That's Lovely

Sunday's Republic featured a front page story by Editor and Vice President Randy Lovely explaining the Republic's recent format changes.  He wrote a similar column on September 29th.

For more than a year and with feedback from more than 10,000 of you, The Arizona Republic has worked to identify changes and additions to the newspaper that would make it easier to read and more helpful and informative.

That explanation is, of course, pure bunk.  Readers understand that advertising rates are down, circulation is down and costs are up so the Republic is cutting costs any way it can.

However, the really clever--and completely disingenuous--part of Lovely's explanation is not his transparently false claim that the changes are part of an effort to make the paper easier to read.  The wider margins, new obituaries and different font--and Lovely's explanation of them--are actually a clever slight of hand that makes it more difficult for the reader to notice the real change.

Here's how Editor and Publisher covered the plan when Gannett first unveiled it.

Gannett Plans ‘Dramatic’ Newspaper Size Reductions

After completing a two-year conversion of its 85 U.S. newspapers from 52-inch web size to 48-inch, Gannett is considering a possible second size cut to 44-inch web. The “dramatic change” would make each page size 11 inches by 22 inches, meaning the width would be half the length.

That's right.  For all Lovely's talk about new fonts and readability, the changes (and his explanation) are actually an elaborate distraction that allows the Republic to roll out the much narrower format in a way that's least likely to be noticed. 

It's like getting a bold new hair style to hide nose job.   "Gosh, you look great, there's something different about you."  "Thank you, I must confess that I dyed my hair..it's eggplant, what do you think?"

I think it's a great move. 

Many of you know that while I enjoy amateur punditry, I'm an accountant by training.  Republic management is exactly right.  The newspaper industry has passed the "mature" phase and is about a decade into the "decline" phase of the Product Life Cycle. 

Newspaper owners and managers originally thought that they would only have to cut costs and maintain traditional sources of profitability until revenue from the websites began to offset lost print revenue. 

I was one of the first ones to understand that the web based model wasn't a viable alternative.  Back when Goldman Sachs was painting a rosy picture of how the web was going to save the newspaper industry, I was pointing out that the numbers simply didn't add up.

With the advantage of hindsight, it's clear that management and Wall Street were wrong.  The websites can't even generate a substantial fraction of the revenue required to sustain the Republic's existing cost structure. The current business model is unsustainable and the owners will manage the revenue decline exactly the same way that I would manage it--by cutting costs and maximizing profits until the last guy left turns out the lights. 

The sad part is that some reporters and most journalism students think of the newspaper industry as some sort of higher calling.   It's the fourth estate, a key institution in the preservation of democracy,  existing to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. 

No it's not.  It's a business.  The revenue generated by the news isn't a byproduct of a higher calling--the revenue is the calling.  The news is simply a vehicle to sell the ads.  That's why O.J. and Britney are covered more than Milton Friedman and Richard Posner.   O.J. and Britney sell papers. 

That's why I think it's so great that Randy Lovely didn't disclose that the real reason for the format change was to implement the narrower paper.  I think it's great that he even tried to claim that the changes are to make the paper more "helpful" and "readable". 

Lovely's ruse effectively demonstrates that the Republic isn't some institution here for the good of mankind.  It's a corporation, here to make a profit and if making a profit means deceiving its customers then so be it.  After all, who is going to cover the Republic's antics?  The Tribune?  Give me a break. 

So I welcome the change.  Not only was it inevitable, but it also conformed to my theory of the overall decline of the industry and reinforced my view that the paper is like any other corporation. 

Oh, by the way, the Republic's new format is only 11 inches wide--exactly as wide as a paper towel.  Somehow I find that to be the most poetic part of all.

Comments

[john]

There's another story there. I noticed the major portion of the front page was dedicated to their ongoing jihad against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, just in time for the election. Naturally, it played the race card.

Next to it? An article about how campaigns are using people's emotions to manipulate the outcome of elections.

Lovely, indeed.

[Exurban Jon]

Next change? Delivering the newspaper in 3.75" rolls, perforated for your convenience. At least then it will be appropriate for one room in the house.

[Bill]

Greg's statement that "the revenue is the calling" of newspapers reminded me of how John Steinbeck described banks in The Grapes of Wrath:

"..those creatures don't breathe air, don't eat side-meat. They breathe profits; they eat the interest on money. If they don't get it, they die the way you die without air, without side-meat. It is a sad thing, but it is so. It is just so.

...The bank... has to have profits all the time. It can't wait. It'll die. ... When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can't stay one size."

[Dewey]

Profit is a virtuous motive, and I don't begrudge the newspapers a penny they ever made. But they lost my own pennies a long time ago.

I will miss the local news, which is the only niche I think they are still uniquely positioned to fill, and seem to be intentionally ignoring.

They appear to have made a conscious decision to short-change local news (one brief reported story every two or three days, plus a canned press release or two) and hang onto the wire services, editorials, comics, sports, stupid blogs, celebrity adulation, etc. I guess there are still a few people who buy the paper for those things, but I wonder how old that demographic is.

And they also apparently decided to burn the last remaining bridges with their mainstream readership while chasing after the left wing political spectrum with every breath they had left. Strange. Especially in this market.

It will be interesting to see how the local news vacuum gets filled. For better or worse, it looks like blogs and Youtube are the future of local reporting. There may be an opening there for talented techhies who figure out how to aggregate local content on the web in a logical way.