I like the Miami Herald. I really do. I'm not one of those people circling its weakened carcass like a vulture waiting for it to die. I truly believe it serves an important and vital role in this community and, after viewing this video on the demise of the Rocky Mountain News, I'm more sure of that than I ever have been before.But this Herald story defines what part of the problem is with newspapers today. Yesterday, the Herald reported that Miami radio station 93.9's format had changed from smooth jazz to "more contemporary programming." Nothing wrong with that story except that it comes a full 2 months after the change.
In fact, I posted on the transition on December 27th, a couple of days after it happened. That post continues to hit regularly in Google searches and has drawn 48 comments to date. The reason why it's so popular is because there has been little to no mainstream media coverage of this format change up until now. Blogs have been the only place to really find out what happened to a major radio station in Miami. That, folks, is crazy.
The Herald story does include interviews and background and historical information and is a comprehensive assessment of what happened to WLVE over the years, but, really, it shouldn't take 2 months to get that story out to the community, in my opinion.
I hate to see what's happening to the newspaper industry these days. Lots of good, talented people are losing their jobs because of what are described as economic problems. But the people who are managing these papers have to sit back and take an honest and critical look at the way they deliver the news...the content, the quality and the timeliness...and decide whether that isn't contributing to their lackadaisical performance, as well.
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3 comments:
But the people who are managing these papers have to sit back and take an honest and critical look at the way they deliver the news...the content, the quality and the timeliness...and decide whether that isn't contributing to their lackadaisical performance, as well.
Hear hear! This is what I keep saying; it's all about the content. If newspapers really want to survive, they need to have more news relevant to our communities, and by that I mean the local stories that we can't get from CNN or MSNBC. The Herald should have been all over that story by the 28th at the latest.
Rick
Here's some more news you won't see in the Herald: It's going to get worse.
I don't think it can be chalked up to laziness.
The sad fact is that the staff at the Herald has been hit so hard with layoffs and buyouts that there's practically no one left to do any reporting.
But I guess if Glenn Garvin had delayed his pro-censorship column by a few weeks he would have been only ONE MONTH late in reporting the demise of Love 94.
I couldn't believe that the Herald was a full 24 hours behind me in reporting the closing of Irene Marie. What does that tell you?http://randompixels.blogspot.com/2009/02/irene-marie-modeling-agency-closes.html
Right now my sources tell me that there are a total of 240 newsroom staffers left at the Herald.
That includes editors, photographers, page designers, clerks, managers etc.
So the number of staffers who actually gather and write the news is lower than 240.
As early as next week - but not more than a few weeks away - the Herald will announce more cuts and cost saving measures as ordered by parent McClatchy.
This could include more reporters being cut and pay cuts for those remaining reporters.
Right now my sources say that people at the Herald are putting in 50, 60 and 70 hour work weeks just to keep up.
Things won't be getting better anytime soon.
I don't think it's laziness, either. I think it's stupidity at the highest levels. Papers have stripped themselves of the only tools that could have saved them; their news reporters.
People are giving up on newspapers because newspapers aren't delivering content commensurate with the price.
"Local" papers have been competing with national media, which is stupid because national media has the resources to cover national stories. By the same token, there are lots of local stories that national media will never cover, stories that our local papers can cover without any competition.
So the Herald and the Sentinel and the Post largely ignore their own communities, and what happens? People within that community never recognize that we ARE in a a community: we don't know the people across the street or around the corner. The grocers don't greet us by name. We are all strangers, unknown to each other.
But instead of recognizing their true business, they strive to be CNN or TIME, they try to make a National splash. The market they could dominate goes without coverage; the publishers arrogantly charge readers for a publication that has become an advertising circular instead of news stories interspersed with ads to keep the costs down.
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