Union Leader Political News Commits Suicide

And a funny aside: (4.00 / 1)

Just as NHGOPers are getting more and more comfortable online, they now have to run out and buy a dead tree version of DiStaso's weekly GOP tip sheet.  

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 05:23:58 AM CDT

Give it six months (0.00 / 0)

This sort of thing only works if you have (a) a unique brand, and/or (b) content that purports to make its readers money.

Bottom line:  The Union Leader is no Wall Street Journal.  They'll get a de minimis number of subscribers, and DiStaso will get them to drop this policy early next year.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 05:55:00 AM CDT

It's a third path (4.00 / 1)

The NYT tried putting columnists behind a paywall. (They gave up.)

The WSJ kept editorial content free on the web and puts news behind a paywall. (That "worked", but because their content is largely a business expense rather than "news".)

The UL is keeping the opinion coverage off the web entirely, not just using a paywall. In addition to reducing readership it makes them less likely to be quoted: rretyping rather than cut-and-paste will be needed.

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by: elwood @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 05:59:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oops (0.00 / 0)

Misread this -- I thought you had to SUBSCRIBE to the political content.  Am stunned that they removed it altogether.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 06:02:50 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The column is on the site (4.00 / 2)

You just have to subscribe to the Electronic Edition to view it.  They offer a one time free sample, and then subscription rates kick in.  

http://nhunionleader.newsstand...

What's interesting is that there doesn't seem to be a discount for current print subscribers.  

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by: meaginnh @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 10:09:05 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

They've changed the banner now - (0.00 / 0)

to say "in our print and full online editions".

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by: elwood @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 18:11:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks. (0.00 / 0)

Updating the post now.

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by: Dean Barker @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 18:25:54 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I don't have any answers for them. (0.00 / 0)

Their numbers presumably show that the web ad revenue they get because you and I sometimes read the paper online doesn't cover costs.

One of the UL's unique advantages over its competitors is statewide distribution of its print edition - I can't buy a Monitor or Telegraph in Keene. So, trying to play on the print edition field must have a surface appeal.

I agree with you, that this is VERY unlikely to 'work'. It won't drive many new paper sales. But it's easy to see the problems, not easy to find the solution.

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by: elwood @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 05:55:56 AM CDT

I seriously doubt that the web revenue comes close to covering it (0.00 / 0)

The web revenue from the ads probably adds very little to the paper's bottom line.  The paper gets paid when people click on the ads, but the sad fact is that hardly anyone does so. My web site http://www.TimothyHorrigan.com  gets about 1 click per 500 visits (which means about 1 per 500 visitors.

If you are the NY Times or DailyKos, you can make money off the pay per click ads because that 1 per 500 translates to several hundred clicks a hour.  For me, that translates to about 1 a day.  I suspect the UnionLeader political pages' traffic numbers are closer to mine than to Kos's.

However, political ads pay pretty well when someone does click on them--- especially Republican campaign ads :-)  

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 16:18:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So I clicked an ad on your site, because why not, (0.00 / 0)

And it redirected me to a page asking me to register for an account at the Wall Street Journal's website.  Coincidence? You be the judge (hint: it is a coincidence).

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 22:01:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

There may be an experiment to watch ...... (4.00 / 1)

A start-up newspaper in Berlin, Germany is set to begin publishing in November. From the Der Spiegel international edition:

Niiu is a daily newspaper that mixes news pages and information of the reader's choice from 17 different German and international newspapers and several Web sites. (It will) allow readers to customize their own 24-page daily newspaper online from German newspapers including tabloid Bild, the Berlin dailies Berliner Morgenpost and Der Tagesspiegel as well as financial paper Handelsblatt and others.

And here's where it gets interesting:

The New York Times and the Washington Times have also signed on. Readers can also choose to include content from 500 Web sites that span topics such as sports, politics, music and art. Customers who sign onto the website before 2 p.m. can build their own newspaper -- although they are limited to choosing specific pages and sections and cannot select individual stories. The customized paper is then printed and delivered the next day.

Good luck to them; hope it succeeds.  

 "We should pay attention to that man behind the curtain."

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by: Ed Tracey @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 17:22:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well actually, I am going to run out and buy dead tree UL's to read Distaso and Fahey. (4.00 / 2)

But then I like reading their columns and love reading newspapers. I also think that the UL has some very good non political reporters who have a better historical sense of NH than say the very talented and young reporters at the Monitor. (which has been a post grad training ground for many wonderfully talented national reporters over the years ). And while the editorials arent my cup of tea politically, I think Drew Cline is very smart and presents his viewpoints well even when he makes me groan.(Previous UL editors were more like badly drawn cartoons).

We do however need a new model created to meld the best of old and new journalism-- somehow we need to preserve the professional journalist and the ability to both consistently cover the mundane-- city council meetings--- and dig deeply and on an ongoing basis into the complex-- Watergate, Pentagon Papers.

There are some interesting models of publicly financed journalism-- think Pro Publica-- but so far not nearly enough to meet the need to hold the powerful accountable.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 06:12:35 AM CDT

you have time to stop and shop (0.00 / 0)

many will drop it like a hot rock...I bet circulation continues flat or declines

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 07:08:04 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Concord Monitor: the Class AA affiliate of the Boston Globe (0.00 / 0)

Paul actually touches on a valid issue. As much as people here gripe about DiStaso (and the GOPers all think he's Buckley's mouthpiece), the guy has an encyclopedic knowledge of NH political history. The Monitor churns through 24 year old Columbia/Iowa/Syracuse journo grads at a frantic pace, so there's nobody with a long-term perspective.

And FWIW, I also like Drew Cline. He's a good writer and a very approachable and open-minded guy.  

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand. -Harry Truman

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by: Peter Sullivan @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 10:29:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Siily me (0.00 / 0)

I was actually thinking as I linked to Fahey's article on the HB648 vote, how good it was for the UL to get some eyes onto their website.

Too bad. I like the reporting there, and Fahey's columns (and reporting) are good.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 06:31:19 AM CDT

It's almost as if "failure by design" were a virus. n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: hannah @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 07:00:33 AM CDT

I love real newspapers (4.00 / 5)

I love the layouts, the context, even the ads.

It takes less time to read a real newspaper than read it on line, and you often miss important articles. I love scanning the death notices in the New York Times every morning (it's an occupational hazard-I started doing it as an intern).

Journalism unfortunately is a dying profession. We need journalists to be one of the watchdogs and guardians of our society. Where would our democracy be without Woodward and Bernstein, the Pentagon Papers, and local investigative journalists prying into things that our governments do not want us to find?

I get three newspapers delivered in the morning - the UL, Telegraph, and NY Times. I wish I had the time to read the Monitor and Globe.

[Full disclosure-my brother in law is a pressman for the Times; the New England edition is printed in Billerica.]

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 08:03:25 AM CDT

Not to mention (4.00 / 1)

real newspapers have crossword puzzles and cryptograms.  I love those!  The Concord Monitor has TWO crossword puzzles every day and, once a week, the Insider has a cryptogram.  I usually finish both crosswords, the word scramble and (on Tuesdays) the cryptogram before I get home from work.  In ink, of course...  I also love to read the food pages.  12 years ago, I got a recipe for sweet potato souffle from the Concord Monitor food section and everybody who's tasted it loves it.  Somehow all of that wouldn't be the same online.  I mean, my screen would get all messy from the ink n stuff.

PS You can use the Sunday funnies for gift wrapping paper.

Justica para todos.  Justice for all.  Pass it on.

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by: Beth Campbell @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 17:58:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm waiting for a piece of the souffle! (0.00 / 0)

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 18:47:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Doom (0.00 / 0)

Just varying levels of it. Some houses in Pompeii were further from the volcano than others.

http://www.businessinsider.com...

"You can bet that the last company that made buggy carts made the best damn buggy carts around. But they had to go."
-- Larry the Liquidator in Other People's Money by Jerry Sterner

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 09:17:17 AM CDT

the buggy whip business (4.00 / 2)

The classic textbook example of an obsolete industry is buggy whips.  A few years ago, a major business publication actually tracked down America's leading manufacturer of buggy whips, and discovered that the buggy whip industry was doing very well.  The number of horses and buggys was greater than it had been in decades, and the demand for high-end high-quality whips was very strong.

I wonder if all the buggy whips were being used on horses....

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 16:29:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Like turntables (4.00 / 1)

The trouble is ownership by publicly traded firms. Wall Street likes future earnings.

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 16:35:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

It's natural evolution - the buggy whip industry was replaced by (4.00 / 2)

the buggy software industry.

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by: elwood @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 18:46:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Grey shoots (0.00 / 0)

The point about doom said, allegedly the regional papers -- The Quincy Patriot Ledger, The Worcester Telegram, maybe The Monitor -- are doing well. So, in the tumultuous history of media, we may just be at a point where the successors to the big players are less less obvious.

They may also not want to be forced to grow, because there may be a sweet spot of profitability.

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by: JimC @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 09:26:57 AM CDT

Pindell must be on Cloud 9 (4.00 / 2)

Maybe his online insight will pick up enough ad revenue to stay FREE?

www.KusterforCongress.com  

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Thu Oct 29, 2009 at 11:58:31 AM CDT

Dear Mr. Fantasy (0.00 / 0)

Today's Granite Status brought to you by Douglas and Garvey

http://www.unionleader.com/art...

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 09:25:30 AM CST