Home > Living a Better LIFE > Archives > 2008 > September > 13 > Entry
Changing with the times
Pardon us while we go through some more growing pains
Actually, I should save some shrinking pains.
Like its counterparts from small community newspapers to The New York Times, the Telegram is slimming down. You will see fewer pages in the paper, and some sections will have to be combined to make this happen. Other changes also are afoot.
One section that will be affected by this at least occasionally will be Religion. Instead of being a four-page B section in Saturday’s edition, it will be three pages in the A section. This happened on Sept. 6, and I expect it will be a fairly common event.
The reasons are simple: paper cost and revenue. Paper is one of the top expenses a newspaper has to bear, and its price has been creeping higher over the years. You may have noticed that newspapers have been printed on ever smaller pages for the last few years. That’s an attempt to lower paper use - and, hence, the cost. Tightening the number of pages simply is a continuation of the trend.
Also, with newspapers’ revenues slipping, there simply isn’t the economic cushion there to stay with long-used formats that do not carry a reasonable number of ads. If the ratio of ads to pages isn’t high enough, the number of pages will have to be lowered to bring the two in balance.
Likewise, another result of the revenue slip is the need to increase positions where ads may be placed. One change you will see in the Telegram will be an ad placed across the bottoms of some section fronts. Doing so offers an advertiser a high-visibility position that is not surrounded by other ads.
As I understand it, there are no plans to do this on page 1A; however, I expect you eventually will see ads on fronts such as the Marquee entertainment section in Thursday’s editions and the Twin Counties Business tab in Monday’s editions.
This is not something to be worried about. Many newspapers have sold these positions for years. The Telegram has been one of a decreasing number of newspapers that simply opted not to.
I wish I could tell you that this is a perfect world for newspapers, with circulation, revenue and staff sizes on the upswing. However, if you’ve been reading the news for the last few years, you know that isn’t so. Newspapers, like any other business, are doing their best to cope. Please bear with us as we feel our way through these changing times.
What improvements would you like to see in newspapers in general or the Telegram in particular? Share your thoughts by commenting on this blog or e-mailing Ross at rchandler@coxnc.com.
Comments