Tuesday, October 28, 2008

NY Times article suggests cutting newspaper content may not help circulation

Those who aren't just downloading the Joker pumpkin pattern may recall that in reporting on Dave Astor's firing I suggested that reducing the content of a publication wasn't a good way to keep readers. Here's a NY Times article in which that point is made by people paid to know these things:

Analysts have warned in recent years that by offering steadily less in print, newspapers were inviting readers to stop buying. Most papers have sharply reduced their physical size — fewer and smaller pages, with fewer articles — and the newsroom staffs that produce them.

“It just seems impossible to me that you’re cutting costs dramatically without having some impact on the editorial quality of your product,” said Peter Appert, a newspaper analyst at Goldman Sachs. “I can’t prove that this is driving circulation, but it’s certainly something that if I were a newspaper publisher would keep me up at night.”

2 comments:

Casey said...

hey mike -- I was guessing that your lead sentence inferred you were seeing a spike in "pumpkin stencil" traffic (then I saw your new comments on the original post confirming it.) Congrats! You're ranking #2 in Google for the search term "joker pumpkin pattern" (luckily behind us, and not the other way around) ... someday I'll have to tell you the story of how this pumpkin stencil story originated. Till then, enjoy the traffic.
Best,
Casey

Mike Rhode said...

Yeah, my hits have been crazy for a blog focusing on the comics scene in a city not especially known as a cartoonist's haven. I blame you. Thanks!