{"id":3626,"date":"2020-06-05T07:56:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T12:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=3626"},"modified":"2020-06-05T07:56:52","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T12:56:52","slug":"newspapers-face-existential-crisis-support-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/newspapers-face-existential-crisis-support-yours\/","title":{"rendered":"Newspapers Face Existential Crisis: Support Yours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>

When you go to the website of many community newspapers, including my hometown newspaper, a pop-up box appears. It says, \u201cSupport local journalism. Donate now.\u201d A nonprofit organization has been set up to allow one to make tax-deductible donations to help newspapers continue covering the COVID-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

It might seem odd to donate to keep a newspaper\u2019s coverage continuing, especially if one already pays for a subscription, as I do. As long as the presses keep rolling, and carriers continue to deliver a print product, I will happily pay to walk out in the morning, pick up the paper that our reliable carrier has placed on top of our brick mailbox (to keep if free from dogs and the sprinkler system), and head inside to read it.<\/p>\n

The national shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in mid-March, and only recently has begun lifting, has clobbered the bottom lines of print newspapers. They were already struggling, with double-digit losses in advertising revenue year after year, greatly reduced newsrooms, and a shrinking reader base. Before<\/em> this pandemic hit, at least 84 newspapers in Texas had either closed outright or merged with a sister paper in the past decade \u2014 a drop in titles of 17 percent. At least 30 Texas counties have no local newspaper. The city of Commerce, with 9,000 residents and home to Texas A&M-Commerce, lost its hometown newspaper last year. Right as the world shut down, I was researching what I was calling, \u201cThe Growing Texas Newspaper Desert,\u201d in hopes of pitching it as a magazine piece.<\/p>\n

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I stopped that research because the desert is going to spread in coming months. Our nation\u2019s democracy \u2014 already at risk from growing polarization and blatant disregard of its most cherished institutions \u2014 will suffer greatly without local newspapers and other legitimate journalism sources \u2014 New York Times<\/em>, Washington <\/em>Post, National Public Radio, Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, to name a few \u2014 there to serve as watchdogs.<\/p>\n

As most of you know, I worked for newspapers for more than 40 years, starting at the Longview News-Journal<\/em> as a paperboy at age 13. For nearly three decades, I was a newspaper publisher. That is the person in charge of the entire operation \u2014 editorial, advertising, circulation, business and production. I was lucky in that I spent most of my career working during good economic times for a great company that treated its employees well. I learned how to analyze a profit-and-loss statement, to budget, and to manage employees.<\/p>\n

I was the publisher of the Longview News-Journal<\/em> when business began to go south during the Great Recession of 2008-2009. I bounced around several newspapers after that paper was sold and eventually became a newspaper broker. I worked to put together deals for one newspaper company to buy another. Like a real estate agent, I only made money when a deal closed, but it was decent money when it occurred. Brokering allowed me to continue my first love, which is writing. I worked as a broker for four years, finally parting ways in January.<\/p>\n

As a broker, I dealt exclusively with family owned newspaper companies of various sizes. I analyzed years of P&Ls, looking for ways that it would make sense for a buyer to take over and, in almost every transaction, allow the seller to retire. At times, I simply could not find a buyer. The owner either trudged ahead, hoping something would change, or closed the paper. I always felt as if I had failed when a paper closed. More than once, I was tempted to buy a property myself and go back into small-town newspapering. Reason prevailed. I don\u2019t have the energy anymore to work the number of hours required at a small-town weekly.<\/p>\n

I explain all this to say, folks, newspapers face an existential crisis. When stores are closed, they don\u2019t advertise. Some days during the shutdown, the News-Journal<\/em> had virtually no ads in it. Still, they kept covering the news and printing the paper, wisely opting to drop the Monday edition. To those of you that grouse about that, this is the reality. Advertising pays the bills at all<\/em> community newspapers. At the properties I analyzed as a broker (not the News-Journal<\/em>, I hasten to add), advertising accounted for 80-90 percent of the total revenue, with circulation making up the rest. As hard as they have tried, only a few have been able to generate significant online revenue \u2014 such as the New York Times<\/em>, Washington Post<\/em>, and Wall Street Journal<\/em>. For most community newspapers, online advertising is still a minor revenue stream.<\/p>\n

Now more than ever, we need<\/em> strong community journalism. So, here is what I urge you to do, if you\u2019re not already doing so.<\/p>\n