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Think print is dead? Readers still have plenty to say. [1]
['Ren Laforme', 'Alex Mahadevan', "Ren Laforme Is The Managing Editor Of Poynter.Org. He Was Previously Poynter'S Digital Tools Reporter", 'Chronicling Tools', 'Technology For Journalists', 'A Producer For']
Date: 2023-08-11 11:30:12+00:00
What’s going on in Las Vegas?
In addition to the streaks of scorching weather and Donny Osmond extending his award-winning residency at Harrah’s, readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are heated over the newspaper removing its baseball page.
“I heard your complaints. So, resuming Thursday, the baseball page is back in the newspaper where it belongs,” executive editor Glenn Cook wrote in an email to subscribers. “I’m genuinely sorry for upsetting many of you. I’m also heartened to know that so many readers get so much enjoyment reviewing the previous day’s baseball games in the newspaper.”
Cook also responded to reader feedback about the latest crossword puzzles. They’re too hard, readers complained. Cook explained that the syndicate who creates the puzzles has a new editor.
“Just as I listened to your feedback on the box scores, the puzzle purveyors will work to meet players’ preferences going forward,” he wrote. “So please be patient.”
Print subscribers may be dwindling at most publications, but ask any newspaper editor (or reporter, or photojournalist, or just about anyone who has ever answered a newsroom phone call) and they’ll tell you that those readers who remain are, erm, fervent. Decisions like replacing “Peanuts” with something a little fresher or moving high school sports scores to the website often result in more feedback than some high-profile investigations.
The trend is beyond clear: Fewer and fewer Americans get their news via print publications. Most newspapers have reduced print days and are staking out new business models through means other than print advertising and classifieds. Widespread printing plant closures are hastening the trend. Print just doesn’t make much economic sense for most news organizations anymore.
But try telling that to the loyal readers looking for their daily Sudoku fix.
By Ren LaForme
Initiative aims to fund local news to the tune of $1 billion
A massive funding effort aimed at strengthening local news will be even bigger than expected.
The so-called Press Forward campaign was originally slated to inject $500 million into the local news industry. Now, a group including the MacArthur Foundation, the Knight Foundation and a dozen or so other funders hopes to double that figure, according to Knight Foundation president Alberto Ibargüen.
“That’s one billion, with a ‘b’,” Ibargüen said this week during a keynote speech at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s conference. Though light on details, he said the money could go toward experimentation with artificial intelligence, among other initiatives.
“There is no shortage of good ideas that are ready to scale: whether it is by thinking anew about local public radio or television, new digital-only community news sites, exciting new efforts at journalism schools, or innovative new models for how to inform and engage communities,” MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey wrote in a February essay.
By Alex Mahadevan
Media tidbits and links for your weekend review
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