I continue to argue the case with management that there shouldn't be a thing above the fold on page 1A that doesn't sell a newspaper off the rack, and ads just aren't such a thing. Same goes for Web sites -- kill all pop-ups and everything of their ilk. Make the news more noticeable than the ads.
And yet, what you think would be common sense -- that we're in the news business and the news must come first or there are no readers for our advertisers to reach -- seems to be lost on everybody but the editorial department.
Whatever are we thinking?
From 24.21.203.98 on January 29, 2008 at 11:57 AM Excellent points - glad that you spoke up about this. Editorial content should always be up front. Advertising is a necessary evil, but advertisers have no allegiances to publications or readers. They have only one objective - their bottom line revenue for the current quarter. They are otherwise mercenaries that would undermine the industry in an instant if they felt it would serve their immediate interests. We need to be more vigilant about letting advertsers dictate the policies and priorities of our news and information providers.
From 66.63.58.3 on January 29, 2008 at 11:58 AM ... "Readers owe nothing to publishers" From on January 29, 2008 at 12:11 PM Much to my chagrin, back in J-school, I had to cut a story to make space for an ad. The prof winked at me reminding me that, if not for ads, there would be no paper. Didn't like to hear that then, don't now. I prefer to think that, if not for READERS, there would be no paper!
From 66.93.168.115 on January 29, 2008 at 3:30 PM Any editor of a small town daily will tell you that the obits and wedding announcements are the best-read parts of the paper. People have long turned to their local newspapers for gossip and the hope of seeing themselves or their neighbors. Then they’ll read the news if it interests them. Now younger people go to “networking” sites like Facebook and MySpace to feed those same desires. I think newspapers would see their readership increase (particularly online) if they could re-establish that sense of community that was lost when they started charging to publish an obit.
From 66.224.142.138 on January 29, 2008 at 5:51 PM A couple of the most recent posts are a bit more adversarial toward advertising than, I believe, the original article warrants. Ads are not evil- the advertisers' desires for profit are no worse than the newspapers' desires for profit (and many more of the advertisers are actually locally owned and put their profits back into the community... what percentage of today's newspapers can say that?)
The point of the original article- which I enjoyed very much- was not that ads are bad, but that the presentation of editorial content of the publication should not be submerged to the presentation of the advertising.
Unless you're putting out an independent newsletter or something along those lines, advertising IS content. The industry just needs to keep in mind that editorial is also content, and that each flavor of content has its own place and purpose in the publication.
-rkr
From 148.100.211.184 on January 30, 2008 at 7:33 AM Well Bob, you've nicely summarized how annoying pervasive advertising can be.But that is a problem, not a solution. Oh, put readers first and disregard the needs of advertisers? Sure, that works. I think that's called "public television" or "national public radio"...and it works fairly well, so long as donors and benefactors pick up the tab.Hmmm...what's at the center of the storm here? Oh, money - money to pay salaries of professional journalists.I subscribe to Consumer Reports. No ads. I pay about 4 times as much for that mag as I do for Golf Digest. I was in the business for 17 years - we all know how it works. We can be "mass media" or we can be "elite media."
From 216.114.151.72 on January 30, 2008 at 8:20 AM Publishers have been too quick to rely on advertising gimmicks to halt declining circulation. One paper I worked for began slapping those stickies on the front page - usually right over the top right headline. Another is using its Saturday teaser spot to promo the coupon savings inside. So, that means there's no news worth reading? The hyperlocal I'm now working at is trying to balance content and advertising in a redesign. No pop-ups; no constant "survey" questions. Editorial and advertising are working together to create space for both. Of course, we're so small its hard not to collaborate. But after having worked at papers where marketing and news barely acknowledged each other, it's very refreshing.
And yet, what you think would be common sense -- that we're in the news business and the news must come first or there are no readers for our advertisers to reach -- seems to be lost on everybody but the editorial department.
Whatever are we thinking?
From 24.21.203.98 on January 29, 2008 at 11:57 AM Excellent points - glad that you spoke up about this. Editorial content should always be up front. Advertising is a necessary evil, but advertisers have no allegiances to publications or readers. They have only one objective - their bottom line revenue for the current quarter. They are otherwise mercenaries that would undermine the industry in an instant if they felt it would serve their immediate interests. We need to be more vigilant about letting advertsers dictate the policies and priorities of our news and information providers.
From 66.63.58.3 on January 29, 2008 at 11:58 AM ... "Readers owe nothing to publishers" From on January 29, 2008 at 12:11 PM Much to my chagrin, back in J-school, I had to cut a story to make space for an ad. The prof winked at me reminding me that, if not for ads, there would be no paper. Didn't like to hear that then, don't now. I prefer to think that, if not for READERS, there would be no paper!
From 66.93.168.115 on January 29, 2008 at 3:30 PM Any editor of a small town daily will tell you that the obits and wedding announcements are the best-read parts of the paper. People have long turned to their local newspapers for gossip and the hope of seeing themselves or their neighbors. Then they’ll read the news if it interests them. Now younger people go to “networking” sites like Facebook and MySpace to feed those same desires. I think newspapers would see their readership increase (particularly online) if they could re-establish that sense of community that was lost when they started charging to publish an obit.
From 66.224.142.138 on January 29, 2008 at 5:51 PM A couple of the most recent posts are a bit more adversarial toward advertising than, I believe, the original article warrants. Ads are not evil- the advertisers' desires for profit are no worse than the newspapers' desires for profit (and many more of the advertisers are actually locally owned and put their profits back into the community... what percentage of today's newspapers can say that?)
The point of the original article- which I enjoyed very much- was not that ads are bad, but that the presentation of editorial content of the publication should not be submerged to the presentation of the advertising.
Unless you're putting out an independent newsletter or something along those lines, advertising IS content. The industry just needs to keep in mind that editorial is also content, and that each flavor of content has its own place and purpose in the publication.
-rkr
From 148.100.211.184 on January 30, 2008 at 7:33 AM Well Bob, you've nicely summarized how annoying pervasive advertising can be.But that is a problem, not a solution. Oh, put readers first and disregard the needs of advertisers? Sure, that works. I think that's called "public television" or "national public radio"...and it works fairly well, so long as donors and benefactors pick up the tab.Hmmm...what's at the center of the storm here? Oh, money - money to pay salaries of professional journalists.I subscribe to Consumer Reports. No ads. I pay about 4 times as much for that mag as I do for Golf Digest. I was in the business for 17 years - we all know how it works. We can be "mass media" or we can be "elite media."
From 216.114.151.72 on January 30, 2008 at 8:20 AM Publishers have been too quick to rely on advertising gimmicks to halt declining circulation. One paper I worked for began slapping those stickies on the front page - usually right over the top right headline. Another is using its Saturday teaser spot to promo the coupon savings inside. So, that means there's no news worth reading? The hyperlocal I'm now working at is trying to balance content and advertising in a redesign. No pop-ups; no constant "survey" questions. Editorial and advertising are working together to create space for both. Of course, we're so small its hard not to collaborate. But after having worked at papers where marketing and news barely acknowledged each other, it's very refreshing.
The past ten years have seen a revolution in the news media. The ease of publishing to a wide audience via the Internet has reduced the barrier to entry into the news industry to zero. That's unleashed thousands of new publications to compete with highly popular mainstream media organizations. But they haven't all tried to be just another daily newspaper. Many of the more successful of these start-ups have found their audience by providing content that the big metro dailies and TV stations have not provided, to people who have felt ignored by the mainstream media.
Just as ethnic media has done for generations.
In this respect, ethnic media are the original niche media pioneers. Ethnic media publishers have much to teach online entrepreneurs about forging ties within an under-served community, about building audience loyalty and about finding success against large, established mainstream media organizations.
Of course, most ethnic media publishers have done so in the "old" media of print, radio and television. And, the money to be made in the news media is found the the details, not in the theory. To make ethnic media work profitably online, ethnic media publishers will need to learn, and apply, some lessons now well-established by the niche media pioneers of the online medium.
But, please, do not forget that ethnic media comes to this revolution with an enormous head start over their so-called "mainstream" counterparts. Many large news chains are still trying to be all things to all people online, ever pursuing the lowest common denominator to build the largest possible audience, while actually turning away audience members with their superficiality. Smart ethnic publishers do not fall into this trap. They focus on the needs of their niche community, and try to provide the best, most detailed and useful information to them. Never forget that should be any niche website's ultimate business goal. The key, after all, to building relationships with advertisers lies in your ability to offer them access to a substantial and engaged audience.
How do you do this online? You embrace the interactivity of the Internet. Now, when I talk about interactivity, I am not simply speaking of multimedia, the blending of text, audio and video online. Nor am I talking about non-linear narratives, where readers have the opportunity to click through different paths on a website, like a "Choose Your Adventure" book like my kids often read.
No, to me, interactivity is about the interaction between publisher and audience: The ability of your readers to contribute public content to your website, in real time. You do not need a large capital expense to do this. A wide variety of free, industry-tested, open source software tools are available to support interactive online publishing. And your audience is ready and willing to participate. Internet users have been talking on discussion boards, editing wikis, and writing in blogs for years. They are sharing links through social bookmarking services like Digg and sharing their lives on networks such as MySpace and Facebook.
This phenomenon is not limited by ethnicity. People of all backgrounds are participating online. In fact, if you do not manage an online community serving your ethnic community, someone else will. And, probably, already is.
So ethnic media has established relationships within a community, a community that is ready and willing to engage online and access to low-cost tools that can make this happen. All that's needed is the leadership to pull all three together.
The quickest and easiest way for you to assert this leadership is to blog. Assign an editor to blog daily. Write about what's coming up in the paper, or on the newscast. Write about reactions you are getting to a story. Write about events in the community that wouldn't otherwise make it into the paper or on the newscast. Just make sure that you are blogging several times a day, to encourage and reward repeat visits to your site. For weekly ethnic papers, this is an excellent way to get into daily publication, without the enormous expense of substantially expanding or overtaxing the newsroom.
Then, extend a hand to the community, and ask them to contribute to the site. Turn on the comments. Start a discussion board. But don't just leave it to the community to run the board. Provide leadership. Ask questions, treating your readers like sources, or guests on a talk show. Use your established journalism skills to start a productive conversation, and to keep it going. Don't make it an open mic night or ask people to blather their opinions, but instead ask sharp questions for which your audience is likely to have a personal experience that they can relate in their answers. Ask parents what is happening in their kids' schools. Ask small business owners in your community how they are faring with permitting and other local officials.
Soon, if you have done well your job as online interviewers and discussion leaders, your readers will become protective of the forum you've established. People can find plenty of places online to vent, speculate and insult one another in flame wars. But informative, respectful communities are precious things, and participants take great pride in them. They will help you protect them, and will help you promote them, with grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing. For nothing more than the cost of applying your journalism skills in a community with which you've already established yourself, you can have an aggressively marketed website attracting the attention of a growing and engaged audience.
And *that* is what advertisers are looking for. [After my talk, representatives of New America Media spoke about a new online advertising network that NAM is developing for its members. If you are a publisher targeting a ethnic audience and would be interested in participating in NAM's ad network, you can contact the organization through the The Internet offers enormous market potential for niche publishers, who can target a viable community and serve them well while keeping costs low. Ethnic media publishers have proven their ability to do this in other media; there's no good reason why they should stand aside while competitors do the same for their communities online.
Just as ethnic media has done for generations.
In this respect, ethnic media are the original niche media pioneers. Ethnic media publishers have much to teach online entrepreneurs about forging ties within an under-served community, about building audience loyalty and about finding success against large, established mainstream media organizations.
Of course, most ethnic media publishers have done so in the "old" media of print, radio and television. And, the money to be made in the news media is found the the details, not in the theory. To make ethnic media work profitably online, ethnic media publishers will need to learn, and apply, some lessons now well-established by the niche media pioneers of the online medium.
But, please, do not forget that ethnic media comes to this revolution with an enormous head start over their so-called "mainstream" counterparts. Many large news chains are still trying to be all things to all people online, ever pursuing the lowest common denominator to build the largest possible audience, while actually turning away audience members with their superficiality. Smart ethnic publishers do not fall into this trap. They focus on the needs of their niche community, and try to provide the best, most detailed and useful information to them. Never forget that should be any niche website's ultimate business goal. The key, after all, to building relationships with advertisers lies in your ability to offer them access to a substantial and engaged audience.
How do you do this online? You embrace the interactivity of the Internet. Now, when I talk about interactivity, I am not simply speaking of multimedia, the blending of text, audio and video online. Nor am I talking about non-linear narratives, where readers have the opportunity to click through different paths on a website, like a "Choose Your Adventure" book like my kids often read.
No, to me, interactivity is about the interaction between publisher and audience: The ability of your readers to contribute public content to your website, in real time. You do not need a large capital expense to do this. A wide variety of free, industry-tested, open source software tools are available to support interactive online publishing. And your audience is ready and willing to participate. Internet users have been talking on discussion boards, editing wikis, and writing in blogs for years. They are sharing links through social bookmarking services like Digg and sharing their lives on networks such as MySpace and Facebook.
This phenomenon is not limited by ethnicity. People of all backgrounds are participating online. In fact, if you do not manage an online community serving your ethnic community, someone else will. And, probably, already is.
So ethnic media has established relationships within a community, a community that is ready and willing to engage online and access to low-cost tools that can make this happen. All that's needed is the leadership to pull all three together.
The quickest and easiest way for you to assert this leadership is to blog. Assign an editor to blog daily. Write about what's coming up in the paper, or on the newscast. Write about reactions you are getting to a story. Write about events in the community that wouldn't otherwise make it into the paper or on the newscast. Just make sure that you are blogging several times a day, to encourage and reward repeat visits to your site. For weekly ethnic papers, this is an excellent way to get into daily publication, without the enormous expense of substantially expanding or overtaxing the newsroom.
Then, extend a hand to the community, and ask them to contribute to the site. Turn on the comments. Start a discussion board. But don't just leave it to the community to run the board. Provide leadership. Ask questions, treating your readers like sources, or guests on a talk show. Use your established journalism skills to start a productive conversation, and to keep it going. Don't make it an open mic night or ask people to blather their opinions, but instead ask sharp questions for which your audience is likely to have a personal experience that they can relate in their answers. Ask parents what is happening in their kids' schools. Ask small business owners in your community how they are faring with permitting and other local officials.
Soon, if you have done well your job as online interviewers and discussion leaders, your readers will become protective of the forum you've established. People can find plenty of places online to vent, speculate and insult one another in flame wars. But informative, respectful communities are precious things, and participants take great pride in them. They will help you protect them, and will help you promote them, with grassroots, word-of-mouth marketing. For nothing more than the cost of applying your journalism skills in a community with which you've already established yourself, you can have an aggressively marketed website attracting the attention of a growing and engaged audience.
And *that* is what advertisers are looking for. [After my talk, representatives of New America Media spoke about a new online advertising network that NAM is developing for its members. If you are a publisher targeting a ethnic audience and would be interested in participating in NAM's ad network, you can contact the organization through the The Internet offers enormous market potential for niche publishers, who can target a viable community and serve them well while keeping costs low. Ethnic media publishers have proven their ability to do this in other media; there's no good reason why they should stand aside while competitors do the same for their communities online.