Times-Union in Decline

[kreger]

>>

[Mathew1056]

(Source) http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/jacksonville.com

This graph would suggest that Jacksonville.com is suffering from its implementation of an online Membership fees. The large spike indicates Tropical Storm Debby. The event attracted more page viewers to Jacksonville.com than ever before. Soon after this peak, some online content became premium access only. Without a doubt, this is the variable responsible for the for the current page view decline. The Times-Union is shooting itself in the foot. Instead of being the premier and trusted provider of Jacksonville content, It would rather choose a course of limiting accessibility of information to those who can afford it.

Membership fees may inject capital into the company in the short-term, but long-term growth will continue to stall.

[KenFSU]

Morris Communications doesn't run the TU as an altruistic community service. With internet advertising rates in the gutter, print circulation down across the board, and sites like Craigslist driving newspaper classifieds straight into obsolescence, how else do you suggest the Times-Union stay in business? The TU is a for-profit business, not a charity, and their news existed behind a paywall for over a hundred years before the internet came along.

I've got zero problem with their paid member section at all, but I'll freely admit that it's been horribly bungled from the get-go. Whoever thought that it was a good idea to charge $12 a month (a ludicrous fee in 2013) for the same content that used to be free, in slightly prettier wrap, needs to have their head examined.

The real problem is the quality, not the delivery mechanism (unless of course, we're talking about the PC-crippling Live Blog format that the TU has become so fond of). Looking at the Jags, for example, the Times-Union's coverage of everything from the team's sale, to the Gene Smith firing, to the Tebow Jets/Jags madness, to the head coach search has paled in both quality, and more importantly timeliness, to numerous other outlets. I just can't trust my local newspaper to get the scoops first on our only professional team. The archives are a mess too. I'm working on a project right now that requires a lot of local research, and much smaller newspapers from cities like Daytona, Lakeland, and even Ocala have better digital archives. There's no reason in 2013 to have to be scrolling through dusty microfiche reels to find Times-Union articles from the 80s. Throw in the fact that the newspaper is written in a style that makes the USA Today seem esoteric, and there's very little reason to have anything more than a surface-level, cursory relationship with a news entity that should really be the voice of the city.

[Mathew1056]

I really don't have any suggestions. What it seems we are dealing with is a old business and business model that is having a difficult time adjusting to changing technology. As with any business, it reaches a point where it can no longer innovate. The T-U may hang on for a few more years, or even decades, but it will be dwarfed by another entity at some point.

[ChriswUfGator]

Morris Communications doesn't run the TU as an altruistic community service. With internet advertising rates in the gutter, print circulation down across the board, and sites like Craigslist driving newspaper classifieds straight into obsolescence, how else do you suggest the Times-Union stay in business? The TU is a for-profit business, not a charity, and their news existed behind a paywall for over a hundred years before the internet came along.

I've got zero problem with their paid member section at all, but I'll freely admit that it's been horribly bungled from the get-go. Whoever thought that it was a good idea to charge $12 a month (a ludicrous fee in 2013) for the same content that used to be free, in slightly prettier wrap, needs to have their head examined.

The real problem is the quality, not the delivery mechanism (unless of course, we're talking about the PC-crippling Live Blog format that the TU has become so fond of). Looking at the Jags, for example, the Times-Union's coverage of everything from the team's sale, to the Gene Smith firing, to the Tebow Jets/Jags madness, to the head coach search has paled in both quality, and more importantly timeliness, to numerous other outlets. I just can't trust my local newspaper to get the scoops first on our only professional team. The archives are a mess too. I'm working on a project right now that requires a lot of local research, and much smaller newspapers from cities like Daytona, Lakeland, and even Ocala have better digital archives. There's no reason in 2013 to have to be scrolling through dusty microfiche reels to find Times-Union articles from the 80s. Throw in the fact that the newspaper is written in a style that makes the USA Today seem esoteric, and there's very little reason to have anything more than a surface-level, cursory relationship with a news entity that should really be the voice of the city.

+1

When this debate comes up, people don't give nearly enough blame to the TU for its own predicament. I read the business journal and the daily record, because there's actually something to read. The TU is mostly advertising and no content, and what little content they do have anymore is basically just regurgitating whatever was on the AP wire. They fired half of their editorial staff and made a conscious decision to become a repeater for other news outlets and try and charge for it. I don't think charging for it by itself was the problem, it was the combination of that with producing a product that isn't worth paying for.

[ben says]

Morris Communications doesn't run the TU as an altruistic community service. With internet advertising rates in the gutter, print circulation down across the board, and sites like Craigslist driving newspaper classifieds straight into obsolescence, how else do you suggest the Times-Union stay in business? The TU is a for-profit business, not a charity, and their news existed behind a paywall for over a hundred years before the internet came along.

I've got zero problem with their paid member section at all, but I'll freely admit that it's been horribly bungled from the get-go. Whoever thought that it was a good idea to charge $12 a month (a ludicrous fee in 2013) for the same content that used to be free, in slightly prettier wrap, needs to have their head examined.

The real problem is the quality, not the delivery mechanism (unless of course, we're talking about the PC-crippling Live Blog format that the TU has become so fond of). Looking at the Jags, for example, the Times-Union's coverage of everything from the team's sale, to the Gene Smith firing, to the Tebow Jets/Jags madness, to the head coach search has paled in both quality, and more importantly timeliness, to numerous other outlets. I just can't trust my local newspaper to get the scoops first on our only professional team. The archives are a mess too. I'm working on a project right now that requires a lot of local research, and much smaller newspapers from cities like Daytona, Lakeland, and even Ocala have better digital archives. There's no reason in 2013 to have to be scrolling through dusty microfiche reels to find Times-Union articles from the 80s. Throw in the fact that the newspaper is written in a style that makes the USA Today seem esoteric, and there's very little reason to have anything more than a surface-level, cursory relationship with a news entity that should really be the voice of the city.

+100000