Timing is everything.

I read this post with interest since a town without a newspaper is a bit like a pulpit without a pastor. 

Yes, there are levels at which I appreciate the Herald.  Even so, I have often wished for something to spur the Herald on to more complete coverage or to stimulate any attempt at investigative effort.  Too many boondoggles and government scandals go unreported here in Bellingham.

I remember, before the merger of St. Luke’s and St. Joe’s, a local pundit saying,“What this town needs is one hospital and two newspapers”.  The Whatcom Independent gave it a good try, but never broke through the Herald’s monopoly on advertising acreage. The Other Every Weekly caters to a far too limited sector and lacks, well, substance. The Bellingham Business Journal has been making an effort to expand their coverage, but they, too, are somewhat narrowly focused.

As for the timing:  I read John’s article and then googled “McClatchy”.  Posted almost simultaneously was an article in “Editor and Publisher” entitled, “Wall Street Finally Shows Newspapers Some Love”. It details the rebounding stocks of several papers.

For example, A.H. Belo ended trading at $6.35, up $1.10.  Lee Enterprises Inc. jumped 14.29% to $3.60 on a gain 45 cents a share.  E.W. Scripps Co. ended trading at $3.32, up 24 cents, or 7.79%.  Media General Inc. gained 83 cents, or 7.59%, to $11.79.

Then there was the kicker -

“Missing out on the party was The McClatchy Co., which ended down 16 cents, or 2.93%, at $5.31.”

John, I’m sure you’ll be criticized as a crackpot of negativity, but you just might be onto something!

Hi John-
Thanks for bringing this up. My father decades ago used to refer to the Herald as the ‘Bellingham Joke-sheet’, and incredibly, it hasn’t changed, despite - as you point out - the large increase in local population.

A few weeks back my wife and I were over east of the Mts and we picked up a copy of the Wenatchee World. I was surprised to see a better paper than the Herald is serving a smaller population area. That makes the Herald every more disappointing…..

John,

I?m inclined to agree with your conclusion that the daily newspaper business is in serious trouble, if not entirely ?dead? as you claim; however, I?m confused by your statement that the ?dailies refused to see this coming.?  For example, if the Herald publisher and editors actually saw this coming, what would or should they have done differently? 

I agree that the Herald?s local news coverage needs improvement; however, I wonder whether the paper?s circulation, advertising and bottom line would be any better even if they did provide better local news coverage. 

Based on your background, what would you recommend the Herald do at this point?

I have spent a reasonable amount of time with the publisher and editors at the Herald, and, in all candor, have to tell you that they’re pretty good folks and well oriented towards our community.  They do have corporate masters.

But these people are swimming against the metaphoric tide, as you point out.  They’re doing their own thing online too. The problems for McClatchy are endemic.  The whole industry is in downturn/collapse/regeneration.  Damn Al Gore’s internet!

But if Bellingham is to survive with a weekly, or less than weekly, these are the people.  If McClatchy goes BK, these are the people we must work with to preserve a newspaper in our community.

Notwithstanding any criticism from the usual detractors, it’s the best we’ve got.  So let’s see what happens, and see if we can improve on it.

I read the Herald every day as well, and I can’t say I would miss it terribly.  Going through three different corporate masters in the last several years with no detectable change in any of them to me seems downright scary.  I believe the key to understanding the issues is to read from as many different sources as one has the time.  It would be interesting to know what everyone’s favorite sources here are.  just to be fair and balanced I do check on fox news, cnn, drudge report, common dreams, tide pool, counterpunch, alternet, washington post and the nyt.  At times I find reading too much to be rather depressing, but you cant bitch if your not paying attention.

I have also been a critic of the Herald at times that I felt they had covered an important issue, or when they did but got it wrong. That comes with the territory that every local newspaper covers.

However, given the choice between having a local newspaper and not having one, I definitely prefer having one!

Our local paper is not much different from those in other towns; some are better and some are worse.

Aside from competing with the changing media now available, and the need for a business model that will sustain itself, the Herald has the dilemma of defining the scope of its coverage. Can it be all things to all people? Probably not. So, the problem is in deciding what things will be covered adequately, then staffing for that scenario. Assuming it’s corporate management will go along with such a proposal, that would be one way for the Herald to sustain itself.

Ads and paid-for announcements and subscriptions [which have an inherent upper limit] pretty much pay for themselves, and then a major proportion of overhead costs. But, unless the Herald is very different from other businesses, income from the above sources is probably insufficient to cover all the salaries and benefits of it’s staff, plus the costs of covering and timely printing those items deemed newsworthy. Then, there is the little matter of profits to guarantee sufficient investor returns so that the business can survive.

Which of those areas can be cut, without having the Herald sink below the critical mass required for it to survive? That is the question that needs to be answered.

Maybe there are enough local investors who care about keeping our local paper?
After all, the WIndy failed because -among other things- it couldn’t sell sufficient advertising against the Herald’s virtual monopoly.

The idea of establishing a locally owned newspaper has been around Bellingham for many years, but so far the stars have not aligned to allow that to happen.
Maybe now is that propitious time?

This may be idle speculation, but I suspect the local management team is doing what it can to save the Herald in whatever form it can be saved. But, it will take much imagination, courage, dedication and hard work to adapt to the changed -and changing- conditions.

A market does exist here. But, the product is likely to satisfy it is unknown and to be determined. And, nothing we have seen to this point -or are likely to see in the future- has been able to please every critic!

The implementation of better access to governmental policy deliberations, administrative decisions, activities and pressing issues -both emerging and persistent- should help future coverage of those matters, but only if this is effectively used.

Neighborhood newsletters can also certainly be another source of both information and opinion.

All of the above already makes extensive use of the Internet, which makes both summarizing it and linking to it easier.

Another advantage of using existing sources of news is that the learning curve for new reporters can be greatly shortened, as well as their accuracy improved. This is not meant as any attack, but as a statement of easily demonstrable fact.

But, enough of this ramble. The Herald -or something like it- is worth keeping in my book, and all good ideas ought to be welcome.

Right!  The Herald is still Bellingham’s finest daily newspaper - even if there is only one new local story in today’s edition!

Newspapers and politicians have always had something in common…..their many choices, decisions and mistakes are always under public scrutiny.  Over time, the criticism comes about equally from both sides.  Hey, even the NW Citizen makes mistakes!  “We will see 4 reporters cut in the next few months”.  Actually, what the Herald said is that 4 people will be cut from the newsroom.  Not everyone in the newsroom is a reporter.At least 2 of those cuts were editors, not reporters.  So maybe now we will get our news less edited?

Bottom line is that the Herald is operating under their third corporate ownership in three years and at the same time operating in an economic climate that is incredibly difficult both nationally and in their market sector.  That would be a significant challenge for any employee or business.  Let’s wish them well and at the same time hope for the void left by the demise of the Indy to soon be filled.

Rick is right and I stand corrected.  It is four from the newsroom, not four reporters.  Thanks Rick. 

And with fewer reporters, fewer editors are needed, so the impact will be about half what I implied.  Laura who did editing and writing is gone as of this week. 

The thrust of the post is more cuts or downsizing will probably take place in the near future at the Herald.  McClatchy stock is down below $5 today, continuing the slide. One of the things that happens in a recession is outdated and over valued entities get adjusted down in relation to new and more efficient entities.  In good times it is harder for investors to discern differences.

How realistic is it to expect that any locally owned independent newspaper (weekly or otherwise) can survive?  They are subject to most of the same market forces as the larger dailies.  Advertising revenues are what drives the papers.  Online forces like Craigslist are destroying classified advertising revenues and the economic downturn (think automobiles and real estate) is severely impacting display advertising revenues.  Production & distribution costs have gone ballistic.  It’s doubtful readers would ever be willing to pay what it truly costs to produce a newspaper.  Is the time ripe for a locally owned online only newspaper to thrive?