R.M.N - R.I.P. -- Rocky Mountain News

Sad news from Denver. The Rocky Mountain News, which would have celebrated its 150th anniversary in April, published its last issue today.

Denver was one of the few remaining two-paper markets. Now it has the Denver Post, which should break-even, experts said, although it will have higher operating costs (since it had split back office costs with the RMN, not be confused with Richard Milhouse Nixon).

For now, other two-paper markets include New York, Los Angles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Detroit, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

But the Los Angeles Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and both Detroit papers are owned by holding companies that have declared bankruptcy, have declared bankrupty itself, had the parent company announce a deadline to sell or close the paper, or cut back its publishing schedule.

That doesn't include buyouts at the Boston Globe, financial machinations at the New York Times.

Meanwhile, here's a very moving look at the final edition of the Rocky: Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

Newspaper Death Watch

The list of the near-dead newspapers continues to grow.

The latest is the San Francisco Chronicle, the country's 12th largest paper serving the 5th largest media market. Publisher Hearst Corp. says it needs major concessions from its unions to survive -- but even with concessions, its future is in doubt.

Others newspapers in trouble include:

1. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, also owned by the Hearst Corp.
   
2. Tribune Co., parent of Chicago Tribune & Los Angeles Tribune -- filed for bankruptcy.
   
3. Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- filed for bankruptcy.
4. Parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News -- filed for bankruptcy.
5. Parent company of the New Haven Register and 19 other dailies -- filed for bankruptcy.
6. Rocky Mountain News -- put up for auction or will be closed.
7. Austin American-Statesman -- put up for auction or will be closed.
8. San Diego Union-Tribune -- put up for auction or will be closed.
9. Detroit News -- scaled back home delivery days.
   

If the Hearst can't get the concessions it needs, count on the Chronicle to close.

And expect other publishers to follow suite by shutting down their papers, too.

One thing is certain, by the end of the summer, this list will have grown.

PR and advertising functions/agencies will need to be creative in how they add value -- while developing metrics for success in this new media environment.

Another Day, Another Newspaper Files for Bankruptcy

It was a tough weekend for East Coast newspapers.

Both the holding company of Philadelphia's two newspapers -- Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia News -- as well as the holding company of the New Haven Register and 19 other dailies filed for bankruptcy.

Three other newspapers companies have filed for bankruptcy since Dec. 2008.

And more are in precarious positions. The New York Times recently cut its dividend again to save capital for the business.

As a side note, what's interesting is that yesterday's Journal article took aim at its midtown rival, reporting: "Newspaper companies have been pounded by spiraling advertising declines, but many of their wounds are self-inflicted," and then mentioned the New York Times.

At the same time, the New York Times took a bigger potshot against the Journal in an article,
"Murdoch’s Soft Spot for Print Slows News Corp." Of course, by saying that News Corp's dependence on its newspaper business is dragging down its revenues, is not a great point for the Times to make -- since the Times is suffering from the same trends.

But at least they get to bash the Journal.

As for PR functions, there are two lessons from this:

1. Look for more layoffs and cutbacks at large metro papers. Which means: we need to find alternative ways to communicate information to key audiences.
   
2. Don't try to buy newspapers -- which is what Brian Tierney, a Philadelphia public-relations executive, did. The deal has not worked so well for him.

Are Newspapers dead?

Check out http://www.newspaperdeadpool.com/.

Also, check out "Media Companies Cull 30,000 in Fight for Their Future." The subhead is instructive: "Execs Blame Recession as They Wield the Ax, but This Is About Reinvention, too."

While it's not relevant to newspapers, NPR to Cut Expenses, Shrink Staff, according to Wall St. Journal.

This some hope for journalism in "Beyond the Great Press Crash of 2008" by Peter Osnos, Century Foundation:

So here, in the briefest of summaries, are avenues for innovation:

1. Reestablish the principle that news has to be paid for by someone: the consumer, the advertiser, or the distributor. (See the Platform for November 3, 2008: “Make Google Pay.”)

2. Private equity investment in new brands or renewed confidence in such stalwarts as the New York Times and the Washington Post, which are hurting badly but would revive if they can make money from others (for example, search engines) through fees for their content.

3. Accept the role of news as a public service to be supported by the community through public funds, membership, and sponsorship of various kinds. This is, of course, the model that has been in place for decades at public radio and PBS.

Thomas C. Rubin, chief counsel for intellectual property strategy at Microsoft, recently gave a thoughtful speech to the U.K. Association of Online Publishers, making many of the points reflected above. As precedents for the news business to consider, he cites the challenges to Napster’s effort to make music free, which fell apart when it was found liable for copyright infringement. Music again became a saleable commodity with the advent iTunes. Next came YouTube, which was helping itself to content—until it was sued for a billion dollars by Viacom. Now Hulu is gaining traction by selling the same sort of material. Why can’t the news business challenge free use of copyrighted material? It can, and almost certainly should.

The financial model for gathering news can definitely be revived. No one disputes how bad things have gotten. So the only way forward is to focus on solutions. Innovation, please.