Detroit: Why Print?

In an effort to save paper and money the company has been asking us to cut back on printing documents. They've even plastered posters around the office that read "Why Print?"

Every time I see one the same question flashes across my mind:

Do they mean the verb or the medium?

If you guys needed any further confirmation of Nelson Muntz' proclamation about my ink-stained business, check out what's happening in Detroit.

That's right. No home delivery Monday through Wednesday, or on Saturday, but online "delivery" daily for those who subscribe.

If you work in this business (and I'm saying a quick prayer for you if you do), then you probably heard rumours about similar moves from different papers across the country. Late last week folks were telling me that the Tampa Tribune would publish online during the week and only print a paper on weekends.

Turns out it's not true, but the changes in Detroit are real and they're coming this spring.

Still not sure how I feel about them.

It stinks to see the Detroit Newspaper Agency (the company that runs the Detroit News and the Freep) lose nine percent of its staff, but those job losses seem modest compared with what's happening elsewhere in that city and in this industry.

I'm still ambivalent about this one.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT.....

Balls.

I have to applaud the folks in Detroit for making a bold move in the face of sliding circulation and slumping revenue. In this situation most newspapers choose one of two options:

They do nothing and go broke, or they cannibalize the product -- cutting staff, cutting budgets, cutting pages -- until they have a half-ass paper nobody wants to pay for anymore.

And they go broke.

There's still a very good chance the News and the Freep will go broke with this plan, but at least they've got one. We'll see in the spring whether they actually intend to enhance their digital coverage and make more of it available to subscribers, but I like that they're actually offering readers an alternative instead of simply gutting the print product while still asking us to pay full price for it.

And they're the first to do it.

That takes huevos.

STILL, I QUESTION

This reliance on the Internet to generate revenue when we still haven't figured out if the Internet will ever generate big revenue for newspapers.

I ALSO QUESTION

The dramatic cutback in circulation when after a quick chat I just had with someone who gets paid to worry about this stuff I learned that circulation (meaning putting newspapers in peoples hands) still brings in money. Clearly in an area as sprawling as Metro Detroit the cost of delivering those papers can skyrocket, and paper and ink are always expensive. But at this point do the avoided costs justify the lost revenue.

I don't know.

Admittedly, I'm not a math whiz. I got an A in the only college math class I ever took, but mainly because my homeboy's girlfriend (now wife) was a math major and "helped" me through all my take-home quizzes.

Still, I just don't know if the numbers will add up.

AND I'M SKEPTICAL ABOUT...

Detroit.

Don't misunderstand me. I love 313. Even interned there straight out of the U.

Detroit News.

In the summer of Eminem I was the only guy in the mainstream media writing about Slum Village. I ate at the IHOP on Jefferson and at Pizzapapalis in Greektown, and rode the slide on Belle Isle.

I love Detroit, even despite the steam that seeps out from every manhole cover, giving the city after dark a creepy, Gotham-esque feel.

But I'm struggling to see how this model works in that city.

I understand that both papers plan to print seven days a week, and both will be on sale at newsstands and convenience stores on days they don't deliver. And I can see a company still selling a lot of papers in a place like New York or Toronto, where you might pass a newsstand on while walking to the subway.

It's even better if, as I suggested last time, you can use public transit as a de facto delivery system, allowing commuters to pollinate the city with your paper.

But there is no train for commuters in Detroit.

Yes, I know all about the People Mover and I repeat, there is no train for commuters in Detroit.

Down there, everybody drives everywhere.

What are the chances that all these folks who no longer receive the paper at home will remember to buy one on their way to work?

About as slim as a newspaper's profit margin, I'd say.

So unless all these people are receiving and reading the online product, you wind up with a lot fewer eyeballs on your paper every day.

I'm sure advertisers will love that.

BUT...

Like everyone else with a stake in this industry, I'm waiting to see what happens in 313. If it's halfway successful, look for the model to spread to other markets.

And if it flops, who cares?

The medium's dying anyway, right?