Newspapers have been taking a pounding.
Display advertisers, following the lead of the depressed car companies, department stores and furniture stores, are dying, drying up or disappearing. Craigslist.org has hammered away on the classified ads. And subscribers and newsstand buyers are dropping off, politically offended or just angry at the reduced product they’re being asked to pay more for–when they can get it for free on the Internet.
Only one thing keeps local papers publishing. On a foray to Beverly Hills, I picked up a copy of Beverly Hills Weekly from someone’s lawn, saving it from the gardener’s throwing it in the trash. The free weekly is a rag of the first order, featuring random interviews with local non-entities and a boosterish write-up of how well the Beverly Hills High School touch football team played in a 7-on-7 tournament.
What keeps this compelling read in business? In the 20-page issue I perused, there were 5 pages of service directiory ads for truly local businesses; rooters, roofing, plastering, maid service, trainers and the like, lured by the un-Beverly Hills price of 10 weeks for $250. But the real money-maker for this rag and so many like it has to be the legal advertising and public notices. They should supply a free magnifying glass with every issue; one page had more than 80 fictious business statements and public notices!
When public notices can be published on the Internet, newspapers will themselves be a ‘fictious business’, and the publishing game will finally be over.
Tags: death-of-newspapers, death-of-print, fictious-business
