What’s a newspaper worth?
By Robert Dickson
As you might imagine, this question has been on my mind a great deal lately.
As we’ve moved toward this day when this labor of love comes to an end, I’ve talked with a number of tire kickers, a couple of investor-types looking to make a quick profit (really!) and folks who just like this newspaper and would like to see it continue.
Unfortunately, none of these folks see the value in what we’ve built here, at least not enough to make it worthwhile to own. That’s OK, though; nothing lasts forever (thanks, Sy).
What I’m really worrying about now is the future of our type of journalism: news coverage where the story is written in-depth, objectively and professionally, by a reporter actually on the scene, with facts and sources verified – specifically, not a slanted viewpoint by some blogger watching the proceedings on TV in his jammies.
The problem is that professional journalism costs money, and that we have all gotten way too comfortable with getting our news for free. Journalists don’t make much money (just ask the Citizen staff), but they’ve still got to eat.
Newspapers have done this to themselves though, and pulling back from the brink is proving to be painful. The siren song of Internet advertising cash has not made up for the lost revenue from print editions. So, what do you know, newspapers across the land are deciding to charge for their online content. Gee, what a concept.
I grew up with newspapers that you had to buy to read, and I still operate a newspaper that uses that model. But print readership of subscription-based newspapers is losing ground to the digital versions. Pay walls are going to have to come up if for-profit newspapers are to survive.
I’ve heard a neighbor tell me how easy it is to defeat the pay wall at The New York Times. The best $3.75 I spend every week is on that newspaper, and I can’t imagine a day without it. What’s our world going to be like when the Grey Lady goes down because readers won’t pay for content? Or The Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post or The News & Observer?
The republic will be on the rocks, that’s what will happen. We can have all the instant information we want, but we have to be able to trust it to make reasonable decisions.
Call me an old curmudgeon if you’d like (you won’t be alone), but I want to know the reporters covering the board of aldermen are being paid for their efforts. I want to know that they’ve covered the issues before and can objectively report the details that are so important.
So what does this have to do with the demise of The Carrboro Citizen? My pondering has led me to the belief that one future of hyperlocal news outlets, at least in the style of The Citizen, is as nonprofit entities.
It’s likely too much to ask of small local businesses to provide sufficient advertising revenue to sustain the necessary news coverage for a community like ours. A locally owned and operated nonprofit, however, could supplement ad sales with reader support and maybe a few grants, and come up with a sustainable model for local long-form journalism.
Or we can just be content with a publication that serves as a delivery service or one that is so full of ads that the content is hard to find.
Which will it be? It’s our choice as a community.
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May 15, 2008
I don’t think the worth of a newspaper can be measured in dollars and cents. The value of the Carrboro Citizen is certainly beyond that kind of measurement. Twenty years ago, I’d have been making the attempt, though, and actively looking for the funds to take over the paper. Now my energy and idealism are a couple of notches lower, and I value the freedom retirement has given me to tackle new things, to pick up and go for days or even weeks at a time if something short term, worthwhile or interesting beckons. However, if turning the Citizen into a non-profit to serve the needs of the town is truly a viable idea, I’d like to be on board as an active participant and supporter.
Connie Cohn
(Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (2003-2005), former educator, journalist, photographer, museum professional, and non-profit PR professional; current botanical illustration student.)
I completely agree with you. I own a small weekly newspaper in mid-Michigan which I am about to forsake for a paying job. I just can’t keep a business going that subscribers don’t pay for (I lose 10-15 cents for every paper mailed out; thus, not paying for itself). And, loads of people read it at the newsstands (last week, I stapled the pages together just to see if anyone would complain).
I am looking for a new start in North Carolina or thereabouts, and will leave behind the unpaid drudgery for a salary without hesitation. I hope things get better for you, too.
All of us at the HRC will greatly miss you. If we had a ton of money we would surely give it to you.
As a 50 year friend of Robert Dickson and a person who knows the measure of his integrity and passion for his work, my heart goes out to him and the staff (including Susie). Losing a child is a terrible thing. As a musician, I have witnessed the steady decline of revenue through the traditional avenue of record sales and the adjustments that have been made in an effort to create revenues for the artists. It now appears that music will soon all but disappear in formats that satisfy the desire for a tactile and visual experience, provide a permanence beyond the digital domain and allow for a more in depth presentation of the product and the artist’s ideas behind it. The newspaper satisfies these concerns in a way that the computer can not. Fortunately, in the case of music, facts don’t need verification and musicians will continue to create without financial reward. Unfortunatley, a newspaper does not have the luxury of being able to exist and function properly without sufficient revenues. I am not a citizen of Carrboro but it is obvious that the Citizen means a lot to many people and that it has been a great success in terms of the things in life that are most important. It will be missed by those who share the values of the Dicksons and know the value of real journalism.