Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Election 2012: How many papers alive to endorse?

As my list of presidential endorsements grows, I've begun wondering how many of Gannett's 85 U.S. dailies will even be around in 2012, the next time candidates run for the White House. Thoughts?

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12 comments:

  1. That's a good question, Jim. I've been wondering that about my paper.

    Any thoughts from anyone at the Asbury Park Press?

    I used to be proud to work at this paper, and now I feel like it's just a shell of what it used to be. I don't work in the newsroom - just another SOB trying to make sense of all this.

    Thanks for what you are doing here, Jim. I've sent you my donation. Hope others will help to keep it going.

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  2. Thanks! I appreciate your support!

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  3. Well, that thought was depressing ...

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  4. All gannett newspapers will survive. I think the gannett blog on the on the other hand will not be so lucky to see 2012.

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  5. Neither will Craig Dublow.

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  6. I think the papers will survive too. They just won't be collectively owed by a company named Gannett, which will go the way of Knight-Ridder and Tribune.

    And, therefore, this blog will lose it's mission.

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  7. I vote for Larry St. Cyr. He can solve all our financial problems.

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  8. I predict we'll see five or six huge regional information centers (digital, braodcast and paper) that essentially serve as USAT bureaus.

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  9. The biased newspaper industry is reaping what it sowed.Most "journalists" and their so called editors don't even try to hide their slanted views.It is a capitalist country and you are all free to do as you wish with your paper.Just remember that when you poke your finger in the eye of a large demographic group by catering to the left of centers,thus alienating the rest of the country you will continue to watch your circulation rates dwindle.What will the industry do when all the retirees and elderly subscribers pass away who have the paper delivered-I don't see the younger generation reading your "publications"

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  10. Here we go about the NJ Group again, but the newspapers in this division will disappear from the scene if the community based nonsense is not stopped. Anyone in NJ can pick up the Star Ledger and get BOTH national and very specific local news in the various county editions. If one were to rely on the Courier News for an idea of what's happening outside a very small assortment of local towns, the mystery would remain. We need balance! Your fifty cents for the Courier could be better spent with the competition.

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  11. ^^^ yes, yes, thank you, now go back to bed.

    I think they'll all be around in 2012, but some will be better off than others. Many might be one or two sections a day - no more section fronts, the way papers were in the 60s (but no more "News for Women" sections, thankfully).

    But will they be locally owned properties, more responsive to the community and less beholden to corporate masters in Virginia and California and Chicago? I hope so.

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  12. The more papers that share their endorsements (and other local content) online before their print editions - like Cincinnati did this past Saturday prior to their Sunday edition for McCain, the more likely that more and more of them will stumble if they continue to employ that strategy.

    Doing as they did online this past weekend, with something that many, even non-subscribers might go out and buy a copy of first seems foolish at best. Hell, they might as well have shared it online even sooner so the various political constituencies could react with even more paid ads. Oops, not supposed to say share that last line. Please redact.

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