Times-Union Redesign

[KenFSU]

I didn't see another post on this, but if there's one somewhere I'm missing, I apologize.

Anyway, any thoughts on the redesign of the Times-Union?

Personally, I think it's dreadful, Just absolutely, positively dreadful. A few months ago, if you would have asked me if it was possible to dumb down the Times-Union anymore than it already was, I wouldn't have thought it possible. Guess I would have been wrong.

As a reader, it is just so ridiculously insulting to have my intelligence thought so little of as to suggest that what I'm truly looking for in a newspaper is less coverage, moronic blurbs in 96 point font, colorful pie charts for EVERYTHING, half page photos, etc.

Nice to know that Carl Cannon considers the average Jacksonville citizen's reading level to be roughly that of a 2nd grader.

Jacksonville is just dying for a rival newspaper to wake those at the T-U up from their sloppy, lazy monopoly on this city.

[Lunican]

I don't think anyone is dying to get into the newspaper business right now though.

[jbm32206]

I agree, newspapers are on their way out....and so I don't foresee anyone wanting to step up to that plate.

[RiversideGator]

Actually, there have been new newspapers started lately in Jax with the most popular one being The Resident which services Riverside/Avondale/Ortega/Murray Hill.  They have a different business model than the T-U however.  I do not agree that newspapers will disappear anytime soon.  I think they are still viable media outlets but they have to be done properly.

As for the T-U redesign, it is horrible.  The redesign adds a cartoonish quality to a newspaper which was already largely devoid of substance and original intelligent journalism.  I do wish we had some adults in charge over there on Riverside Ave.

[Lunican]

How does their business model differ? Is it more like Folio?

[gatorback]

The Internet killed the newspaper.  And, I think cable didn't help the newpaper either.  Beside, do we really need to waste all our natural resources on advertising.  Who here has a script to the T-U?  I actually, liked the Jacksonville Journal back in the day, but the T-U killed that.  I pick up USA Today sometimes on Friday, and usually when I travel my hotel gives it to me.  I grab it when I can  but don't pay for it usually.

[spidey]

Just as an FYI...Carl Cannon retired as publisher and executive vice president of the TU at the end of December. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS204225+07-Dec-2007+PRN20071207

[RiversideGator]

How does their business model differ? Is it more like Folio?

More like a more dignified, less radical version of Folio.  Basically, the model for The Resident is free newspapers mailed to residents and distributed free at local restaurants and other venues with all revenue coming from advertising.  So, the newspaper in this case has become sort of a direct mail advertisement with a host of pretty good articles to draw interest.  Newspapers have always been at least in part venues for ads with the articles designed to bring in readers.  Hence the sensationalized "news" in many cases.  See also television news.

[KenFSU]

I wholeheartedly disagree with any talk that the newspaper industry has been killed, or is on its way to being killed. Circulation is down, yes, but it's overly simplistic to lay the blame solely on the internet. Just as much blame can be placed on poor journalism, corruption, and laziness in the newsrooms of many major newspapers, especially over the last decade or so. At the end of the day, as many polls have shown, Americans just don't trust their local or national papers to deliver unbiased, special-interest-free information anymore. The most basic business rule of journalism is that if you present your information with total honesty and respect, the readers will come, and advertisors will have no choice but to follow. If you throw together a rag like the Times-Union -- all cheap sizzle, no real steak -- full of generic wire stories, little objectivity towards their obvious friends, stupid cookie-cutter op-eds (golly, that wacky Liberal and stubborn Conservative can't seem to agree on NUTHIN!), even more foolish regular columns (see: Laura Cap. goes on Spring Break, Laura Cap. types up all the juicy information she learned on Access Hollywood, or my favorite, the unquestionably offensive/racist/sexist/homophobic/alienating to every reader who isn't a white male "Dare to Ask" column) , the overly cutesy, sentimental "One of Us" feature documenting the local worker at the donut shop, or the baritone in the local church choir, etc. The paper really should change it's motto to "The Florida Times-Union - We Truly Say Nothing."

But still, the fact that such an unbelievable mess of a newspaper could still have a circulation of 214,572 according to the most recent (2007) numbers should be an indication that the industry isn't going anywhere. There's a traditional, tactile feel of opening up the morning newspaper, holding it in your hands, reading the days news and features, thumbing through the previous nights box scores, etc. that the internet just doesn't, and isn't meant to provide.

When people blame the internet for the decrease in newspaper circulation, I like to point to Japan. Japan is widely considered to be the most technologically advanced country in the world. Broadband is near ubiquitious in the major cities. There are internet cafes on every street corner in cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The majority of their cell phones enable instant web browsing on the go. In short, major Japanese cities might be the easiest place in the world to go online. Yet these very same cities still account for 7 of the top 10 newspapers in the world, circulation wise. Japan only has 125 million residents, a little more than a third of the population of the United States, but newspapers like Yomiuri Shimbun and The Asahi Shimbun still manage to do circulations of over 10 million for their morning and evening editions, despite the overwhelming presence of the culture-destroying internet.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly believe that the internet has had a small effect on newspaper readership in the United States, but compared to the damage the industry has done to itself, it's miniscule. Couple that with an American public with an increasingly smaller attention span and an increasing aversion to reading in general, and you've got yourself some circulation problems.

Death of the industry though?

Never.

NEVER I SAY!!!!!!!!

[Steve]

I'm going to have to go buy a paper today.  To be honest, I didn't even realize that they had changed the format.  I check jacksonville.com multiple times a day, but I rarely read the actual paper.

What changed?

[Jason]

How old are you Ken?

I'm 26 and as Steve said, didn't even know that the format had changed.  I too frequent the web for my news and have only seen quick blurbs on the front page of the TU while passing by a pile of them at the quickie mart.  I'd have to believe that the other 20 somethings and younger primarily rely on digital media for their news and rarely if ever pick up a newspaper (much less buy one) to get up to date.

[RiversideGator]

That is to their detriment then, Jason.  You can never get enough information.   

[Lunican]

They really should have redesigned their website as well.

[adamh0903]

I read the times union everyday online, I havent picked up the fish wrap in years. The internet has forever changed the newspaper though, Gene Frennett (sp?) was just promoted to lead sports columnist and one of his new jobs include....you guessed it, internet blogging on the times union website.

[Jason]

That is to their detriment then, Jason.  You can never get enough information.  

I don't think they are any less informed, they (we) just get the news through digital outlets versus the paper.