Woody
Publisher’s
Notebook
Two years ago, I wrote how proud we were here at the Daily Press to convert successfully to morning delivery (from afternoon) and add a Saturday edition. Times were robust. New homes were being built everywhere and cars were flying off of local automobile lots. Unemployment advertising beseeched workers to leave one job for another. Two new significant retail malls opened on south Townsend.
That was then.
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Suspension of the Monday print edition will save the Daily Press expenses for home delivery, staffing, production and consumables like paper, ink, syndicate charges and other items. It is our desire to bring Monday back when the economy improves. (Monday’s print edition is edited, composed and printed Sunday nights.)
To be frank, the economy sucks. Everyone is hurting. Building permits are way down. Realtors aren’t moving homes like they did two years ago. The car troubles in Detroit trickle down to the local markets. With people hanging onto their jobs, there is less employment advertising in the classifieds. It’s everywhere in the media, too; magazines, TV, radio, direct mail, all feeling the pinch. Governments are trimming their services and office hours as tax incomes slide. Dentists tell me their patients are postponing elective dental work. Surgeons are advertising, encouraging a cash discount. Some Main Street businesses have been shuttered. The Daily Press, the oldest business in Montrose that dates back to its founding in 1882, isn’t immune.
What we plan to do:
• We will extend credit to print edition subscribers for each week remaining on their subscriptions. For example, if you have 15 weeks left, you’ll received 15 extra days to make up for Monday.
• We will further develop our Monday edition via online features, both local and from the Associated Press. We will post breaking news online as we do now when it occurs.
• We also will continue our support of local charities, events and other efforts to enrich the community. Last year, the Press assisted 26 local charities and non-profit groups.
Some misplaced assumptions:
• For this particular newspaper, it’s not a readership issue; it’s a revenue issue. Today, our daily paid circulation is what it was four years ago. While some would argue how that’s static, it’s also a reflection of a stable, loyal readership. According to our last audit, the Press is in almost 50 percent of the homes in the retail trade zone. That’s enviable statistic, one that’s coveted by our metropolitan newspaper brethren. We continue to be the leading source for news and community information and valuable marketing data for our franchise, Montrose.
• Our Internet readership www.montrosepress.com has grown tremendously to a daily average of more than 5,000 unique visitors, according to data from our web host, TownNews. In April, we just missed the one million page views mark, 993,080. According to Belden Research, the “footprint” of our Web site is 68 percent “local.” That means that while we have readers from all over the U.S. and world to keep up with their hometown or have interests here, some seven of 10 online readers live in the market area. Content-wise, local news is the number one online choice, reaffirming what we do in print; readership of classified advertising is number two.
• The Daily Press is profitable. It has no debt on its buildings or presses and has no intention of closing. Ever.
If you combine our print numbers and our online numbers, it’s a strong readership by any yardstick. We still make the cash registers ring at our local merchants. (Bless them!) We’re part business, part community institution, part community trust, and part sounding board. In the Tuesday, April 29 edition of The Wall Street Journal, there was a story about how while metro papers are floundering, community newspapers, like the Daily Press, are riding out the economic storm and is a “good bet” for investors. “Owning a community newspaper is just one part business smarts, and several parts romance,” said the story.
I would agree. In today’s fragmented, 24-hour, “white-noise” media audience, community newspapers provide cohesion and community. In as long as we continue to do two things – remain relevant and remain affordable – readers will continue to bring us into their lives. That’s true in better days, in today’s rough spots and in our future.
As always, thank you for your support.
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