We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the change that officially occurred today in the newspaper industry of Northwest Arkansas.
George Orwell once wrote, “The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.” And as the Northwest Arkansas newspaper “war” comes to an end, there are definitely no winners to be found.
The hardest hit, of course, are those writers and other employees who were laid off this past week. Sportswriters who we have read for years and linked to regularly from this site like Chris Cocoles, David Showers, Terry Wood, Vernon Tarver and Heath Allen have all (apparently) been let go. We certainly wish them the best during this difficult time and in the future.
Having said that, everyone understands that the newspaper business is just that — a business. The status quo was unsustainable. The economy has slowed, technology has become prevalent, and there are few media markets left in the country that can support more than one major newspaper.
So other than reducing the number of sportswriters on the Razorback beat, how will this affect coverage of the Hogs? From the FAQ describing the new “joint venture”:
Q. What kind of Razorback coverage can I expect?
A. The papers will continue to provide coverage of Arkansas sports in the Northwest edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and through the Arkansas News Bureau. Staff members of Hawgs Illustrated magazine, Clay Henry and Dudley Dawson, will also supplement the coverage.
Q. Why do I need to take the paper if I can read the stories free on the Web?
A. All the stories generated by the new organization will be available on the Web for its subscribers. Access on the Web to full stories from all four newspapers will no longer be free for nonsubscribers. [...] Content produced exclusively for the Web by the newspapers will remain available at no charge.
Like we said earlier…there are no winners in all of this. And that includes those Razorback fans — many from around the country and world — who choose not to pay to be online or print subscribers of the local and state newspapers involved in this new “partnership.”
We already posted our thoughts back in July about the decision by Walter Hussman, Jr. to move his online newspaper content behind a ‘paywall.’ Like many others, we disagree with that decision as shortsighted.
But the reality is, as of today, the majority of the print coverage about the Razorbacks will now be behind a paywall. And it will be up to Hog fans to decide whether or not it’s worth paying for that content.
As for this site, we plan to continue with our decision to only link to free content on the web. But as you can see from last night’s Eastern Michigan game, that will mean fewer links to articles in our ‘Stream’ and game recap posts. And that’s a disappointing loss even when the Razorbacks win.
I'm continiously baffled as to why the newspaper industry is even still here! I don't miss them at all! But I'm guessing that they miss my $$$.
They do miss your subscription because it is like football. Even though you buy the tickets, they still want you in the stands. Actually, I understand that 85% of newspaper expense is paid for by ads, whereas subscriptions cover the rest, and companies that place ads need for people to buy newspapers or the ads are useless.
I understand why they abhor giving it away on line BUT I am not, cannot buy a subscription for every newspaper in the nation….so I guess that leaves me looking at blogs (some are better than newspapers), TV stations, etc. And their individual article rates are outrageous. I do not believe they will survive. For some newspapers, their article writers, columnists, do not have as much varicity as the average blog. IT is nice to be able to go to newspaper sites in far away states for getting information about various things before going there. The newspapers are in a pickle but many of the major ones have done it to themselves by writing fiction for truth. Many deserve their fare. Young people by and large do not open news papers…based on that, they are likely to go the way of many things that lost their usefulness to most people.
And as far as that goes I do go to great blogs to get most of my local data about a place before we visit. And there are many, many good ones out there. It is even getting hard for them to get carriers.