Friday, February 24, 2012

Problems, problems ...

... With Sale, Phila. Reporters Fear Loss Of Integrity : NPR. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Circulation and advertising are down. A new set of layoffs has been announced, and the papers' newsrooms are about to be combined with the news site Philly.com.

Reporters might also want to wonder why circulation is down. Always bad news when your product doesn't sell and a good idea to try to figure out why. As for combining the newsrooms with Philly.com, it might behoove someone to note that Philly.com is one of the worst newspaper websites around. I've heard from people all over the world who have found it difficult to navigate. Hell, I find it difficult to navigate.
A good chunk of  this region does not live in Center City or Mount Airy and does not share the liberal views of those who do. Irrespective of one's views, closing yourself off to a large chunk of readers is not a good idea, especially in a time of declining readership. Also, The Inquirer's principal competition is probably the New York Times. A real book section -- especially one available on your Kindle --would probably help gain readers. But of course the paper would have to hire someone who had a clue about what really does go on online.

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