They say hindsight is a glorious thing. When looking back, everyone can be an expert. Should have done this, shouldn’t have done that.
If you could go back in time, let’s say five years, and set out a new strategy for a failing newspaper, what would you do?
Paywall? More blogs? Less blogs? Fewer editions?
Here’s a market where you can put the benefit of hindsight into real action: New Zealand.
As Jim Tucker writes, the Kiwi press has thus far dodged the slaughter of the ever-changing media world, keeping sales generally intact.
But that’s beginning to change. Jim’s figures — from the NZ ABCs — suggest all is not well:
While the downward trend shown in Audit Bureau of Circulation figures (about 4% over the past 18 months) is steady compared to the slaughter overseas, some of the bigger players are taking heavy hits.
The biggest, the NZ Herald, has dropped 7.1% (13,622) to 177,391 in the period mid-year 2007 to December, 2008.
The other major national player, the Wellington-based Dominion Post, has also taken a hit, down 6.2% to 90,279.
But these are ’safe’ figures, rather than the industry-defining declines we’ve had to deal with in the UK. So there’s still time.
Knowing what we know now, what would you do about it?
Most of NZ’s papers seem to syndicate from the foreign press for their overseas news. It’s the same here in Oz. I seem to remember that the Dominion Post did send a reporter to the US to cover the election, but that was only because they got a bursary from somewhere! It’s not just foreign news. The Age bought an article from the Telegraph about Twitter (containing very little new info – Stephen Fry is on Twitter, y’know?). Problem is, because it is written for a UK readership it neglects to mention that Australian users can’t use their mobiles to post tweets. So while there may not be so much of a slump, it’s scary to think where the savings will be made on these titles, given the paucity of foreign coverage and original features.
Rosie Niven’s last blog post..How architects can’t solve every problem
Ah yes — my biggest bugbear (is that spelt right?!) with the NZ press. I remember having kittens when I saw a front page lead (about Obama becoming Democratic nominee) was syndicated from the LA Times. Terrible journalism — a staffer, even one based in Wellington — could have provided a piece that took into account the Kiwi audience. Christ — the difference in significance for LA readers is so big it’s almost a different story.
But you have to ask yourself — what are the syndication costs? Is it a model implemented before the days of freely available international news? I could understand if having a story written by an American paper was the only way — short of sending someone yourself, at great expense — to get a story. But that’s not the case any more… a a staffer in NZ can do the job.
Uh oh. The day after I published that blog, we’ve had the news that Fairfax (which owns 80 daily and community papers in NZ) has posted a loss approaching half a billion NZ dollars: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4856986a6034.html
The NZ division (Fairfax is an Oz company) performed badly. I quote from today Dom Post story:
Fairfax’s New Zealand publishing business recorded a 15 percent fall in revenue (or 11 percent in kiwi dollar terms) to A$223.9 million with ebitda down 29 percent, 26 percent in New Zealand dollar terms, to A$58.7 million. Group revenue, however, rose slightly to A$1.44 billion from A$1.43 billion.
Trade Me’s ebitda climbed 17 percent to NZ$38.2 million.
Fairfax said New Zealand advertising revenue fell 15 percent with circulation revenue up 3 percent and total costs cut 4 percent in an “extremely” recessionary environment.
Incidentally, the “reporter” the Dom Po sent to the US to “cover” the election was editor Tim Pankhurst, whose trip was funded by the US. I understand. He’s a terrific writer, but not sure he added anything. RadioNZ had its leading interviewer, Geoff Robinson from Morning Report, there on a similar trip. Similar result. Looked like nice junkets to me.
Further thought: how much of Fairfax’s online ad agency Trade Me’s profit goes into paying for quality journalism by Fairfax?
When Fairfax bought Trade Me for $700 million a few years ago, we all thought they were crazy. Turned out to be a great move, since all the NZ classified advertising was migrating there. My beeting is the beancounters keep all the money separate and none of it assists with the fraught task of maintaining quality journalism.
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