Interview with Dan Smith, Roanoker Magazine, November 2022.
Q: What, generally, has been the base cause of the demise of local dailies, especially in the mid-sized markets?
A: The digital media revolution has torn through the newspaper business like a tornado in a trailer park. Hardest hit were the smallest publications like county weekly newspapers. Regional newspapers like the Roanoke Times were also hit. Limping but generally spared were the state capitol newspapers and the national giants like the Washington Post, New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
It’s the loss of advertising that has been so difficult. The digital revolution made it possible for advertisers to identify customers who were already searching for their type of products. Search engine advertising turned out to be far more effective than newspaper “display” advertising. And classified advertising also dried up when free ad services (especially Craig’s List) arrived.
So the old “penny press” business model from the 1800s — more readers, more advertising, more revenue to cover costs — started working in reverse around 2008. There were fewer readers, and less advertising, and less money. The Roanoke Times newsroom once had over 100 reporters and editors. Now it has about ten.
The newspaper business was already in decline,* but the digital revolution put it in a tailspin.* (Readership in 1960 was 81% of the population; by 2004 it was 54%; by 2020 it was around 18%. Newspaper revenues are one-third of what they were in 2008. — This is based on studies by the census, Pew and E&P.)
Ironically, the news and analysis distributed through Google and Facebook and other digital media is produced by journalists still working in the newspaper & TV business. Google and Facebook don’t worry about their communities or try to serve democracy — they just link to the people who do.
( In the EU and Australia, the digital media giants have to pay for these links. There are legislative proposals to make that happen in the US, among them, the Save Local Journalism act. )
2. Is there any saving them at this point–as printed formats–and if so, what would that be? Should that format be saved? Why/why not?
The printed format is not that important, (although some of us old fossils find it enjoyable.) And after a hurricane or natural disaster, daily newspapers can be helpful because radio, TV and cell service can go down.
Still, the format is not really the point. Journalists working for print or web news organizations are the ones who spend time on serious civic issues, and sit through city council meetings, and investigate problems in government. Other formats, such as broadcast TV news, deliver emotional and visual content but require more equipment and afford less time for interviewing and writing. Both approaches to journalism are needed, but the loss of newspaper journalism has hurt many communities, since it is a real service to democracy.
Trained journalists provide independent verification of facts. They have an ethical obligation to minimize harm to individuals while service democracy in communities. Newspapers have been one of the mainstays of civic infrastructure, along with schools, libraries, churches and volunteer groups.
3. Many are going online and many of those are not doing it well. Why not and what do they need to do to succeed?
City facebook pages or partisan web sites don’t come remotely close to meeting the need for journalism. A lot of the partisan web sites are being written by people who just want to get up on a soapbox or manufacture some half-baked controversy.
The real work of serving public information needs is a systematic day to day process. What is the current status and future of your town? What needs fixing? What are the crime rates? How well are the schools doing? When are the next meetings that will address these questions? Who will sit and listen and summarize them for the public?
Good journalists work to understand the issues. They try to deliver thoughtful news to their audiences with the ultimate goal of strengthening democracy. They provide the facts that can serve as the basis for political decisions. The process is not perfect, and it needs to be more transparent, but there is no doubt that it is needed. Too many places have become “news deserts,” and too many Americans distrust “the media” because they don’t understand it and what it is supposed to do.
4. Do you still read a daily print version and if so, why? If not, why not?
Oh sure. I subscribe to the print version of the Roanoke Times. I may be the last of my neighbors to listen for the “thunk” of the morning paper on my driveway. Why? It’s a guilty pleasure, like chocolate oranges or diet sodas. I grew up delivering newspapers and my dad was a photographer in college who taught me darkroom techniques. It was always just part of my connection to the community. And that link just feels more substantial with a newspaper in my hands.
5. What are your journalism students looking to do when they graduate? Dwayne Yancey suggests most of them want to get into the online business at a higher level than mid-sized daily newspapers would allow.
I think what Dwayne Yancey is pointing out is that many of the early career stepping stones are missing. And that’s true, the career paths have been disrupted by the digital revolution. (What hasn’t been?).
When I graduated from J-school (many years ago) my early stepping stone was working on a county weekly newspaper that operated on the old Ben Franklin model. There was a large printing shop that sold all kinds of things we don’t use any more, like handbills and business cards and accounting ledgers. That was what made the money. The newspaper was a community service but it didn’t make much money — it was a loss leader to attract business for the print shop.
These days people don’t need printing so much, but there is a huge need for media services. Every church service, every city council meeting and every business conference needs video livestreaming and archiving. Every D & D group wants a spot on Twitch TV. Every nursing home has residents who need organized access to audio books. Every family needs help with photo and video archives.
And so community newspapers will evolve, I think, into community media centers, and journalism schools will train people who can serve a variety of media needs while also reporting news about community issues. They’ll be able to set up livestreams in a matter of minutes while covering a council meeting, and maybe stop by on the way back to help some elderly folks access their audio book club.
Some community media service work will make money, and some will entail educating volunteers. Given that, non-profits and cooperatives will probably be the best business models, rather than centrally owned media corporations that have not been able to adapt very well to the digital revolution.
So I hope that, in the end, there is a silver lining to the decline of the newspaper business, and that journalism, in a variety of forms, continues to serve our communities and strengthen democracy.
Bill Kovarik teaches journalism, media law and media technology at Radford University. A third edition of his book Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age, published by Bloomsbury, is currently under way.