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Thread summary:

Texas: San Antonio, being laid off, newspaper, news, iphone, Real Estate.

 
Old 11-18-2008, 07:38 AM
Bo Bo started this thread Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

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Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 38,096,265 times
Reputation: 14447

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Just heard on the radio that the SA Express-News publisher sent out a memo to employees today that 50 of them will be subject to a layoff. Apparently the paper is struggling to attract young readers and hurting from competition with online news sources.
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Old 11-18-2008, 08:46 PM
 
288 posts, read 926,225 times
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That is not surprising. Young people (30 and under) just don't read the paper as religiously as the generations before. Part of my job is in marketing, and our basic rule is don't advertise in the newspaper because no one reads it. I for one still purchase the paper, but I can't say I don't blame people for not being too excited about it.
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Old 11-20-2008, 01:48 AM
 
Location: San Antonio
2,953 posts, read 5,292,856 times
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Yeah, I agree with SAFD_Wife. I think the newspaper format is dying. I'm 38, and my primary source for news is my iPhone. I get feeds from Google News, Yahoo News, and CNN Mobile. I check them at least 10 times a day, so I am always current. Newspapers, by their very nature, just report yesterday's news. People no longer need to wait for a 24 hour printing cycle to run to get news, when web resources deliver updated news minute by minute. Besides, most of the articles in the Express-News are retreads from AP and Reuters. If I want in-debt analysis, I listen to NPR. Hard Copy Newspapers have become more advertisements then content over the last few years anyway.
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Old 11-20-2008, 07:06 AM
Bo Bo started this thread Bo won $500 in our forum's Most Engaging Poster Contest - Tenth Edition (Apr-May 2014). 

Over $104,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum and additional contests are planned
 
Location: Ohio
17,107 posts, read 38,096,265 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GWhopper View Post
I think the newspaper format is dying. I'm 38, and my primary source for news is my iPhone. I get feeds from Google News, Yahoo News, and CNN Mobile. I check them at least 10 times a day, so I am always current.
Who's going to fill the pipelines of those feeds if the mainstream media currently feeding them goes away? I kind of like having local reporters and editors keep an eye on what our local government bodies are up to.

I know that it's a generational thing. My son is an avid consumer of online news sources, but he won't pick up a newspaper either. I'm just not convinced that those media outlets can survive with the revenue from online ads. I'm not ready to see the media reins handed over to bloggers, though.
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Old 11-20-2008, 05:34 PM
 
Location: San Antonio
2,953 posts, read 5,292,856 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bowie View Post
Who's going to fill the pipelines of those feeds if the mainstream media currently feeding them goes away? I kind of like having local reporters and editors keep an eye on what our local government bodies are up to.

I know that it's a generational thing. My son is an avid consumer of online news sources, but he won't pick up a newspaper either. I'm just not convinced that those media outlets can survive with the revenue from online ads. I'm not ready to see the media reins handed over to bloggers, though.
I do agree, I don't want the see the local news sources to disappear, but they are definetely going to have to invent a new business model to survive. I predict there will be a narrowing of focus in the near future. Aside from local stories and the metro section, most of the articles in the paper are from national news sources.
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Old 11-20-2008, 08:16 PM
 
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I am 31 myself and yet am a huge fan of the printed media. I also prefer real books to reading ebooks. I feel that in this day and age I spend enough time staring at monitors, I don't enjoy doing it for leisure as well.

I only just recently started subscribing to the Express-News, but I don't know how long that's going to last. I seem to find a lot more to read in a copy of USA Today than I do in Express-News. For one thing, I have no interest whatsoever in sports, so there's a whole section I just throw away. Classifieds is another bloated section I don't need. Business has occasionally an article here, one there that are of interest, but for the most part I don't care much for stock exchange news.

What I want is local news, lots of them, and some national news, sparingly. If I want real-time national news or breaking news, I go to CNN.com. But for local news, I would expect the local newspaper to scratch that itch. Unfortunately a lot of the articles seem to be from Associated Press, and there is a lot of repetition. And a lot of columns.

Another issue I have with this paper is the customer support. I initially wanted to order the paper online, because I find that convenient, and pay for it with a credit card. Oops, they don't allow that. I could submit my order, but I would have to call their customer support during specific hours Monday through Friday to give them my credit card information. Apparently I have found the one company in the country that has a website but fails to utilize it to its proper potential.

So instead of conveniently ordering the paper from their own site, I had to use a third party web site that specializes in newspaper subscriptions, and there I could not only pay with a credit card and instantly start my subscription, but I could also get it for a lower price. Dropped the ball there, Express-News.

As for customer support itself - I've made two calls to them. Both times the wait was 10-15 minutes to speak to a live person, during which time I was forcefed audio advertisements telling me how I can make money easily at home (oh great, another one of those scams?).

Having said all that, I don't like hearing that they're kicking out 50 people. I don't see that improving their service, quite the opposite.
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Old 11-20-2008, 09:22 PM
JNA
 
Location: San Antonio, TX
243 posts, read 735,039 times
Reputation: 136
I think for newspapers to survive, they are going to have to concentrate on the local stories. I know that when I am looking for major happenings in the country in the world, I know I am going to find it much quicker at Drudge, radio, or Fox News (web or TV), much quicker than in the newspaper.

Not only that, if newspapers want to report on national news that is yesterday's news, they need to be much better at unbiased investigative and analytical reporting as they are unable to compete in being first to the story with all the different media outlets now available.
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Old 11-20-2008, 09:30 PM
 
Location: Western Bexar County
3,823 posts, read 14,665,638 times
Reputation: 1943
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zebolt View Post
I am 31 myself and yet am a huge fan of the printed media. I also prefer real books to reading ebooks. I feel that in this day and age I spend enough time staring at monitors, I don't enjoy doing it for leisure as well.

I only just recently started subscribing to the Express-News, but I don't know how long that's going to last. I seem to find a lot more to read in a copy of USA Today than I do in Express-News. For one thing, I have no interest whatsoever in sports, so there's a whole section I just throw away. Classifieds is another bloated section I don't need. Business has occasionally an article here, one there that are of interest, but for the most part I don't care much for stock exchange news.

What I want is local news, lots of them, and some national news, sparingly. If I want real-time national news or breaking news, I go to CNN.com. But for local news, I would expect the local newspaper to scratch that itch. Unfortunately a lot of the articles seem to be from Associated Press, and there is a lot of repetition. And a lot of columns.

Another issue I have with this paper is the customer support. I initially wanted to order the paper online, because I find that convenient, and pay for it with a credit card. Oops, they don't allow that. I could submit my order, but I would have to call their customer support during specific hours Monday through Friday to give them my credit card information. Apparently I have found the one company in the country that has a website but fails to utilize it to its proper potential.

So instead of conveniently ordering the paper from their own site, I had to use a third party web site that specializes in newspaper subscriptions, and there I could not only pay with a credit card and instantly start my subscription, but I could also get it for a lower price. Dropped the ball there, Express-News.

As for customer support itself - I've made two calls to them. Both times the wait was 10-15 minutes to speak to a live person, during which time I was forcefed audio advertisements telling me how I can make money easily at home (oh great, another one of those scams?).

Having said all that, I don't like hearing that they're kicking out 50 people. I don't see that improving their service, quite the opposite.
I only get the Fri-Sun papers. I read the Business, Metro, and Real Estate sections only.

You can pay on-line by using CheckFree's On-line Service.
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