New, packed Accenture report on the state of the newspaper business.🧵
Headline to me: Growth in search advertising came from new advertisers (e.g., small biz), directories, trade -- NOT from other media. That is, not from newspapers & magazines. newsmedia-analysis.com/wp-content/upl… 1/
So newspapers whining that Google stole their advertising (as if God ever gave it to them) and owes them recompense? Not so much. 2/
In the period 2004-2018, newspaper revenue fell from a high of $60b to $27b, a drop of more than half. 3/
Here's the breakdown of newspaper revenue loss. Circ stayed pretty much steady, adding in still-paltry online sub dollars (remember that two-thirds of US online news subs go to three brands; everybody else splits the rest.) 4/
The big hurt, of course, came in classifieds: minus $15.8b. No, that isn't the fault of my friend Craig; no one player below takes all. Much just went away because, as I often say, the net abhors middlemen & newspapers were middlemen charging high prices for monopoly classies.5/
Newspapers went from controlling 81% of classifies to 11%. Accenture emphasizes that the classified *ad* market grew slightly but actually grew more with other business models (e.g., commissions, subscriptions for job seekers). 6/
Newspaper display ads fell for many reasons, but mainly, as I put it, the death of the myth of mass media: that all readers see all ads, so we charge all advertisers for all readers. No more. The net -- not Google or Facebook but the net -- dispelled that myth. 7/
Meanwhile, the total ad market exploded by 40%, from $179.2B to $254.9B. At the same time, newspaper ad revenue fell from $48.2B to $15.1B. That's not because anyone stole anything from them. It's because they didn't adapt; they still acted like monopolies. 8/
Meanwhile, Accenture says, news consumption -- online -- is up; time spent with print newspapers is down by half. 9/
But don't get too excited. Also this morning, Axios reports that traffic to news post-Trump is down, especially at the extremes. The attention-based ad model for news is a highway headed only downhill. 10/
I just read a speech by Whitelaw Reid, editor & publisher of the NY Tribune, in 1879: fascinating, for I saw then the same kind of resistance to change I see now. He said newspapers couldn't take more content (too much time already) or ads (too much paper). 11/
Tweaking old business models to preserve old editorial ways will save no one. We need to rethink the industry fundamentally in a new reality. There are opportunities galore. Lobbying, protectionism, and whining are not models for the future. 12/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Times & Post editors demand Harris outline policies.
She delivers a major speech and informative interview on economic policy.
The editors BURY it. (Post then buried it even lower.) This isn't news judgment. It's petty vindictiveness.
Fucking #BrokenTimes, #BrokenPost.
It gets even worse. Much worse. The #BrokenTimes story is 3 takeaways, carping that she "had roundabout answers to open-ended questions" and "a hard-hitting Harris interview is still yet to come" and she might not win the Senate. This is AG's petulant vendetta, not journalism. 2/
And the #BrokenPost pushes a pedantic Kessler "fact-check" and carps that she "offers few specifics." Bullshit. 3/
Lewis Clephane, founder of the Republican Party: "In those days it was a crime to be called a Republican, and every man who was then known as a Republican was denounced as an Abolitionist. We have fought the battle." Its first platform: 1/ archive.org/details/birtho…
Clephane recounts fears of insurrectionists almost prevented Lincoln's inaugural parade; the party prevailed. He also notes how an insurrectionist mob attacked the Republican "Wide Awakes." Yes, woke. Ironies aplenty. 2/
I came to this researching his younger brother, James, for my book on the Linotype. Here is a fascinating biographic sketch of Lewis Clephane by his son: 3/ jstor.org/stable/4006710…
Shorter Sulzberger: First they came for Black, Latino, LGBTQ, Muslim, immigrant, pregnant, & poor people--their rights & their speech--but now that Trump could come for us... 1/
How the quiet war against press freedom could come to America (Gift link) wapo.st/3ZfmRNg
Here, A.G. sets up a strawman. No, we critics are not asking The Times to "cast aside neutrality and directly oppose Trump". We are asking The Times to give Trump's peril to *other* people the kind of attention he gives it here regarding danger to news media 2/
A.G. also cannot resist one more petulant snipe at Joe Biden for not granting him the interview he thinks of as his birthright, as his privilege of press and power. That is telling. 3/
Study the #BrokenTimes home page this Sunday morning. You wouldn't know there was just a historic and momentous Democratic convention. No week in review. No reflection. Guess Sunday papers aren't want they used to be.
Meanwhile, how does the #MurdochJournal followup on this historic week? By giving its lead story this Sunday to Donny finally coming out to play:
Just to round out this thread on how America's broken allegedly manstream mass media is following up on this historic week, here's the #BrokenPost again:
Of course, the #BrokenTimes chooses to cast Biden's speech & the convention in a negative light. He gave the speech he deserved and earned, not defending his record but defending democracy. And why focus on Hillary's failure when she energized the night? 1/
Peter Baker isn't a political reporter. He thinks himself the mindreader. Having kicked Joe to the curb, Baker and the #BrokenTimes kick him once more, ignoring the substance of his speech, not covering his historic accomplishments. 2/ nytimes.com/2024/08/20/us/…
On this day, Nate Silver uses his #BrokenTimes platform to hawk his overlong book & cram his overstretched thesis--river (Silicon Valley) vs. village (institutions)--to a reality he didn't bet on. 3/
I Have Been Studying Poker for Years. nytimes.com/2024/08/20/opi…
What "press"? The broken and vindictive Times? The newly Murdochian Post? Hedge-fund newspaper husks? Rudderless CNN or NPR? Murdoch's fascist media? No. She can choose many ways to communicate her stands with others outside the old press and with the public directly. The old press can and should be bypassed.
Kamala Harris must speak to the press
Margaret Sullivan theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Look at the press' behavior. When given a chance to ask questions, they sound like they're in a lockerroom, seeking quotes, not policy. This does nothing to inform the electorate. I know the argument about testing a candidate: but the press as currently configured aims for game & gotcha.
Job 1 is to inform the electorate about policy & stakes. That is up to the candidate to communicate and voters to judge. The press is unnecessary in that process. It can still analyze all it wants. But its questions will do nothing more to inform....