With the migration of news, information sharing, and media to Internet social media sites and blogs, it is no surprise that traditional media is suffering. Today the parent company of the Chicago Tribue filed for bankruptcy illustrating the severity of the situation in the traditional media markets. Ironically, NPR Radio aired an interview with Bill Keller, the Executive Editor of The New York Times, where he discussed challenges in the traditional newspaper markets.
In writing this post I am by no means stating that the demise of traditional media outlets is a good thing. Yes, I am a social media consultant; yet, but I am the first to recognize the pillar that traditional media world has served for centuries. What I don’t agree with, however, is the notion that desperate times require desperate measures.
On the same day that the Tribune story broke and that Bill Keller was featured on NPR, Fox 4 News aired a segment where it exposed The Dallas Morning News‘ attempts to drive circulation growth. The Dallas Morning News strategy was to simply distribute free versions of its publication “Briefing” for up to 5 weeks in neighborhoods across the greater Dallas area. The problem with this strategy is that beyond the host of complaints registered across the Internet including The Dallas Morning News’ own website, it actually was in violation of local laws. Furthermore, the distribution practice resulted in making larger contributions to the local landfills than it did the bottom line.
In a written response to the Fox 4, The Dallas Morning news acknowledged warnings from the City of Dallas code enforcement division and indicated that despite the complaints and bad press.
I am perplexed as to why a company in an industry facing incredible change would resort to a marketing tactic from 30 years ago. Maybe that lack of understanding of how things work today is why The Dallas Morning News is trying to increase readership. In the mean time, I’m going to get caught up with the news via my New York Times iPhone application before I go to bed.
What are your thoughts?
The major problem with this program is that it exposes those who travel to thief of their homes while on vacation or extended trips from their homes. With the papers stacking up, it is a sure signal to thieves as to which homes to hit. This should be stopped immediatedly, especially in my home town of McKinney, Texas.