Future of news? News hole, porch delivery
Commentary
By Charles L. Overby
Chairman and CEO, The Freedom Forum
03.15.00
Printer-friendly page
I have seen the future of newspapers. It's not in Silicon Valley. It's in Little Rock.
Newspapers — as a print medium — may depend more on a few old-fashioned basics than a futuristic overhaul.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is thriving, with household penetration of about 78%. Many newspapers are struggling to stay above 50%.
Walter Hussman Jr., publisher of the Democrat-Gazette, honed his skills during a newspaper war with the now-defunct Arkansas Gazette.
On a recent trip to Little Rock with NewsCapade, Al Neuharth and I talked at length with Hussman. Two old ideas seem to be working wonders:
A large news hole, especially in the A section.
Porch delivery by 6 a.m. for home subscribers.
Two other ideas also boost circulation, according to Hussman:
Free classified ads for individuals.
News is withheld from the newspaper's Web site until after 9 a.m. to preserve single-copy sales.
This seems so basic, especially the first three ideas. The questions about declining newspaper circulation may not be as complicated as we thought. Can Little Rock be that different?
The biggest difference: The Democrat-Gazette is privately owned and doesn't have to impress Wall Street. But the newspaper enjoys respectable profit margins.
It all boils down to whether these ideas are viewed as expenses or investments. Either way, they draw readers.
One of the most frequent complaints from readers is that there's no news in the newspaper. Hussman believes that A sections crammed with ads give readers the impression there's nothing in the newspaper. He abides by a rule that seems quaint: News has to touch every ad.
The dirty little secret in the newspaper business is that most advertisers demand to be in the A section.
When you get beyond The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA TODAY and a few others, the proportion of ads to news in the A section is pretty pitiful. The placement of wide-open editorial and op-ed pages in the A section eats up even more space available for news. (The Democrat-Gazette runs its editorial and op-ed pages in the B section.)
It's no wonder that readers flip through the A section of most newspapers and conclude there's little news.
It's unsettling to think readers might put as much stock in quantity as quality, but perceptions drive circulation.
At a time when content and design are being studied from every angle, it may be this simple: Readers want more news — a lot more, enough for the casual reader to see and sense.
And wouldn't it be something if porch delivery had more impact on circulation than the Internet does?
It's working in Little Rock and a few other places.
At a recent session with American Press Institute participants at The Freedom Forum, we were discussing these ideas, and a San Francisco Chronicle editor said he can't get his mother to subscribe to the Chronicle because The Oakland Tribune delivers her paper to the porch every day.
There are a lot of reasons offered as to why porch delivery won't work anymore — primarily the move away from youth carriers toward adult carriers whizzing by in cars. Maybe the reasons for abandoning porch delivery are excuses. Maybe one of the reasons the Internet seems so convenient is that you don't have to get dressed and go out to the curb to turn it on. Maybe the industry forgot how convenient it used to be to pick up a paper on the porch.
A bigger news hole, where news touches every ad, and porch delivery by 6 a.m. offer more to readers than any recommendations that I've seen from task forces on the future of newspapers.
The idea for free classified ads for individuals is also a reader-building idea, one that can keep classified sections vibrant in the face of Internet competition.
If newspapers ultimately morph into a medium other than print, it will be because of the disappearance of classified ads.
Hussman has smartly set a limit on the maximum number of free classified ads in a single day, much like airlines allocate free frequent-flyer seats. If the limit has been reached, readers can reserve free space for another day or buy the ad to run on the days of their choice.
The idea about withholding news from the Internet until after 9 a.m. didn't appeal to me, but Hussman said it is working in Little Rock. Either way, the Internet strategy should not obscure the importance of the other ideas.
Paying attention to the basic strengths of the newspaper is the best way to ensure its future.
Recent Charles Overby columns
Browse all Charles Overby columns
