Rocky Mountain News, a paper that I have never read in my life, is out of the game after 150 years, longer than Colorado has been a state. Sad. 200 layoffs, pictures of employees crying, real problems for real people. And there's a shitpot more that are on the edge of the cliff - San Fran, Seattle, L.A., Chicago. My take is they deserve it like the auto industry. They had poor vision, bad management, bloated budgets, egos, and primma donnas. But two key issues that happened, in my opinion, is one of the key reasons they are going belly up.
(A.) Gary Larsen retired, and took the genius of The Far Side with it and (B.) They let Craigslist come in to their prime ground---their community which should be their world, and get ruled in every kinkily contorted way.
Easy Board Meeting agenda in any one of therse companies; a simplistic, break down to rudiments is in order, some mind clearing, and you should arrive to the only fucking question that should really matter-----Why do people buy the newspaper? If you think it is because of great International/National correspondents reporting by way of elegant writing and prose ~ I think that's wrong. Granted, a big generation of 30 somethings up to the oldest of the old, within their wits read the paper everyday - faithfully, for actual news. But that's obviously not enough. The nation is loaded with way more people that don't really fucking care about Istanbul, California Water Rights, etc...They want The Far Side Back. They Want Calvin and Hobbs back they want something quick and funny to read while they're taking a shit (mainly men), but the truth really to be told is that a lot of us like the kinky shit most of all. And that's where they let Craigslist outflank, outmaneuver and then destroy their monopoly on the classifieds. Its like seeing Wile E. Coyote hose himself again, and again. He always tried to get too smart with that stupid stringy bird.
---Sadly, we don't have a great cartoonist and comedic genius commensurate with the masses present mood bringing the non newser types to pay up. And they are definitely not capturing the attention defecit full free minds of young kids, who could be running to the paper machine, plopping down the quarters ( or as I would do it, fist pump the coin return and pop the lid and grab one for free---they fixed that model in 82 I believe-- some are still around) trash all the lame stuff, like The News, and get to the cartoon pages. If cartoons aren;'t working, and no way is a 12 year old going to like Dilbert...or even come close to understand Doonesberry, then they should create something to get their attention--like a hip voice sending out an X-Box 360 codec program that does some trick thing that you never knew you could do before. A geek column aimed at 4th graders to fortysomethings. Whatever-----get the kids then plus to the papers again. Persoanlly, I miss Heatcliff the most.
Second---When you have a city, and a paper, the Classifieds used to be the most important reason to buy the damn thing for a majority of people. I dont have any statistics, but I know I'm right --- there are a lot of unaware people out here, trying to survive, but most importantly be happy. The classifieds can make a lot of people, within the same community, very happy. Business owners, tradespeople, buyers and sellers---its a real market place, with potentially the best deals available. When newspapers started going online , they fucked up mostly with the no knowledge of best effective use of their classifieds page. Hindsight being twenty/twenty - The beauty of Craigslist is (A.) It's free,and (B.) it's bare bones simplicity. Their shit gets right to the point of what you want, or are looking for. They smoked local newspapers outta the game with one simple ass software program. They should have all the same weird shit in their classifieds that the indepenent journal rags have in them to. We'd get a kick outta reading the Writing styles of SWM Seeking BWFM. Its the way of the world - used tires and chinese massage. Focus on that better, and you'll have a chance.
And a final bonus tip. Lower your damn fees for placing a help wanted ad or work wanted in your damn paper. Paying $300 for 2 weeks is well....weak. Obviously people are going to place those ads where they get a lot of viewership, and Craigslist owns it right now. Its become a euphemism, like Google and TiVO. -- but not as an action more as a noun---something fixed to the ground within your neighborhood. More viewers - more ad money (but make the ads small and non intervening). Lower the fucking fee for the hardcopy, and provide the free online ad. There, was that so hard? Pay me, I'm available.
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