Thursday, October 10, 2024
 
This is National newspaper week; an occasion to look at the challenges the news business faces. 
This guest post is from Peter Carter.

On page 75 of Journalism for The Public Good, The Michener Awards at 50, author Kim S. Kierans writes me — yes, me — into the men’s room of the governor general’s residence in Ottawa, in conversation with the famous Canadian journalist/author/ editor and one-time master of Massey College, John Fraser. 

He and I were at Government House for the presentation of the Michener Awards; he as an important dignitary (or something) and me as a finalist. I was editor of the Manitoulin Expositor weekly newspaper and in the GG john, John F. asked if I had my acceptance speech ready. I was like “yah, right.”  

 
As if they were going to hand Canada’s most prestigious journalism award to a weekly newspaper nobody’d ever heard of, when the other finalists included the likes of the Globe and Mail and Edmonton Journal.

Turns out I should have had that speech ready. Cuz we won! 

First time ever for a weekly paper!  Was one of the best journalisticky things that ever happened to me. But why — aside from my tireless campaign to seek attention — am I telling you this now?

Because it’s National Newspaper Week and you must read Kierans’ new book.  

 
Kierans’ a lively writer — you don’t get to where she is without flair — and the book’ll stoke your love of journalism, and newspapers, and all the great work you do. 

This reminded me of the time I read Cherie Dimaline's novel The Marrow Thieves. I picked up The Marrow Thieves because I knew and seriously like and admire Cherie, who I worked with at Chatelaine, even though (or maybe especially because) one afternoon our boss Rona Maynard compared my and Cherie's management style to that of the Keystone Kops. I took it as a compliment.

Anyway, I started The Marrow Thieves because Cherie was the author but finished it because the story was so gripping. (The Marrow Thieves then went on to become a best-selling award winner. Feels great when that happens.) I started  Journalism for the Public Good because my name was in it then finished the book because it was so damn interesting and easy to read.   

JFTPG was launched at a Massey College event Sept. 26, and the event was like an interactive Ted talk on the seminal role that a robust fourth estate plays in democracy. 

You’re busy. I’m not going into details. Get the book and read it. 

But not before you read this:  At the launch, the panel and visitors loudly bemoaned the drying up of traditional revenues for newspapers and other media, but Kierans eclipsed the dour clichés with what some might consider surprising optimism. 

Enterprising reporters and publishers and content producers, fired up with what the first master of Massey College Robertson Davies described as “altruistic nosiness,” are finding new financial models to finance their work. Co-operative news organizations, lean online operations like the Narwhal (which shared the 2023 Michener with the Toronto Star) and outfits Kierans described as “hyper-local initiatives,” are appearing with increasing frequency. 

“These stories will continue to be told but the platforms will be different,” she said, adding, “It’s like nature. Journalists keep popping up.” 

More evidence of the same? In the audience Thursday was a friend of Kierans and the founder and CEO of a citizen-journalism startup called CITIZN, Murray Simser.   Simser, who speaks fluent Silicone Valley, describes CITIZN as “UBER for journalism.” After the book launch, I asked Simser what the heck he was on about.

Here’s him on CITIZN: “Look, the idea of UBER for journalism is as broad as the concept itself. 

“The possible combinations are limitless, but it means that every journalist now has a global potential audience rather than a local audience in their field of expertise. Say you are an expert in Northern Ontario [nice, Murray, thanks]; loads of people around the world would want to call on you, likely daily.”

I’m liking the sound of this. Guaranteed you’ll be hearing more about CITIZN. This all sort of reminds me of when I was working at the Financial Post, when reporter John Greenwood tried to sell us a on story about something called “The Internet.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. Not sure I do, yet! But I am looking forward to the future of the news business. Never mind what the loudmouths are saying about the future of news. The smart mouths are bullish.

About the Author: Peter Carter

 

Toronto writer/ editor/ one-time magazine owner and publisher---35 years experience in Canadian magazines; currently Analysis Editor at Law360 Canada; an online daily news source for Canadian lawyers; Winner of Best Business Blog at COPAs 2014 for Pete's Blog&Grille; National Magazine Awards finalist; accordion player and motorbike enthusiast.

 
 
Wednesday, October 09, 2024
 
This is National newspaper week; an occasion to look at the challenges the news business faces.


Pepper Parr, Publisher of the Burlington Gazette is writing a series of articles on the state of the industry. Pepper has been a judge of the COPAs and this series is also on the site at this link. This is the second of a series on the changes taking place in print media and the challenge keeping the public informed.

 

In the period leading up to 2000 media found itself facing realty difficult times. When Y2k (remember that event) was upon us no one really knew what was going to happen when we moved into the new millennium.

 

 Newspapers were selling their printing presses and contracting the work out.

 

Media covered the event like a wet blanket – there were those that said it wasn’t really a problem while others suggested the machines that drive production would come to an immediate halt.

 

Media did a lot of reporting – but they didn’t pause to ask: what does this mean to us as an industry?

 

I don’t recall reading about any industry wide workshops; I don’t recall seeing anything in the way of op-ed pieces on what the industry needed to do in the way of changes.

 

Media covered disruption – without realizing that they were in line for some major disruption to their industry and they weren’t prepared.

 

The industry no longer had the aura of Watergate or the Pentagon Papers that made reporters heros – at that time thousands flooded into the industry wanting to be reporters. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were the subject of close to fawning news stories, television specials and movies.

 

By the late 1980s journalism schools were being closed.  The number of students that graduated got smaller and smaller.

 

The age of the men and woman in the news rooms was made up of people in their late 40’s and 50’s  – there was no new blood coming into the industry.  And there were few MBAs on staff of the large newspapers.

 

Those that were public corporations had financial analysts looking at profits which were decent at the time – what those analysts didn’t see was that the boat was moving quickly toward a Niagara size waterfall.

 

When the disruption of the revenue sources began media didn’t have a Plan B – they watched is losses began to climb and subscriptions slowly slipped away.

 

 

 The data relates to American newspaper – the number will not be much different for Canada.


 
By Pepper Parr
As Publisher of the Burlington Gazette I am driven by this statement. “Informed people can make informed decisions.” Media is the only sector that can deliver the information. The politicians don’t – they issue statements that project the story they want to tell. I have been a journalist from the day my first picture and story appeared on the front page of the Montreal Gazette. I have published books, magazines and newspapers. I was the founding editor of the Toronto Ward 9 News in about 1972. The Burlington Gazette started publishing as an on-line newspaper in 2010.

This story was originally posted in the Burlington Gazette on October 8, 2024 at this link
 

 

Tuesday, October 08, 2024
 
This is National newspaper week; an occasion to look at the challenges the news business faces.

Pepper Parr, Publisher of the Burlington Gazette is writing a series of articles on the state of the industry. Pepper has been a judge of the COPAs and this series is also on the site at this link

That daily newspaper that was read in most households in the evening or the paper that was delivered in the morning before Dad left for work are things of the past.
 
 Once the largest newspaper in western GTA – the Spectator struggles to stay alive.

We no longer have daily newspapers, or weekly newspaper that tell us what is going on in our communities, provinces, the rest of the country or the world. There are some daily newspaper being published. The Hamilton Spectator comes out six days a week but it is not the powerful local daily it once was.

Except for a small number of daily newspapers that are national in scope – the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times – include some of the financial press like the Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times and that is what we have. There are exceptions but they are few and far between.

Those publications have reasonably robust advertising bases that fund the operation; everyone else was taken out by services based on the internet.

Craig’s List and Kijiji killed Classified Advertising

Craig’s List and Kijiji killed Classified Advertising; a service that drew in millions in revenue with little in the way of editorial expense other than taking down the information and setting it all up under the dozens of classifications. It was a brilliant idea that has been with us for centuries in different forms.

 Classified advertising was phenomenally successful

 
Newspaper revenue from classifieds advertisements decreased continually as internet classifieds grew. Classified advertising at some of the larger newspaper chains dropped by 14% to 20% in 2007, while traffic to classified sites grew by 23%.

This was the beginning of the end for print newspapers. It took an additional decade and a half for the business side of newspapers to realize that they were in serious trouble – by that time it was too late.

In the past year the Toronto Star pulled the plug on their Metroland unit that published close to 50 weekly newspapers in the province.

 Soon after Kijiji was created others created versions of online advertising that included photographs – it was classified with colour and all on line.

Without a financial base print was dead – going on line was the answer but it took time for the larger media companies to figure that out.

Newspaper could tell a story – they had sections that reported on business – the Globe and Mail Report on Business being the most successful. Ironic that while very good at reporting news they were not able to see how what they were reporting was going to impact them. They weren’t able to see the fundamental change that was taking place.

An interesting example of the newspaper that saw the change coming and found a way to change their business model. The Toronto Star and LaPresse, the largest French newspaper in Quebec, formed a joint venture with the Toronto Star to create a digital version of the newspaper and publish as online newspapers.

 Going totally digital worked for Montreal’s French language newspaper.

It worked for LaPresse – the Star was never able to convince their readers that online was going to be the way you got your news. 
In 2016, a few years after the launch of La Presse+, print was restricted to Saturdays and shortly thereafter, on 31 December 2017, the last newspaper was printed.

Publisher Guy Crevier says the paper will become the world’s first major daily to go completely digital on weekdays as it responds to a permanent shift in advertising spending. Guy Crevier, publisher of LaPresse, pointed out that the North American newspaper sector had lost 63 per cent of its revenues — or $29 billion — over the past decade. “There is nobody who can survive in an environment like that.

The Toronto Star was losing far too much money – the family trust that held a majority of the voting shares accepted an offer to sell the newspaper.

 Nicole MacIntyre – Toronto Star editor
The newspaper was acquired by NordStar Capital on May 26, 2020, after the board of Torstar voted to sell the company to the investment firm for CA$52 million—making Torstar a privately held company.

The two businessmen, Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett bought the newspaper along with the regional newspapers and the chain of weeklies, found that they didn’t share the same vision for  the Toronto Star.  Bitove bought out Rivett.  In July the Star appointed Nicole MacIntyre as editor.


 
 
By Pepper Parr

 As Publisher of the Burlington Gazette I am driven by this statement. “Informed people can make informed decisions.” Media is the only sector that can deliver the information. The politicians don’t – they issue statements that project the story they want to tell. I have been a journalist from the day my first picture and story appeared on the front page of the Montreal Gazette. I have published books, magazines and newspapers. I was the founding editor of the Toronto Ward 9 News in about 1972. The Burlington Gazette started publishing as an on-line newspaper in 2010.

This story was originally posted in the Burlington Gazette on October 7, 2024 at this link
 
About Me
Guest Blogger
 
This is a guest column for the COPA judges so they can share some of their wisdom with the industry. The COPA Judges are the who's who of the publishing industry in Canada.  COPA Judging Panel Link