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Yet Another Newspaper Publisher Blames Internet For His Own Failure To Adapt To The Times
from the this-is-getting-tiring dept
Okay, this is really beginning to get tiresome. We thought that the newspaper industry had figured out that it needed to adapt to the times a few years ago when they finally started ditching subscription fees and registration gates. However, in the last few months, there's been a resurgence of folks in the newspaper business whining about how newspapers have to stop giving content away for free and how Google was somehow hurting their business by giving them more traffic. This after the ridiculously confused stories about how Craigslist was "costing" newspapers millions of dollars. None of these things are true. All they really indicate is a newspaper business that hasn't figure out how to adapt to how people want to consume, create and share the news. So with all of that, here's the Wall Street Journal, publishing a column by, Walter Hussman, the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette whining about how "free" is a disastrous business model. Apparently, he doesn't read our site, where we explain not just how "free" is a great business model, but one where it can expand your market. Hussman's reasoning is equally bizarre. He compares his newspaper to another one that used to charge for online access, but has since offered up the content for free. He admits that the other site now gets a lot more online traffic, but notes that its paper subscriptions dropped much faster than his own paper's subscriptions. Note the important fact here: his own paper is still losing subscribers. In other words, people are looking for something better. He's trying to protect the shrinking market, rather than embracing the growing one. If there's any business model that's a "disaster" that sounds like it.
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Instead of adapting to the Times ...
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keep tryin' to sell that snake oil!
the fact is.. CL has hurt newspaper ads.. CL and the boys have essentially kiced the lights out of newspaper job listings in the bay area...
don't get me wrong, the newspaper ads were swimming in cash, and i'm not arguing that they shouldn't have had their head handed to them.. i'm just not going to blindly pretend as though CL hasn't had an impact.. it has!!!
but i like the fact that you don't veer from your appointed thoughts regarding free..
you and georgy!!! you guys don't veer, and you seem to believe that if you say it often/loud enough, that it must be true!!!
tell you what.. go make something.. and give it away for free.. and then tell yourself.. no prob, i'll use that item as advertising to promote something that i think people will want to buy!!!!
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Re: by sam
YOU'RE READING IT, DOOFUS. (with LOUD comments)
...and quite frankly, Techdirt is a great site, and ed-u-k-shun-al two!
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Re:
Sam, you seem to respond without reading. Go read the link about CL. What I made clear is that it's the newspapers who have hurt themselves. All CL has done is offer up to people what they want. That's business. Newspapers aren't hurt by CL. They're hurt by their own inability to do what CL has done.
tell you what.. go make something.. and give it away for free.. and then tell yourself.. no prob, i'll use that item as advertising to promote something that i think people will want to buy!!!!
I do every day. You're reading it.
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Re:
if mike argued to "stay the course" on a theory like gravity, would you also troll him up as akin to george w?
you've done nothing to prove that mike's economics are faulty... the fallacies you are guilty of are ad hominem and reductio ad george w. bush. look them up.
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I hate news papers...
It's competition and they failed to even show up for the game.
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Mike, nice try
Thanks for the free stuff you give me every day.
I read the TechDirt postings every single business day.
Unfortunately for you and your "business model", I have never once clicked on a link on any of your pages. Not once. Never even considered it. Never even looked at them.
You see, it's the CONTENT I come for. Not the crappy banner ads. And I feel no obligation to purchase products or services from your advertisers.
So, for me, your business model is a failure. But hey, that's just me.
Don't think so? Please explain.
BTW: thanks again for all your FREE content. Priceless...
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Re: Mike, nice try
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Re: Mike, nice try
Ads make alot of free content possible, not everyone needs to purchase that product for them to work.
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Re: Mike, nice try
You're welcome.
I read the TechDirt postings every single business day.
Awesome. That's great. I'm glad you find it so useful.
Unfortunately for you and your "business model", I have never once clicked on a link on any of your pages. Not once. Never even considered it. Never even looked at them.
That's ok. If they're not useful for you, why should you?
You see, it's the CONTENT I come for. Not the crappy banner ads. And I feel no obligation to purchase products or services from your advertisers.
Our business model isn't about banner ads, but that's ok. I have no problem with you reading our content for free. That's why it's here. I don't expect everyone to buy our paid services. In fact, I expect a very small percentage of people who read Techdirt to buy our paid services. But, that's fine.
So, for me, your business model is a failure. But hey, that's just me.
How is it a failure? For you, you get good content for free. What are you complaining about? For us, we get more visitors, and that's useful to us whether or not you buy our services. Whether or not you realize it, you're helping our business model. Sometimes it's be contributing in the comments. Sometimes it's by telling someone else about our site. Sometimes it's just by reading. Honestly, all those things help, so no, the business model isn't a failure at all.
Don't think so? Please explain.
The more people who view our site, the better. The more people who find out about our business, the better. We certainly don't expect everyone to buy our services, just like no one expects everyone who sees a BMW commercial to buy a BMW. Do you consider BMW commercials a failure because you've never bought one?
BTW: thanks again for all your FREE content. Priceless...
Again, thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. Glad you enjoy the content, and glad you feel compelled to take part in the comments.
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Re: Re: Mike, nice try
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News Paper
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The Parakeet Died
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Only suckers pay for conent
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adapting to the Times
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It's like evolution
Mike, I think your business model is ahead of the curve and businesses that compete with free (the internet provides a lot of stuff for free) had better evolve or die. Thanks for the free content, I read and learn every day.
Just a observation from a lurker.
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Mike...
Keep up the good work!
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Kudos Mike!
I have a working knowledge of how they get money from our "free" content. If it wasn't for that I would have to find my stories else where. And it's hard to get into a news feed that I like.
We all have flaws and no one's perfect. But that's how we learn. Till that day when we have one person who is perfect Keep up the good work Mike!
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Newspapers
I'll take the profits from most "failing" newspapers over this sites profits, anyday.
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The Trouble with Free...
It is one thing for someone like Mike to be magnanimous -- he can afford it, apparently. He has achieved a level of readership where advertisers are willing to pay him for a place on his "free" postings. But, how about somebody like me?? Without a following, I have no way of paying my bills other than my credit cards -- with their obvious limitations.
The other way is to find a kindly VC to finance my startup activity. Now, that is a whole 'nother story; however, the point is that we have changed the entire model that built this country. It is no longer easy to start a business, the dream has been destroyed -- we have taken the decision making ability out of the individual hands and put it into selected hands, who coincidentally, seem to like that idea.
We must understand that the fundamental balance of power has been changed. Our country was founded upon a principle of power derived from the "consent of the governed". When one group usurps power from the people or from some other group, we are setting ourselves up for some pretty nasty power struggles.
The old media is in trouble for it's misuse of the power given by the Constitution -- and is now screaming because some other group has usurped some of their power -- But, we fail to realize that "the people" have lost a big chunk of their power in the process -- a situation that will require some kind of corrective action, either by the government or by the people themselves.
Remember folks -- the Omnivores only account for 8% of the American adult population, and we have a momentous election coming up in 18 months, with lots of time to discuss and clarify the issues.
Hold on to your seats folks -- we have a bumpy road ahead!!!
Doug Skoglund - skoglund@pdmsb.com
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Re: The Trouble with Free...
That's a bizarre statement. I think the opposite is true. It's LOWERED the barrier to entry and INCREASED the ability of most people to contribute. Have you noticed how much easier and cheaper it is to start a company these days? I really don't know how to respond to you because your statement doesn't match with what's actually happening.
It is one thing for someone like Mike to be magnanimous -- he can afford it, apparently. He has achieved a level of readership where advertisers are willing to pay him for a place on his "free" postings. But, how about somebody like me?? Without a following, I have no way of paying my bills other than my credit cards -- with their obvious limitations.
Again, advertising is barely a part of our business model, and we did this site for many years with no ads at all. The number of sites that have come out of nowhere, however, to build up huge followings that can make money on advertisements (TechCrunch, GigaOm and others come to mind) suggest that (again) the opposite of what you say is true.
The other way is to find a kindly VC to finance my startup activity. Now, that is a whole 'nother story; however, the point is that we have changed the entire model that built this country. It is no longer easy to start a business, the dream has been destroyed -- we have taken the decision making ability out of the individual hands and put it into selected hands, who coincidentally, seem to like that idea.
Again, this is 100% different than what we're seeing right now. It's easier and cheaper than ever to start a business -- which is why there's so much talk of a new bubble.
The idea that control is now in a few "selected hands" is laughable. Did you see what happened the other day with Digg and the DVD DRM code?
The old media is in trouble for it's misuse of the power given by the Constitution -- and is now screaming because some other group has usurped some of their power -- But, we fail to realize that "the people" have lost a big chunk of their power in the process -- a situation that will require some kind of corrective action, either by the government or by the people themselves.
Again, this seems to be the opposite of what's actually happening. The power of the internet has flipped that old equation on its head. "Old Media" has a lot less power than it used to. How can you possibly say that "the people" have less of a say in the process today than they did in the past?
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Re: Re: The Trouble with Free...
Cheers.
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Mike's business model
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Re: Mike's business model
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My 2-cents
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Idoits Run Newspers
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