger is shutting down [Axios]
Mainstream media bloodbath: News outlets slash jobs as business suffers [Axios]
What Is H A PP E NI N G [Today in Tabs]
Meanwhile, breaking bad news: The Messenger is shutting down [Axios]
Mainstream media bloodbath: News outlets slash jobs as business suffers [Axios]
What Is H A PP E NI N G [Today in Tabs]
"Targeted advertising on the web has diminished the old advertisers’ complaint that 50 percent of their ad budgets are wasted and they just didn’t know which half. Now they do, and they avoid newspapers and magazines."
This just isn't true. Yes, now they avoid newspapers and magazines, but now they're wasting about two thirds of their budgets instead.
posted by mhoye at 2:18 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
This just isn't true. Yes, now they avoid newspapers and magazines, but now they're wasting about two thirds of their budgets instead.
posted by mhoye at 2:18 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
Unless a publisher creates something so essential that readers are willing to pay for it — like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or POLITICO, which gets more than half of its revenue from paid subscribers — the sledding will be more than rough.
I follow political news very closely, don't mind paying for subscriptions, and I still find it amazing that Politico (yeah, I'm not going to style it in all caps) gets half of its revenue from paid subscribers.
(Also I don't know how many NYT subscribers specifically find the reporting essential as opposed to recipes, games, Wirecutter, etc. Maybe I don't want to know.)
posted by box at 2:21 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
I follow political news very closely, don't mind paying for subscriptions, and I still find it amazing that Politico (yeah, I'm not going to style it in all caps) gets half of its revenue from paid subscribers.
(Also I don't know how many NYT subscribers specifically find the reporting essential as opposed to recipes, games, Wirecutter, etc. Maybe I don't want to know.)
posted by box at 2:21 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
I still have NYT and Washington Post subscriptions, but both insist (are driven, I guess) to lard their sites with low/no-brow clickbait and advertorials while progressively paring down coverage of local news and arts/culture north of Taylor Swift's audience. It's a little better if you read the print edition, but not a lot. So, in the pursuit of probably non-existent broader readership, they're driving off the old base.
But, as everyone has repeatedly noted, none of it can likely work without advertising. And the rich certainly aren't going to happily subsidize any news ecosystem that's doing its job.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:28 PM on February 1 [4 favorites]
But, as everyone has repeatedly noted, none of it can likely work without advertising. And the rich certainly aren't going to happily subsidize any news ecosystem that's doing its job.
posted by ryanshepard at 2:28 PM on February 1 [4 favorites]
My brain is shorting out just trying to get my head around the number of layoffs. How awful.
Meanwhile, Defector has a short and interesting piece on The Messenger, which I hadn’t even heard of until I saw this Defector thing on Mastodon a couple hours ago.
posted by Suedeltica at 2:29 PM on February 1 [6 favorites]
Meanwhile, Defector has a short and interesting piece on The Messenger, which I hadn’t even heard of until I saw this Defector thing on Mastodon a couple hours ago.
posted by Suedeltica at 2:29 PM on February 1 [6 favorites]
That having been said, advertising in print has definitely vaporized.
I used to write for the local urban free gay newspaper, doing mostly music reviews but some actual reporting too. But then in the mid-2000s, one of those early rounds of advertising being withdrawn out of print and into digital took place and over the course of about a year and a half killed the newspaper. It was sold in a last ditch bid to someone else who came from outside the community and knew nothing about running a paper or developing an advertising based business, so... yeah.
Anyway, this has been going on for 20 years. It's sucked all along the way. I feel lucky the small town I live in outside the big city still has its own newspaper. They're full of cranks, but they still exist!
posted by hippybear at 2:29 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
I used to write for the local urban free gay newspaper, doing mostly music reviews but some actual reporting too. But then in the mid-2000s, one of those early rounds of advertising being withdrawn out of print and into digital took place and over the course of about a year and a half killed the newspaper. It was sold in a last ditch bid to someone else who came from outside the community and knew nothing about running a paper or developing an advertising based business, so... yeah.
Anyway, this has been going on for 20 years. It's sucked all along the way. I feel lucky the small town I live in outside the big city still has its own newspaper. They're full of cranks, but they still exist!
posted by hippybear at 2:29 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
(Also I don't know how many NYT subscribers specifically find the reporting essential as opposed to recipes, games, Wirecutter, etc. Maybe I don't want to know.)
It ... doesn't matter? Bundling was always the way that papers funded hard news. In the dead tree days, it didn't matter if you were subscribing for the sports or the social pages (or if you just picked up the paper at the news stand). You increased the paid circulation of the paper all the same, which allowed the paper to sell ads, which covered the cost of distribution and kept the daily price low. Hard news, on its own, has never been a profit center.
The NYT is following the same model now: you may be paying primarily for Games or Cooking or Wirecutter, but you're getting the whole enchilada and you're still helping to fund the journalism. (Let's leave aside whether that journalism is worth funding right now as a derail.) In theory, the costs of distribution now that everything is digital have declined to where you can run without tons of display advertising--but you still need to build a big enough audience to cover the expenses of the reporting itself.
The bigger problem is that this kind of bundling doesn't seem to be working at the local level. The bundle that comprised what used to be called the afternoon paper (local coverage, with a bigger comics section and other things of local interest) has disappeared completely. The new non-profits that are forming to keep local journalism a going concern are focused primarily on local news and maybe local business—but you can't build an audience on that. You need local arts, you need local society pages, and you need local sports. Those are the things that make a publication a must read, and while you're readers are clicking on that, they might click on a report about the last city council meeting, too.
posted by thecaddy at 2:39 PM on February 1 [14 favorites]
It ... doesn't matter? Bundling was always the way that papers funded hard news. In the dead tree days, it didn't matter if you were subscribing for the sports or the social pages (or if you just picked up the paper at the news stand). You increased the paid circulation of the paper all the same, which allowed the paper to sell ads, which covered the cost of distribution and kept the daily price low. Hard news, on its own, has never been a profit center.
The NYT is following the same model now: you may be paying primarily for Games or Cooking or Wirecutter, but you're getting the whole enchilada and you're still helping to fund the journalism. (Let's leave aside whether that journalism is worth funding right now as a derail.) In theory, the costs of distribution now that everything is digital have declined to where you can run without tons of display advertising--but you still need to build a big enough audience to cover the expenses of the reporting itself.
The bigger problem is that this kind of bundling doesn't seem to be working at the local level. The bundle that comprised what used to be called the afternoon paper (local coverage, with a bigger comics section and other things of local interest) has disappeared completely. The new non-profits that are forming to keep local journalism a going concern are focused primarily on local news and maybe local business—but you can't build an audience on that. You need local arts, you need local society pages, and you need local sports. Those are the things that make a publication a must read, and while you're readers are clicking on that, they might click on a report about the last city council meeting, too.
posted by thecaddy at 2:39 PM on February 1 [14 favorites]
Craigslist was the real early local paper killer, though... Classified Ads used to be a giant dollar driver for print newspapers in the print era. I remember buying a newspaper strictly FOR the classifieds, whether it was looking for a couch or a job or an apartment.
posted by hippybear at 2:45 PM on February 1 [11 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 2:45 PM on February 1 [11 favorites]
Taylor Swift's audience is extremely large and diverse. If largely not male focused, so that seems like a really weird uncalled for attack
posted by Jacen at 2:53 PM on February 1 [9 favorites]
posted by Jacen at 2:53 PM on February 1 [9 favorites]
so that seems like a really weird uncalled for attack
To clarify: easily digestible, predictable, middle-of-the-road pop culture.
And there was plenty of that in the Post and NYT in the past as well, which I have no problem with - what does irritate me is, that as the arts/culture desks get cleared, the coverage of more interesting, challenging + pathbreaking stuff is winnowed down* and it all starts to resemble supermarket checkout line fodder.
* While simultaneously small local alternative papers evaporate or struggle to hang on, reducing the outlets for stuff that used to piss off or elude more staid dailys.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:02 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]
To clarify: easily digestible, predictable, middle-of-the-road pop culture.
And there was plenty of that in the Post and NYT in the past as well, which I have no problem with - what does irritate me is, that as the arts/culture desks get cleared, the coverage of more interesting, challenging + pathbreaking stuff is winnowed down* and it all starts to resemble supermarket checkout line fodder.
* While simultaneously small local alternative papers evaporate or struggle to hang on, reducing the outlets for stuff that used to piss off or elude more staid dailys.
posted by ryanshepard at 3:02 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]
"And the rich certainly aren't going to happily subsidize any news ecosystem that's doing its job."
Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013, and seems to be allowing it to be a good news source.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:04 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post in 2013, and seems to be allowing it to be a good news source.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:04 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
I'm sadly not surprised to see VC-owned media outlets laying people off, but this really struck me today: The WSJ is closing its DC news desk. Because DC is famously a one-horse town where not much happens, I guess?
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:30 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 4:30 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
Murdoch is deciding there's no news to report in DC anymore.
posted by hippybear at 4:35 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:35 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
Specifically, Jeff Bezos is reported to be losing $100 million annually on the Post.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 4:38 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 4:38 PM on February 1 [2 favorites]
Rounding error when you have his kind of money. He could find that behind his couch cushion and never have missed it to begin with.
posted by hippybear at 4:42 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 4:42 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
There's always an opportunity cost, and $100 million is a shitload of money, whoever's spending it. Spending $100 million doesn't affect his personal consumption or even make much of a dent in his wealth, but it's still $100 million that he can't (potentially) spend on other charitable activities.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 4:45 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 4:45 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]
I work in an archive with holdings of print newspapers. It's depressing to walk through the stacks and observe how the size of the monthly volumes or wrapped bundles of various titles get smaller and smaller the closer you get to the present. It's like they all have cancer.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:53 PM on February 1 [18 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:53 PM on February 1 [18 favorites]
But worse still, it sends a market signal to aspiring journalists that they should avoid the profession because there are no vacancies to fill.
Um, DUH? (says an ex-journalist)
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:03 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
Um, DUH? (says an ex-journalist)
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:03 PM on February 1 [5 favorites]
> Mr.Know-it-some: "it's still $100 million that he can't (potentially) spend on other charitable activities."
Or on uncharitable activies, for that matter.
posted by mhum at 5:57 PM on February 1 [9 favorites]
Or on uncharitable activies, for that matter.
posted by mhum at 5:57 PM on February 1 [9 favorites]
That Messenger shutdown story is such a funny and fully predictable shitshow. It was a ridiculously stupid idea - let's do *centrist* news! - by a rich clod and his private equity pals who blew absurd amounts of money to put together a massive team in hilariously expensive offices, while swearing up and down that the advertising market everyone else knew was feeble would support their oh-so-different approach. The troubles started right away, as did the brutal criticisms (i.e, it "talked a HUGE talk about revolutionizing journalism that would heal a divided nation, then started churning out viral dumpster juice literally the day it launched"). The clod also wasn't happy, I'm sure, that the staff was starting to talk about unionizing.
That it ended with the clod not even bothering to tell his workers he was shutting the site down, and then not allowing them even a day to download their work before booting them off the company system, is icing on the stupid, greasy cake. The only good news is that the workers have filed a class-action suit against the clod, claiming he violated NY's WARN Act requirement for large employers to give 60 days' notice. We can only hope they win.
The Defector article linked above has lots of gory details about the stupidity of the Messenger's spending spree. Astonishing anyone would behave like that anytime, but particularly jaw-dropping in 2023. Just unbelievable stupidity. Kind of a side story to the larger issues in the post's first link facing news outlets not run by complete fools, but jesus what a hilarious shitshow that was.
posted by mediareport at 7:27 PM on February 1 [4 favorites]
That it ended with the clod not even bothering to tell his workers he was shutting the site down, and then not allowing them even a day to download their work before booting them off the company system, is icing on the stupid, greasy cake. The only good news is that the workers have filed a class-action suit against the clod, claiming he violated NY's WARN Act requirement for large employers to give 60 days' notice. We can only hope they win.
The Defector article linked above has lots of gory details about the stupidity of the Messenger's spending spree. Astonishing anyone would behave like that anytime, but particularly jaw-dropping in 2023. Just unbelievable stupidity. Kind of a side story to the larger issues in the post's first link facing news outlets not run by complete fools, but jesus what a hilarious shitshow that was.
posted by mediareport at 7:27 PM on February 1 [4 favorites]
If journalism dies, so does Wikipedia. Most citations come from secondary news sources. :(
posted by ckoerner at 7:43 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
posted by ckoerner at 7:43 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
Metafilter: They're full of cranks, but they still exist!
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:56 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
posted by vorpal bunny at 8:56 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
I support local non- profit news outlets, including my local PBS& NPR stations. I Have also support the news revenue hub helping non-profit new orgs raise funds
The advertising and paper subscription model is dead. Warren buffet was buying small papers for a while thinking there would also be demand for local news. He was right that local news was valuable to communities, but he was wrong that there was any way to make money doing it.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:39 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
The advertising and paper subscription model is dead. Warren buffet was buying small papers for a while thinking there would also be demand for local news. He was right that local news was valuable to communities, but he was wrong that there was any way to make money doing it.
posted by CostcoCultist at 9:39 PM on February 1 [3 favorites]
middlebrow has less letters than Taylor Swift and comes with none of the baggage associated with using an extremely talented woman's name in a confusing and denigrating manner as shorthand for something else
posted by Jacen at 10:20 PM on February 1 [11 favorites]
posted by Jacen at 10:20 PM on February 1 [11 favorites]
Astonishing anyone would behave like that anytime, but particularly jaw-dropping in 2023. Just unbelievable stupidity.
In my town, there are quite a lot of restaurants, probably twice what the town can actually support. This has been the case for a couple decades, at least. There's a few permanent mainstays, and then there's the 60% where there's churn - restaurants last a year or two, then close. Yet every time, someone else comes along and it's convinced that they aren't going to be part of the churn. The most notable ones spend so much money on refurbing and redecorating the closed-down-restaurant they're moving into, thinking they won't go the same way. Which they inevitably do after a year or, closing to make room for the next fool.
Anyway, my point is that I'm not astonished at the behaviour, at pouring craptons if money into an obviously doomed enterprise, but it has made me wonder why it's so often restaurants, and so rarely newspapers...
posted by Dysk at 12:19 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
In my town, there are quite a lot of restaurants, probably twice what the town can actually support. This has been the case for a couple decades, at least. There's a few permanent mainstays, and then there's the 60% where there's churn - restaurants last a year or two, then close. Yet every time, someone else comes along and it's convinced that they aren't going to be part of the churn. The most notable ones spend so much money on refurbing and redecorating the closed-down-restaurant they're moving into, thinking they won't go the same way. Which they inevitably do after a year or, closing to make room for the next fool.
Anyway, my point is that I'm not astonished at the behaviour, at pouring craptons if money into an obviously doomed enterprise, but it has made me wonder why it's so often restaurants, and so rarely newspapers...
posted by Dysk at 12:19 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
made me wonder why it's so often restaurants, and so rarely newspapers...
Might be it's harder to launder money right in front of a bunch of journalists
posted by chavenet at 12:54 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
Might be it's harder to launder money right in front of a bunch of journalists
posted by chavenet at 12:54 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
Heh, the fronts aren't the failing ones, they stay open. The churn is a continual stream of people with a dream and more money than sense. The drug dealers need the service to be ongoing, and they certainly don't invest in the decor or food.
posted by Dysk at 1:00 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
posted by Dysk at 1:00 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
restaurants last a year or two, then close
How to make a small fortune with a restaurant: start with a large fortune.
posted by DreamerFi at 2:47 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
How to make a small fortune with a restaurant: start with a large fortune.
posted by DreamerFi at 2:47 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
I’ve often heard the same aphorism about journalism and publishing, DreamerFi.
posted by thecaddy at 4:40 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
posted by thecaddy at 4:40 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
Starting a restaurant is likely to lose you money, but you generally also get some new friends and/or lovers that way, if you are so inclined. Starting a newspaper doesn't have that motivator.
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 4:48 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 4:48 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
More thorough journalism comprised of knowledge rather than editorial opinion would be welcome.
posted by DJZouke at 5:06 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
posted by DJZouke at 5:06 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
A thought that just occurred to me: a lot of places have laws that require certain legal posts in newspapers: name changes, things like that.
When the newspapers are gone, will state legislatures move to change these laws, or will they go "oh well, too bad, guess you can't do that now"?
I mean, I know that Florida, Texas and Ohio will do that, but there's 47 more states.
posted by mephron at 6:17 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
When the newspapers are gone, will state legislatures move to change these laws, or will they go "oh well, too bad, guess you can't do that now"?
I mean, I know that Florida, Texas and Ohio will do that, but there's 47 more states.
posted by mephron at 6:17 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
require certain legal posts in newspapers
We have a specialty publication in the Twin Cities that handles legal and business-related public notices, as well as doing local business reporting. I'm guessing this is a part of their revenue stream, along with traditional subscriptions and the paywall on their website.
posted by gimonca at 6:31 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
We have a specialty publication in the Twin Cities that handles legal and business-related public notices, as well as doing local business reporting. I'm guessing this is a part of their revenue stream, along with traditional subscriptions and the paywall on their website.
posted by gimonca at 6:31 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]
As publisher of a small rural newspaper, I can tell you legal notices are a very important part of our revenue mix and we and other papers in our state are fighting hard to keep that legal requirement. Some legislators would like to put the notices on websites that will no doubt be cheaper but also will make sure that no one actually sees those notices. This has already happened in various states. The role of newspapers as the fourth estate may be somewhat overblown but I can tell you that even with a newspaper reporting on their errors and wrongdoing, local governments routinely violate open meeting and open record laws and we routinely need to make FOI requests and even spend money we don’t have on lawsuits to force agencies to do what the law requires them to do. I don’t see that this would improve without us around. If you have questions about how things are going feel free to ask. It’s rough out here but we’re still making a go of it!
posted by dellsolace at 7:05 AM on February 2 [20 favorites]
posted by dellsolace at 7:05 AM on February 2 [20 favorites]
Gimonca: We have a specialty publication in the Twin Cities that handles legal and business-related public notices
So do we in Pennsylvania. But for name changes, there's also a requirement for another newspaper as directed by the judges. (Meanwhile just across the river in New Jersey there's no longer a publication requirement for some name changes.)
posted by mephron at 7:11 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
So do we in Pennsylvania. But for name changes, there's also a requirement for another newspaper as directed by the judges. (Meanwhile just across the river in New Jersey there's no longer a publication requirement for some name changes.)
posted by mephron at 7:11 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
I really want to support a varied media landscape, but until someone can figure out how we can make sure that ads are safe for my computer, the ad blocker stays on. Also, can we turn down the annoyance level of cover the whole screen and have to hunt for a tiny X to close this? User hostile design may pay your bills, but not it we lose the whole industry because of it.
We do subscribe to a few local and national news outlets, although one of the biggest ones won't ever get my money due to their editorial page platforming people who are destroying the world.
posted by advicepig at 7:26 AM on February 2 [6 favorites]
We do subscribe to a few local and national news outlets, although one of the biggest ones won't ever get my money due to their editorial page platforming people who are destroying the world.
posted by advicepig at 7:26 AM on February 2 [6 favorites]
The new non-profits that are forming to keep local journalism a going concern are focused primarily on local news and maybe local business—but you can't build an audience on that. You need local arts, you need local society pages, and you need local sports.
Yeah, I've always thought this was a mistake. I think a lot of the local news nonprofits were modeled after ProPublica, which really is nothing but incredible, hard news investigative reporting, but on a local level it really helps to do some culture reporting even just to keep the brand in people's minds and build trust in the news source.
Plus, arts reporting is just itself important to the community! A city is more than just questionable spending at the Public Works Department.
posted by smelendez at 8:37 AM on February 2 [5 favorites]
Yeah, I've always thought this was a mistake. I think a lot of the local news nonprofits were modeled after ProPublica, which really is nothing but incredible, hard news investigative reporting, but on a local level it really helps to do some culture reporting even just to keep the brand in people's minds and build trust in the news source.
Plus, arts reporting is just itself important to the community! A city is more than just questionable spending at the Public Works Department.
posted by smelendez at 8:37 AM on February 2 [5 favorites]
Judy Woodruff has been covering this issue for her recent PBS Series, America At A Crossroads.
The loss of a small town paper in the Texas Panhandle (13 min video with full transcript).
Small-town papers in Virginia and Mississippi have a big impact (11 min video with full transcript).
The Western Virginia Recorder ran years of local investigative articles that led to the discontinuation of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline project.
Mississippi Today intercepted former NFL quarterback Brett Farve and won a Pulitzer for that work.
A short take (video w/transcript) on how to rebuild local journalism, from the president of the excellent Rebuild Local News coalition.
posted by JDC8 at 9:35 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
The loss of a small town paper in the Texas Panhandle (13 min video with full transcript).
Small-town papers in Virginia and Mississippi have a big impact (11 min video with full transcript).
The Western Virginia Recorder ran years of local investigative articles that led to the discontinuation of the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline project.
Mississippi Today intercepted former NFL quarterback Brett Farve and won a Pulitzer for that work.
A short take (video w/transcript) on how to rebuild local journalism, from the president of the excellent Rebuild Local News coalition.
posted by JDC8 at 9:35 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]
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It is true that advertisers think this. But most advertisers are wrong. Digital advertising is incredibly full of fraud. I'll link to just one of Bob Hoffman's essays on the subject.
That having been said, advertising in print has definitely vaporized. Zillow took the real estate ads, Craiglist took most of the other classified ads (and then Facebook). And on top of that, younger people aren't reading print as much anymore. I wish I was the genius that could figure out a new business model, but if Bezos couldn't do it for the Post...
posted by rednikki at 2:14 PM on February 1 [8 favorites]