Newspapers getting slammed into turnbuckle

I have referred to Paul Gillin's Newspaper Death Watch once on this site, and I should explain that his popular aggregating type of site (with some similarities to this one, though with more than a minuscule following) isn't nearly as hard on newspapers as the name suggests.
Gillen is documenting the obvious i.e. the dramatically changing media landscape. And he actually says "we like newspapers!" He has been complimented for not merely joining in with all the "Internet triumphalist Kant" that is out there.
I'm not worthy of the same compliment, as you'll find all sorts of that Kant stuff here. Today's post gets going with a quote and it's a close paraphrase (not of Gillen but another media maven):

"I'm not saying that newspapers can't do great things. What I am saying is that their business model is dying."
- Michael Wolff, media analyst and biographer of Rupert Murdoch, on a CNBC panel discussion, perhaps a year ago

Newspaper industry observers are increasingly saying that the fixed costs in newspapering are going to start applying a Vern Gagne sleeper hold, soon. Papers have done about as much cutting as they can in areas where they have discretion to cut. When you consider that newspapers are competing with "free" (as in this website), the task is daunting, sort of like "The Always Capable Kenny Jay" taking on Vern.
The Morris and Hancock newspapers have been under chain ownership for some time. My impression of chain papers is that they're a lot like pink flamingos. There's no real "heart" to them. They inundate us with advertising which is their lifeblood. They have bean counters in high positions who don't hesitate to make austerity moves when the numbers dictate. Considering that newspapers have been in such a well-documented retreat, those bean counters are encouraging lots of belt tightening.
Locally the Morris newspaper has gone from twice weekly to once a week. And the newspaper office in Hancock has been yanked completely. Necessary moves? The owner, The Forum of Fargo, would say yes, but I would want to know what the company's profit expectations are. We're all entitled to seek a profit, even a fat profit, but we must provide a needed service and provide it well.
I remember when Forum owner William Marcil and some fellow executives visited the old Sun Tribune building one day during the purchase process. I was the first person with whom Marcil shook hands and said "hello." I'll never forget that. I also couldn't help but think: "Is this (acquisition) really a good thing?" For me, no, as I'd probably still be working for the paper if it were still organized according to the old model. Looking back to when that corporate entourage visited, I can't help but think of scenes from the old "Star Trek" TV series where William Shatner as Captain Kirk was confronted by the Klingons.
The Forum probably should have paused and taken a deep breath before buying the newspapers in Grand Forks and Duluth. "Sinking Titanics" is what former Fargo Forum columnist Mike McFeely called these two papers in a June blog post with his new employer: KFGO Radio. Marcil seems like a nice guy but he may just be rearranging the deck chairs.
Newspapers are in retreat because information is becoming free. People want information to be free. Information itself wants to be free (if you'll permit me to be anthropomorphic). Newspapers are trying to resist the forces of change, keeping those "presses running" in an age when we are in a sea of free information thanks to the new communications universe.
The community newspapers that are still family owned are probably rolling with the punches better than their (distant) chain cousins. An industry insider told me a while back that the mom and pop papers "are still doing fine as long as they have everything paid for and they have another source of income."
Chain papers don't accept retreat so easily. So these, in my estimation, have become unpleasant places in which to work, where people have grown sullen and prickly. Life is too short for that.
I was surprised and concerned recently when I noticed that the Morris paper suddenly included ad circulars for several businesses located outside of Stevens County. Incredibly, these included circulars for two grocery stores in Alexandria. Alexandria? A 45 minutes' drive away? I can't believe those stores would want to pay "full rate" for getting their flyers in the Morris paper, same rate as for, say, our local Willie's Super Valu.
I'm not a businessman so I can't really speculate on all the numbers. But something rubs me the wrong way about this. Perhaps others have agreed. After a couple of weeks, the circular for Pete's County Market disappeared. Last Saturday I didn't notice Elden's Food Fair either, so I thought perhaps both had been eradicated due to public pressure (i.e. pressure from people with brains).
Alas, the word on the street Monday morning was that the Elden's circular was still, well, circulating.
Ironically, most people from here who actually buy groceries in Alexandria probably do it at Wal-Mart. Which raises the question: Is Wal-Mart going to put up a new store in Morris this spring, north of McDonald's? Did Wal-Mart push certain buttons to get Coborn's out of the picture, so that the city would be more likely to put out a welcome mat?
Would Wal-Mart be good or bad for this community? Would it be good in the sense that it would fill a void in amenities deemed valuable by UMM students (and more importantly, prospective UMM students)? Would it make us feel a little, well, "micropolitan?" Fascinating questions. But in the meantime, do we want to push business to Alexandria? Should the Morris paper be a party to that by including all this advertising material?
I hope some street-level voices are in agreement with mine.
The Forum-owned Duluth News-Tribune has had a third of its workforce slashed in the last two years. Discontent in the Port City press has reached the point where informational pickets have appeared outside the building.
Forum officials hung up on an NBC affiliate reporter seeking to do a story, according to David Brauer of Minnpost. Maybe "hung up" is becoming a dated term so let's just say the enterprising NBC reporter "heard a click." Sheesh. Ink-stained newspaper folks have cried "foul" for years when movers and shakers have stonewalled on investigative media inquiries. But now that the story is the paper itself?
I'm reminded of the "sullen" and "prickly" adjectives again.
Someone with the initials K.O. posted the following on the "Northland's Newscenter" site: "The DNT (Duluth News-Tribune) has always been an uncomfortable place to work because it has a strong profit driven workplace, with employees being a dispensable commodity. We all should be thankful for jobs but we shouldn't be treated that way from employers. The DNT should be thankful for employees they have. At one time it used to be a good job in town, but I tell others to stay away from the DNT. Stop treating your employees like children and grow up."
I related all of this to a friend in the radio business in Willmar, quoting for him a union (or "guild") statement from that imbroglio. He wrote back: "What's with this union? 'We protest the layoffs and bring our concerns to the public.' That's like if the union for slide rule manufacturers back in the early '70's would have been shocked and upset about the layoffs then? Times change and so does business - but then again the union officials have to do something publicly to earn their keep."
I'd be willing to bet that the Forum-owned paper in Willmar will discontinue its Monday edition within months. Many communities of similar size have seen this happen. If Willmar's West Central Tribune follows the Red Wing model it will shrivel down to twice a week and eliminate much of the non-local news. People get their non-local news from myriad other sources now, so chopping down trees to duplicate it seems imprudent.
The newspaper is no longer a necessity because of the wealth of information available online - a body of information growing larger and more reliable with each passing day. As more people decide to pursue a green, paperless lifestyle, I suspect they might be affronted when a "free" shopper (like the Ad-viser) lands on their doorstep. Don't hesitate to try to have it discontinued. If you subscribe to the paper out of habit, try to re-think that habit. If you need to know what's going on in the community, get on the email list for the "Friday Facts" feature of the Morris Area Chamber of Commerce and U of M-Morris. We are moving toward a more uplifting and eco-friendly communications universe.
Dwelling on newspapers' shortcomings is in the end fruitless, because I feel they are simply fading into irrelevance. Like the U.S. Postal Service. Recycling the paper accomplishes nothing more than starting the whole process over again.
"Going paperless," a popular and practical trend these days, should include getting rid of newspapers. E-coupons are now available through our terrific radio station website (kmrs-kkok).
Newspapers are a dinosaur. Let's leave this "Land of the Lost." (Will Ferrell, what were you thinking?)
-Brian Williams - Morris Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com