My hometown newspaper just went digital-only.
The Mail Tribune is a victim of giant forces affecting community newspapers everywhere. |
| Empty newspaper slot |
The Mail Tribune had been hollowing out for years, with less local news and more filler from the wire services. The publisher said that by cutting printing and distributions costs, he would be hire back some reporters. I am still a subscriber. I am hopeful. Trust but verify.
Until recently ads in daily newspapers were a primary way to buy and sell things. Classified ads were the golden goose. There were "Help Wanted" ads, real estate ads, car dealership ads. Grocers had their weekly ad specials. There were ads for items sold directly by individuals. Then along came Craigslist. Craigslist was free, easily searchable, unconstrained for length, and it had photos of what was for sale. It was better. The internet broke the classified ad monopoly. Institutions could go direct to the public. Here's this week's ad from a local grocer.
The internet also broke the newspaper monopoly on news delivered in written form. Americans changed, me among them. We got accustomed to looking at a screen.
Nationally, there is a movement away from advertising-based journalism toward direct payment for content. I was an accidental participant in Mail Tribune's awkward effort to get subscribers to pay more for content. Back in 2018 they used a stealth version of the teaser-rate system. By chance I compared my annual subscription cost to that of a friend. We each got a "thank you for being a loyal subscriber" greeting. I paid $100 more for the same annual subscription than he did. I had been a subscriber for more years than he had. I sat down with four friends over lunch and learned that one of us had paid $119 for the year; another paid $240, a third paid $374, a fourth paid $442--all for the same annual subscription. None of us--nor any of the other two-dozen people I spoke with--had any idea that the Tribune appeared to quietly bump up subscriber rates on different subscribers, so long as they didn't notice and complain. I considered this sneaky and abusive.
I looked at it from the perspective of my former role as a Financial Advisor. It would have been wrong--shameful--for me to have charged clients who most trusted me a higher fee than I charged other clients. It would be taking advantage of their loyalty, not honoring it. None of the several dozen people I spoke to about their subscriptions realized everyone paid a different rate, depending on how many times the Tribune had quietly bumped up their rate.
I wrote about it in this blog, and caught holy hell from the Tribune for tattling on them by publishing copies of the variously-priced invoices. This is but one incident of many where the newspaper slowly lost its credibility. The newspaper looked the same, but it wasn't the same. People quit reading it, telling me it "just wasn't worth it anymore."
So now the Mail Tribune is digital-only. Its subscription rate is now $1.99/week or about $104/year. Inexpensive. It is a bargain if they, in fact, add back reporters. Possibly, with a restoration of people in the newsroom, it will fulfill the role of a community newspaper. For comparison, a digital subscription to The New York Times, the first year is only $40, but they clearly announce that for subsequent years it will cost about $220/year. The Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, charges $10/month for its digital paper--$120/year--after a brief teaser rate. The digital Oregonian newspaper offers Oregon news, but it is no substitute for a Southern Oregon newspaper. We are the outer boondocks to them.
I hope people subscribe--or resubscribe--to the Mail Tribune. A newspaper is glue that holds a community together. Gertrude Stein wrote:
what was the use of my having come from Oakland it was not natural to have come from there. . . there is no there there.
Newspapers help shape the there of a community.
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9 comments:
My wife doesn't read the digital "paper" and I don't like to. I can't imagine people flocking back to it now that it's only available on-line. Most of them abandoned it out of preference for the disinformation and conspiracy theories available for free on social media.
What makes a paper worth paying for is its investigative journalism, so maintaining my subscription will depend on hiring more journalists. I do like to know, for instance, if someone running for office is threatening the county clerk, or using "water on the brain" as an alibi for fraud (I am not making this up).
Why would one-half of the population (conservatives) subscribe to a progressive, biased newspaper that insults them, despises them, and censors them? WHY?
The Mail Tribune doesn't even attempt to be impartial. They are openly hostile to conservatives. The MT is also the mouthpiece of the Chamber good old boys.
I'm not paying for woke, Marxist, racist, biased propaganda from the MT.
The Mail Tribune needs to terminate Gary Nelson and Damian Mann in order to gain any credibility. Otherwise, the MT deserves to die a quick death.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
I have found the writing in the Mail Tribune to be sub standard. There are many very good writers and thinkers in this valley. Why are they not stringers for the MT? I have found the reporting to be sub standard. I remember an elementary school lesson about journalism - who, what, when, where, why and how. The Mail Tribune consistently fails in this regard. An article about a fire or accident, for example, should be accompanied by a map! An article about a political candidate or elected official should include who their political donors are. Give me something worth paying for and I will.
I know that many people are reluctant to switch from reading paper newspapers to reading them online, but there are advantages to digital news once you make the switch:
* no ink on your fingers
* no cracked skin due to wood fiber allergy (my wife and I both have this)
* nothing to recycle
* ability to search articles for particular keywords
* ability to email articles to friends
* ability to still get the news once paper goes away
We are almost quarter of the way through the 21st Century. It’s time to get with the program. iPads rock.
When I was an Oregon resident, living in rural Washington County I enjoyed 20+ years of driveway delivery of the Oregonian, WSJ, and NY Times. Of course, I recall those thick papers that were almost on my doorstep before 6am.
I also enjoyed digital delivery and replica editions of the printed newspapers in my apps and email each day, as well as the abbreviated stories only from their websites. Each morning also got an email summary of the top news of the day. I traveled a lot, so it was great to stay up to date
Once I moved to Florida, doorstep delivery stopped, as it wasn't offered to my area of new homes in central Florida. Eventually was offered for WSJ and NYTimes, but of course, not for the Oregonian...😉 I did subscribe to Pamplin Media digital papers as they continued with the various suburban papers in the Portland Metro area.
Initially, I continued with digital delivery of both the replica editions for all 4, and additionally got subs to the Orlando Sentinel, Leesburg Commercial, and the Washington Post.
Turns out that replica edition of the Oregonian was the most expensive at $35/mo. I finally stopped it a few weeks ago. It was more expensive than any of the other papers, and the content was rather bare.
You may ask why I continue to subscribe?
Someone has to pay for the news, and with advertising declining or shifting to other news sources, someone still has to pay for the news. Yes, subscribers are that last resort. I also like reading different viewpoints. More people should!
I don't see the situation getting any better. Just hoping that the WSJ, NY Times, and Washington Post continue.
Check out The Oregonian e-edition and OregonLive. You will find ad revenue etc has come back to these issues. You will find too, that stores are using digital coupons that you can "clip" to the wallet on your phone. The front page is locally focused. Very little national or international news is to be found. The "balance" can be found on the Opinion Page with conservative columnists and mainstream liberal columnists.
The evolution from print e-edition is not fully completed as there are four print editions weekly. The printing presses from The Oregonian were never removed, instead they became a profit center where other papers could be printed as will as ad mailers, etc. Whether Medford is big enough to embrace this business model is a maybe, if there's enough interest, The Medford Mail Tribune can lead the way towards a Southern Oregon print version of their e-paper.
It doesn't matter what century it is. In spite of having all the latest gadgets, some of us prefer the printed word. That's why real books won't be going out of style anytime soon.
I understand that some people prefer their reading material printed on paper. As long as there is a market for this, businesses will figure out how to serve it.
There are now commercial printers that can produce an entire paperback book including a cover printed in color. The future of the bookstore may be a store equipped with one of these printers and an Internet connection. There would never have to be more than one copy of a book “in stock.“ Want to buy a copy of it? Order it at the checkout and wait five minutes for it to drop into the hopper.
A paper that's a mouthpieces for the Chamber yet hostile to conservatives? Talk about a unicorn.
The death of thr MT is due to the business of journalism. Journalism used to be a community service. Now, it's run for the benefit of corporate interests (as Curt mentioned in being a "chamber mouthpiece."
If people don't want their stupidity publicized don't do stupid things in public. The republicans need to learn that.
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