Article published April 05, 2009
Are daily newspapers a dying breed? Not this one
"Newspapers are dead … the last newspaper in America will be out of business in a decade."
- Ted Turner, founder of CNN
So … was Ted Turner right?
Earlier this year, the Rocky Mountain News, a paper that had been publishing since before the Civil War, went out of business.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which has been publishing since 1863, became an online-only newspaper last month and laid off the vast majority of its staff. Closer to home, the Ann Arbor News, which has been around since before Michigan became a state, announced that it would publish its last regular print edition in July.
After that, it will become a combination online community bulletin board and "social networking service," according to its outgoing publisher, with some occasional printed product.Last week, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, after having lost two-thirds of their circulation over the last two decades, now are delivering newspapers only two or three days a week.
So are daily newspapers dead?
Well, guess who doesn't think so: Ted Turner. The Mouth of the South's famous prediction was made, not last year or this year, but in 1981, the year after he launched Headline News.
The next year, USA Today was born, and it now has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the country. Last year, Mr. Turner told Time magazine that not only had he been wrong, he was happy he had been wrong. "Breaking news doesn't give you depth and perspective. You need magazines and newspapers."
Closer to home, what about The Toledo Blade?
My educated guess, as someone who studies and teaches journalism for the better part of his living, is that The Blade will be publishing, both in print and in various other forms from the Internet to blogs and tweets and other forms not yet invented, for the future as far as we can foresee it and as long as daily newspapers exist.
The economics of the industry suggest that while the difficult times are not yet over, The Blade is better positioned than many papers, including the ones I've mentioned earlier in this column.
Last week, I talked about the economics of the industry with Joseph H. Zerbey IV, The Blade's president and general manager. "These are very difficult times for newspapers" all over the country, he observed. But to some extent, he saw it coming.
"Management at The Blade has taken several steps to limit the damage to the bottom line, including reducing payroll and nonpayroll expenses," he said.
While newspapers are changing and face more competition than ever, he has reason to be optimistic.
Unlike the papers I mentioned earlier, he noted that "The Blade is the strongest media outlet in northwest Ohio" and in that tier of Michigan counties along the state's southern border.
The newspaper reaches more than four-fifths of the market, far ahead of the area's various free weekly newspapers.
"The Blade reaches out through the daily printed page, our Web site, our blogs, tweets, the mobile phone along with e-alerts on breaking news, so you can get the Pulitzer-Prize winning Blade anytime, anywhere, seven days a week."
Now, does that sound like a salesman talking?
Of course it does. But that doesn't mean he isn't right.
Now some readers will be instantly skeptical of what I just said, since, after all, I am paid by this newspaper to be its ombudsman and have had a relationship with The Blade for much of the last 30 years.
And I don't blame them: Skepticism is good. Journalists are professional skeptics. We used to say, "If your mama says she loves you, check it out." You can make up your own mind about whether my conclusions about the newspaper business are valid.
But I should mention that while I, like everybody else, like getting paid, this newspaper is not the main source of my livelihood. Wayne State University is. (I also earned more money from broadcasting on Michigan Radio last year than from The Blade.)
If I made wrong predictions about this industry, I would be professionally embarrassed. My honest belief is that this newspaper will be around for many years. If I am wrong, everyone who lives in this area will suffer more than I will.
That's because there is simply no substitute for a daily newspaper. Nobody else has the resources, the professionalism, or the institutional memory needed to cover the life of any community.
The Blade has been covering issues in this town for nearly two centuries. I can walk into its library and find stories about what Carty Finkbeiner stood for when he first ran for office in 1974.
The paper has staff members who have been here since the 1940s, and some who were born in the 1980s.
There is no denying that this newspaper is going through some hard times and that the number of people who take the printed edition is declining. But I don't expect it to go away.
This newspaper, this town, and this nation have a long history together. Abraham Lincoln made his wife mad by showing up late for dinner on the very last night of his life, because his weekly Toledo Blade had arrived in the mail, and he just had to read editor David Ross Locke's latest funny Nasby letters aloud to a visiting governor.
Lincoln believed in the union and didn't listen when they told him that the country couldn't possibly survive without breaking up.
When Mark Twain once heard that someone had published his obituary, he supposedly said. "The reports of my death seem greatly exaggerated." Somehow I think the reports of the end of the American newspaper have been greatly exaggerated too.
As a citizen, I certainly hope so.
w
To the nice lady from Bryan, Ohio, who called me to discuss The Blade's Neighbors sections: I would like to help you, but you did not leave me your name, e-mail, or phone number. This makes contacting you difficult, so please try again.
Anyone with a concern about fairness or accuracy in The Blade is invited to write me, c/o The Blade; 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, 43660, or at my Detroit office: 563 Manoogian Hall, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202; call me, at 1-888-746-8610 or e-mail me at OMBLADE@aol.com. I cannot promise to address every question in the newspaper, but I do promise that everyone who contacts me with a serious question will get a personal reply.
Jack Lessenberry is a member of the journalism faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit and a former national editor of The Blade.
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