Saving Newpapers...It's what I do

After a fantastic pasta dinner, 2 ½ hearty glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon, I’ve developed a plan to save the likes of the LA Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Chicago Tribune. …or at least it will get a rise out of my fantastic friends in the journalism industry.

The plan is two-fold but, sadly, simply enough to not require the famous graphs of Ross Perot (a forgotten name heard today on NPR). "What we’ve got to do is:" Raise subscription prices (Fold 1). How much? Significantly.

It’s no secret papers are losing subscribers at an alarming rate forcing rounds of high-profile layoffs and the squeezing of their kept staff by way of more work in fewer hours. I say squeeze customers, raise prices boldly. I bet results are surprising. Many customers likely rely on automatic draft payments and will not notice a price hike until after it has become to the norm. Those that cancel are less than loyal, only skewing the results of costly customer satisfaction surveys.

Fold 2: Cut publications. How much? You decide. I would correlate the cut to the size of the town. Currently, I am one of 100,000 give or take a goat or two, and would encourage The Daily Progress to cut by 50% or more. Absurd? I disagree. I have just saved our local paper 50% in cost, frankly, do not think the Wal-Mart expansion is worth the environmental impact the printing of the paper caused, and thirdly, created a new revenue stream.

A new revenue stream? Simple: when worthy news occurs outside of the new regular print times, special editions are sold (think 1920’s: Extra, Extra). These “Extra-Extra’s” both add revenue and create new awareness increasing the long-term subscriber-base at the higher subscription rate.

Now, tomorrow, as you read the Sunday paper, you’ll have new food for thought in your breakfast bowl.