[November 22, 2009] OPINION: Newspapers face change, not death Tweet Nov 22, 2009 (The Times Leader - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- BILL KELLY asked us over to his house the other night for some light conversation, a couple of drinks and hors d'oeuvres. Kelly is the amiable president of WVIA, deep-throated as an old radio and broadcast pro should be, and also a man who is pensive, often deep in thought. One of the areas that command his attention is media and why shouldn't it? He is the heart and face of public broadcasting in Northeast Pennsylvania. His show "State of Pennsylvania" is a long-running and highly popular staple of the station. Media has been his life, starting at a radio station in his early teens and becoming a general manager of one by the time he was 19 or 20. He can't stop thinking and talking long enough to pin it down the exact date of his management career but who's counting? So, Kelly wanted to talk about media in general but newspapers in particular. Come on over, he said, to his house -- the WVIA studios in Jenkins Township. The drinks were water. And the hors d'oeurves were tidbits of information from magazines and newspapers predicting the eventual death of print. Newspapers are dying, say many folks. Along with my invitation to discuss the state of the newspaper business, Kelly also asked the publisher of the Williamsport Gazette and co-publisher of the Citizens Voice to join us. So, on Thursday night there we were under the lights in the new high definition studio with a live audience trying to explain why we believe we'll have a job at a newspaper in a few years. I knew what I wanted to say but how could I? After all, I was in Bill Kelly's house for some lively and animated conversation. Manners trump convenience and candor or at least brutal honesty in these matters. And, with Times Leader employees and assorted friends of the paper dominating the audience I wanted to give them their money's worth: an hour of discussion on a business they love. But, we could have finished the conversation in a flash. Here's the truth about the future of print: It's not going away. An industry going though change is not necessarily one that is dying. More than 100 million adults read a newspaper every day. Newspapers are the second largest medium for advertising behind television. At The Times Leader, our Sunday circulation just rose eight percent. We carry more than 70 percent of all the print advertising in Wilkes-Barre and have an even higher share of the dollars spent on newspaper advertising here. We lose some revenue every day and we also add new revenue. We have added more than $1 million of new revenue in this year alone. "Yes, but my kids do not read the newspaper," cry the newspaper doomsday folks. "They use the Internet and they twitter and tweet and text." Now remember, manners are gone here. And my response to that is this: "So?" For those folks who talk about young people not reading newspapers, let me ask this question. How many young persons read a newspaper 20 or 30 years ago? Not many. The difference is we did not see young people in those years staring into a computer screen or tapping out the new version of Morse Code on a PDA. Here are some things you cannot do on the Internet. You can't put the story you read there on the refrigerator, especially the one about your child's birthday or graduation. You will never see that amazing story that you stumble upon when leafing through the pages of a newspaper. It's the story you would read if you knew it was there but you will never know looking on the Internet. The paper is a tactile experience. It has a feel and a smell. It has a personality. It's a friend brought to your doorstep by a human being, delivered each morning before you awake. Yes, a newspaper is part of a changing business. We do not know exactly what the business will look like next year or the year after or the next for that matter. What we know is that it is not dying. There have been predictions about the death of newspapers for decades and we are still here. Our biggest threats come from within. Newspapers have been highly profitable and easy to manage for decades and decades. It's tough now. Poor and misguided and unprepared management is being exposed and we run inaccurate stories about how advertising is migrating to the Web. No it isn't. Less money is being spent on advertising everywhere. Period. Several online sites such as AOL have revenue declines that in some cases are double the newspaper advertising declines. And we have been totally aloof at best with our customers. In the worst case we have been obnoxious and rude and bullies in our communities and with customers. Can't get away with that any longer. We need to stop wasting time talking about the Internet and all the sexy new technology that does this and that with news content. We need to be blunt. Someone wants to talk to us about newspapers dying? Unless it's our sincere and gracious friend Bill Kelly asking we need to answer directly. Let's talk about something worthwhile and real. Our time is valuable and we need not engage in these discussions in order to appear deep and thoughtful and "with it." Newspapers are not going away. That's the way it is and that's the way it's going to be. To see more of The Times Leader, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesleader.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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