ISSUE: National Newspaper Week

OUR VIEW: Plenty to celebrate, plenty of challenges now and ahead 

National Newspaper Week begins today. Some might ask what newspapers have to celebrate, as it seems so many are convinced “the paper” is disappearing from the American landscape.

It is not, as most newspapers, from The New York Times to The Times and Democrat and the smallest of publications, have more readers than ever. Combine print and Internet audiences and the reach is worldwide for just about any publication.

Newspapers have never done a good job of fighting for themselves, promoting themselves, instead looking to the public to understand that newspaper journalism is the backbone of democracy. Our very system of self-governance depends upon the press’ watchdog role. Do not forget Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote about newspapers being more important than the government itself.

It’s time for newspapers to do battle against the naysayers.

Writing in Editor and Publisher magazine in January, Donna Barrett, president and chief executive officer of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., and Randy Siegel, president and publisher of Parade Publications, outline a plan:

* Newspaper companies need to capitalize more aggressively on the valuable information their newsrooms singularly provide their communities and the country. In these uncertain, complex times, trusted, compelling content has the potential to be more essential for readers and online users than ever.

“Quality content is still king, and newspapers own the best news-gathering operations in their individual markets. Nearly all local news originates from newspaper journalists, which remains a huge competitive advantage if utilized the right way.”

* Newspapers can increase their revenues and reach by investing in more content creation for different audiences, not less. The more compelling articles and information a newspaper and its Web site can offer, the longer readers and online users will be engaged. The longer consumers are engaged, the more exposure they will have to ads in print and online. The more attention the ads receive, the better the advertisers’ responses typically will be and the more those ads will be worth.

“Creating a more attractive experience for newspaper and Web site audiences enhances advertising revenues. Conversely, cutting back too much on content while raising prices to readers and advertisers accelerates audience declines, which in turn undermine advertising revenues. It’s pretty much impossible for any business, including newspapers, to increase market share and profitability by decreasing the quality of its product and losing customers.”

* The newspaper industry needs to reexamine how to protect and monetize its valuable print and online content. Are online aggregators plagiarizing work and profiting mightily by selling their ads around our content without paying a cent? Or are they driving enough traffic and revenue to newspaper Web sites to justify the risk?

While Google CEO Eric Schmidt was quoted recently as saying, “All information wants to be free,” it’s clear the issue is not so simple — especially as Google continues to sell billions of dollars a year worth of advertising around original newspaper content.

* Newspapers should improve the quality of their sales and marketing operations. While it’s easy to blame what ails the newspaper industry on disruptive technologies such as the Internet, newspaper companies need to revitalize their sales and marketing strategies and keep upgrading their personnel in revenue-producing areas.

“Many newspaper sales forces still are unwilling or unable to sell their value against competing media. For example, newspaper sales forces frequently struggle to extol the virtues of print advertising. In fact, print ads may be poised to see a resurgence in value in the advertising community. They aren’t skipped over by TiVos and DVRs, whose growing household penetration is destroying the television industry’s revenue model. They don’t scream at you for 20 minutes every hour like ad-saturated commercial radio. They don’t cookie you, track your keystrokes and violate your privacy while selling your personal information like many of the more manipulative Internet sites out there.”

Newspapers are changing in this information age. But the journalists who gather the news and create the products used to provide that news to millions remain as vital to this country as ever. We will survive -- and prosper. It’s essential.

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