More conversation

My friend and I also discussed why the layoffs are happening at so many newspapers, and the number-one, don't-waste-my-time-with-other-bullshit-expanations reason is:

Readership is down.

Every other tangential reason executives give for declining revenues can be traced back to that fact. "Ad revenues are down." Because fewer people are seeing the ads. "There are so many other outlets competing for readers' attention." And you're losing that competition. "People don't like to read." Tell Dan Brown that. People don't like to read you.

But why is readership down? As I speculated in a response to my friend:

Newspapers trade on their reputation for honesty and integrity -- the fourth estate is supposed to watch over government, big business, etc. and expose dishonesty and corruption. When the watchdog is -- or is percieved to be -- as guilty of these things as those who are being watched (and, re-reading, I would add "or appears to be in bed with those they are supposed to be watching," --Dr. S), the watchdog becomes useless. Newspapers are supposed to be where people can find the truth in a fog of press releases, advertisements, spokespeople and political campaigns. When newspapers become just another outlet for "the message," when honesty and integrity are gone, gone too will be newspapers. After all, do you know anyone who pays for advertisements?

Later, I received from a source the following announcement by a trade group for professional PR people:

"Meet the Media: Philadelphia's Finest"
Friday, October 14, 2005

Join us for an informative and interactive media panel that will include representatives from some of Philadelphia's most prestigious media outlets as they offer tips on getting your pitches heard by the right people, and your news covered.

Media you'll have the opportunity to meet and hear from include (representatives from the Philadelphia Business Journal, Philadelphia Magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer).

Reporters and editors like press releases because it's a lot easier to let news find you than to go find it. So the above pubs and reps are attending this panel discussion to make sure PR flacks address their releases so carefully that they don't even have to go looking around the newsroom to find news. Plus, it's fun to be a celebrity.

Here's a quiz:

1. If they're spending their time focusing the delivery of press releases (90 percent of which are total bullshit), what aren't they spending that time doing?

If you said "gathering real news that matters to people," give yourself a point.

2. Does regurgitating press releases and allowing public-relations people to shape the contents of tomorrow's newspaper instead of publishing real news that matters to people help increase sales or does it contribute to a decrease in sales?

If you said "contributes to a decrease in sales," give yourself another point.

3. Does a decrease in sales indicate an increase in readership or a decrease in readership?

If you said "a decrease in readership," you probably noticed the grammatical clue in the question, but a correct answer is a correct answer. Congratulations, you passed the quiz with a perfect score. Unfortuantely, you're therefore not qualified to run newsroom operations at the majority of daily papers in the United States. If it's any consolation, you probably would've been a dynamo 20 years ago.

Extra credit (if you really want to suck up to the blogger): Was this quiz oversimplified?

If you said "of course," you've really hit it out of the park. Of course there are lots of difficult issues that top editors face in today's newsroom, like making sure the story about the publisher's wife's birthday party gets in, along with the photo he selected personally; preventing libelous content from getting in the paper so the paper doesn't get sued; ensuring the publisher's personal political bias is reflected on the front page; and making absolutely certain that no story reflects poorly on the parent company or an advertiser.

And writing layoff memos.