The sea change of print to digital

Paper-based information is dying out even faster than astute members of my generation realize. Ah, information "on paper." My generation is the one signing up for Medicare in large numbers now. When we grew up, we assumed that writing was done on paper. It was in second grade when I was taught "penmanship." Penmanship seemed like an art form in the 19th Century. Just look back to the letters written during the Civil War.
I have begun feeling awkward even writing a routine paper check. Our transactions are increasingly being taken over by the electronic universe. Resist change at your own risk. The Internet is so established now, so much the norm, that the term itself is almost passe. We reminisce on its early days. The Internet practices of 20 years ago now seem like high-button shoes. Napster! CNN has run a documentary on this.
And then we must consider newspapers. So much ballyhoo over the decline of newspapers. And yet we realize that print media isn't literally dying, it is just having to re-form. I visited our Morris Public Library Saturday and noticed the Morris paper is just one section, 12 pages. The paper long ago farmed out ad composition work to the Detroit Lakes branch of the corporate behemoth that owns it. So I have to wonder: why on earth do they need a staff of six people, as listed, to put out this thing? If you still buy the paper or advertise in it, you're paying the salaries of those people.
What does the top manager do there? Does this individual contribute appreciably with either news content or ad sales? It appears not. This individual is certainly the highest-paid of all of them. Wouldn't you want that person to contribute more materially to what you are buying? Aren't you primarily buying "news?" How good a job does the Morris paper do covering the county board?
The Canary publication is included with the Morris paper. In the past, Canary editions as small as 12 pages were rare, appearing only during the predictably slow times like post-Christmas. It's common to see 12-pagers now. I do not see a Heartland Motors ad in the current Canary, and I did not see one the previous week either. Unless I'm just missing them.
I remember when we had three major car dealers in Morris and they all bought large ads in print all the time. I took loads of photos for them, to the point of exasperation sometimes. I once suggested to one of them that they use "file photos" more often, and I got yelled at like you wouldn't believe. I had to wonder why people were buying and trading cars so often.
Today based on advertising, it appears there's just one really substantial car dealer in our Motown: Heartland. As for Valu Ford, a friend told me a while back: "All they do is try to sell you a pickup for $40,000." Considering GM's recent ballyhooed cutbacks, I have to wonder how this will affect Heartland.

(image from Valley Express)

If you get the Canary you might think you're a friend of Jim Gesswein. He appears to be buying print ads like it's the old days. Maybe it is, in Milbank, South Dakota. The Canary presents full-page ads for Jim with his smiling mug, to the point we feel we know him. Sometimes there are two full-page ads in a single issue. Sometimes I wonder if he gets the second page as a "comp" just because he sticks with the Canary so well, and the publication might need to push things to get it up to 12 pages.
Make note of all the "house ads," ads which no one is paying for. Jim Morrison became annoyed with obligations to run those, back when he had to answer to the guy from Detroit Lakes. We had become a "chain paper." The Forum seemed to leave us alone for a while, to reduce the shock effect of chain ownership, but eventually the shock was implemented.
You know who predicted this? Jay Fier of the City of Morris. One day soon after I quit the paper, I was out jogging and Jay pulled up alongside me. I stopped which I was happy to do. He gave the impression that my departure was a prelude to what a chain was likely to do with a new acquisition. The effects were hardly evident yet but they were soon in coming.
I remember a friend in Morris who noticed a small reduction in page size (cost savings of course). She worked at a bank in town. She was rather displeased, but holy cow look what happened later: the Morris paper cancelled one of its whole issues that came out each week. It's just Saturday now. And it's just 12 pages, at least this week's issue is. What do those six employees all do? And my, the Hancock paper has gone into extinction. Plus, the free shopper called the Ad-Viser.
I invested so many hours of my life just working on distribution of those products. Going to Quinco Press in Lowry around Christmas allowed me to "raid" their refrigerator for cold chicken after their Christmas party! I remember going there one night when I had the flu and was so weak I could hardly lift anything. (This was for drop-off of circulars and I was alone.)
I got through all that, back in those glorious times of "analog" communications, when we assumed useful information was in print. If it wasn't glorious it was at least an essential part of the world in which we lived. I have the memories and I still have the penmanship skills.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com