Another newspaper being shut down in Colorado

12 thoughts on “Another newspaper being shut down in Colorado”

1. I do think it’s merely a matter of time for virtually all newspapers, but it’s still a sad thing. Good luck to you and your co-workers.

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   1. The market for S&GR is likely one of the top models to transition to electronic.

      Instead of focusing your enhanced rage at wars you can’t win, take the student angle and move on without CU.

      Good luck and advise us on your plans … maybe you could hook up with Pols here to cut back office costs.

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2. They serve a critical function in society like charities, but we’re assuming that they should turn a tidy profit like a normal business. It’s obvious the market is going away, but the need still exists. We can’t replace newspapers with blogs, and sites like the Colorado Independent don’t have the resources necessary to replace a daily paper.

   It is a really bad thing that there will be no accountability on CU regents other than the conservative Scripps-owned Daily Camera and Singleton’s Denver Post.

   What if they could operate in the same realm as non-profit organizations, serving the public good, but without having to worry about selling a product–something nobody seems to want to buy anymore–or charging for a site that people are accustomed to viewing for free.

   If they were non-profits, they could gradually get rid of paper entirely, still have a free website, and still pay a staff–admittedly a trimmed down staff–which would ensure that somebody is going to city council meetings and keeping an eye on the sausage-making.

   Without a free press–a paid press, mind you–made up of qualified, trained journalists, we are going to be paying the costs for years and years.

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   2. We were as close to the nonprofit model as a newspaper could get – supported by the faculty and staff although paid for by general fund. We had a small percentage (less than 20 percent) covered by advertising, which unfortunately took a tumble in the current economy. But we were never dependent on advertising to begin with.

      We thought long and hard about going online, but in the end since we serve all CU employees, first and foremost, we had to remember the employees who don’t have access to computers (it’s quite a few, actually); they tend to be the lowest paid and we couldn’t do that to them.

      We had been talking about alternative funding models for several weeks, but the president’s office said even if we found the money, they wouldn’t reconsider the decision. That tells me more about why they’re getting rid of us than anything.

      And by the way, the story in the Denver Post is utter crap. The reporter never talked to anyone with the editorial board, just to the University mouthpiece. Talk about one-sided journalism!

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      1. “all the news that’s fit to print…electronically”

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   3. The economics for newspapers is not that they make little to no profit, it’s that they lose money. So non-profit is not a solution.

      My worry is that 3 years from now we’ll be saying goodbye to the Post and a year or two after that, the Daily Camera.

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3. And there may be a violation of federal rules regarding use of federal stimulus dollars – but I’ll save that for another day.

   These folks might be spending more time in court (what with the Ward Churchill debacle and all) than recidivist criminals.

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4. I disagree that print newspapers are all destined to become extinct.

   I have worked many years as a writer and back end business coordinator for several print publications; some small niche monthly print publications, a few national glossy magazines, and recently was hired on to a well known weekly newspaper here in the Denver metro area as a writer.  So I believe I have some authority to speak on this subject:

   New and creative ad sales strategies NEED to be implemented …I had a recent experience in trying to work with a well known local print shop where I wanted to have 1500 copies of a 16 page miniature pamphlet produced each month…the print shop said succinctly that the project was too small for them…this was two months ago.

   I heard from a longtime friend who works at that same print shop that he was surprised they turned down the job when business was slow and that a staffer was recently laid off. He couldn’t believe his sales staff turned down the project when in these challenging times any business was business. He went on to remark that small clients of today can turn into the large clients of tomorrow…he was right.

   I took my business elsewhere.

   —-

   I believe print publications that do not adjust their ad rates with current economic realties are being foolish. Business owners are bringing in less revenue and therefore less willing to spend money on print advertising…businesses that do not change with the times are doomed to extinction (please reference Woolworth,s. Lord & Taylor, Mervyns, etc).

   My solution is simple, put advertising rates on sale…give people more for their money. Offer advertising for less than what was being charged last year when times were good…be flexible, adjust with the times, sell, sell, sell…keep cash flow going and start getting new ad sales

   To take it a step further: offer ad customers ideas free assistance in ad design…these days with so many people knowing basic Photoshop why can’t sales reps help teach their customers how to design their own ads? Provide value to customers…make customers feel good about spending their money…

   …and start training writers to identify sales leads and become a partner in finding ways to generate revenue for the publications. Writers are some of the most well connected people in our society…yet they are consistently overlooked at print publications as sales lead generators…I believe this mindset needs to change.

   …or print publications can simply keep doing what they’re already doing and go the way of the dinosaur

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   1. The part I know really well is the trade press in the high tech world from the purchasing side. How small an impact does the trade press have?

      We got a half page review in eWeek that was very positive. And a review is much more powerful than an ad. So what did we see from it? Nada. Absolutely nothing. No increase in leads coming in. Not a single lead from the article. And we were asking people.

      There is some advertising that still works in print. But it has dropped a lot (half the income to a paper used to be classified ads). And it will continue to drop.

      If Jake Jabs switches to the web, the Post will have to shut down. That’s not a sustainable business model.

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5. That’s reall shocking.i feel that this is just the way that people can try to raise their voice against the violations of rights
   
   Eliza
   
   real estate

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