Update: Ken Doctor’s blog Content Bridges notes one of the most intriguing aspects of the SeattlePI.com plan: Aggregating regional advertising opportunities for business.
Rest in peace, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
When I was in Des Moines in 1982 and in Kansas City in 1990, I saw the deaths of two newspapers, the Des Moines Tribune and the Kansas City Times. So when I was unemployed in 1992, I applied all over the country, except in cities that had two newspapers.
I love the mountains, so Denver and Seattle were two cities I would have enjoyed working in. But I didn’t apply at either, because I didn’t want to be around when one of the newspapers died. Both cities had joint-operating agreements that kept the second newspaper alive a lot longer than I anticipated back in 1992.
In both Des Moines and Kansas City, the two newspapers were operated by the same company, so JOA’s were not an issue. The companies could see the duplication involved in dual staffs and the efficiencies offered by killing the afternoon paper and merging the staffs.
Even anti-trust exemptions were not enough to keep the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Rocky Mountain News going in today’s economy. The Rocky died Feb. 27. I have the final edition displayed in my office, courtesy of Judi Whetstine, who was in Denver that day.
The P-I followed suit today, announcing that Tuesday’s paper would be the last print edition, Editor and Publisher Roger Oglesby announced. Seattlepi.com will continue as a news web site with a much smaller staff.
Add the deaths of the Capital-Times in Madison, Wis., last year and the cutback at both Detroit newspapers to three days per week, and two-newspaper cities are becoming increasingly scarce. Even twin papers in twin cities, such as Minneapolis-St. Paul and Dallas-Fort Worth, are viewed as precarious.
Cedar Rapids is a one-newspaper city. The Gazette is far healthier than most newspapers. But the deaths of long-established newspapers in Denver and Seattle underscore the importance of innovation and developing new business models. We have to change dramatically and swiftly.
@Steve,
I think you’re right; the era of two-newspaper towns is over, and for most cities, it has been for awhile. The problem these two-newspapers towns face now is that having two papers may endanger both publications. Detroit is a good example of that.
Newspapers and journalists need to do everything possible to reinvent themselves, because the old way of doing things no longer works. I’m very intrigued by what you’re doing at The Gazette and eager to see the results. More news organizations need to be willing to take dramatic steps like The Gazette.
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Interestingly enough, if you consider The Gazette an Iowa City newspaper, which we in the Iowa City office certainly do, then Iowa City would also qualify as a two-newspaper city. Given that, it is imperative we stay out in front of our competitors in this market.
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According to Craig McMullin at afcp, the Tuscon Citizen will publish its last edition March 21.
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Excellent point about Iowa City, Robb. It’s not quite analagous to either the Denver and Seattle situations (or Tucson, for that matter), where two papers shares an entire metro area. More like Dallas-Fort Worth or Minneapolis-St. Paul, but on a different scale. And both of those metro areas are all one big sprawling area with dual core cities, still quite different from our corridor with two cities that are distinct and geographically separated (though close enough that commutes are easier). Your core point about staying out in front is definitely on target.
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The newspaper situation in Storm Lake is intriguing as well — one of the smallest two-paper towns in the United States, though the economies of scale are certainly different in Storm Lake than in the Twin Cities, Seattle or Denver.
I was there when the battle was joined, back in 1990, when the upstart Storm Lake Times challenging the established Pilot-Tribune — then, and now, part of a larger newspaper group.
Both have survived, and while I don’t know whether both are thriving financially, both have their adherents. It’s an interesting dynamic, one that I understand is repeated in dozens of smaller towns across America.
Community-based journalism can, and will, be successful for years to come. It may just take different forms in different markets.
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Excellent point, Richard. At one point in the 1990s, the newspaper that gave me my first writing job, the Evening Sentinel, and the Valley News Today in Shenandoah, Iowa, were dueling in the smallest town in the country with two daily newspapers. I wrote a story on them for the Omaha World-Herald. The Valley News Today prevailed in that newspaper war, buying the Sentinel and shutting it down. And recently the Valley News Today cut back to two or three times a week.
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I wouldn’t be doing any grave dancing if I were you, Butts.
Will you be so self-righteous if (or, heaven for bid, when) your venture at the Gazette fails?
Your constant rah-rah-rahing is getting tiresome.
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Gazzpert, can you read? I’m mourning, not dancing. Those are great newspapers and I have friends who work and have worked at them.
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This is the future of news. I am an avid news reader, but I do it all online. I also grew up in Seattle and still read the P-I all the time, especially to follow my favorite sports teams.
This is not a death, but a new beginning. And I’m sure we’ll see a lot of other papers do the same.
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Hope the ” Iowa City Corridor” venue will save you>> It is a deminished departure from the original heritage conservative eastern Iowa position, which should help you endure during the current abomination.
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Spent 25 winters in the Phoenix Arizona area , where we observed the Mesa East Valley Tribune overtake the more liberal Phoenix Republic newspaper. Both are in Maricopa county which has a population larger than Iowa.
This might indicate that a more centrist paper can progress in a homogeneous social environment as exists in “Eastern Iowa “rather than the liberal “Corridor” confinment.
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Dan, your point is based on false premises: The Arizona Republic’s circulation is about eight times the circulation of the Tribune. The Tribune is a good newspaper (I have done some consulting for Freedom Newspapers and used to see it regularly; I had breakfast last fall with the publisher and editor when I was in Phoenix). But it’s also facing the same challenges of declining revenue as other newspapers and has made some severe cutbacks. The premise that liberal newspapers are hurting because they are liberal is flatly wrong and easily disprovable on two counts: The liberal swing of the electorate last year did nothing to help supposedly liberal newspapers (except on the day after the election) and conservative newspapers are facing the same problems. You’re welcome to entertain yourself with the notion that liberal newspapers are getting their comeuppance, but the facts don’t support any contention that conservative newspapers are somehow escaping. And what does it say in the header when you go to GazetteOnline? “Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines.” We can’t pretend the “Corridor” isn’t newsworthy, but we’re not confined at all.
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