Multicultural Information Resources As Necessary As Ever
By Tanya Ishikawa
For newspapers, these could be the best of times, or they may become the worst of times.
This journalistic twist to the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens may seem trite, but it is all too accurate and either exciting or frightening for people in the journalism business. Newspaper companies are challenged by dramatic changes in how consumers gather information and the reaction by advertisers, which are finding new places to spend their budgets.
U.S. daily newspaper circulation, which reached its peaks in 1970, 1980, and 1990 with about 62 million papers, has been decreasing over the past two decades and was at an all-time low of about 52 million last year, according to Editor & Publisher. The 2006 number may not seem that low, but when you consider it equals a 16 percent drop with no signs of recovery, the situation looks a little more serious.
With the lower readership, newspapers have been seeing a decrease in advertising. While ad spending was the highest between 1972 and 1984, according to the Newspaper Association of America, it decreased by 9 percent in 2001 and has remained fairly stagnant since. Meanwhile, in the four years from 2003 to 2006, online ad sales increased by about 30 percent each year.
In a staff memo last April, Denver Post editor Greg Moore wrote, “I don’t think there is any secret that our newspaper and others have been facing some challenging times.”
Announcing a new round of employee buyouts, Moore wrote, “Even though just a year ago we went through buyouts in an effort to reduce costs, the financial situation facing the paper and the Denver Newspaper Agency requires additional measures be taken. … I know this is tough and introduces more anxiety in already difficult times. But we will get through it.”
Competition for audiences from the Internet and other digital technologies such as mobile phone text messaging is causing the Post, other dailies, and even the weeklies and monthly newspapers to rethink their business operations. To continue to deliver news, the industry must consider alternative ways to compete and new services to attract readers and advertisers.
 “Newspapers have to become more visual. Newspapers need decent Web sites, and we have to put the paper together differently and not just fill our front pages with stories that have been around all day. Tough tasks, but part of the prescription for the future,” said Moore, who also answered questions about the state of the industry at the Denver Urban Spectrum’s 20th Anniversary Celebration (pictured here with Channel 2 news anchor Tamara Banks).
At the end of July, the Denver Urban Spectrum management and other Colorado news people attended an American Press Institute workshop at Metropolitan State College about the Newspaper Next project. The goal of the project is to research and test viable new business models for the newspaper industry.
In describing the need for change, the project Web site states, “The threats come from many directions but are manifesting themselves in the form of declining circulation, rising costs, and downward revenue pressure. These trends show no sign of reversing themselves. The industry’s very survival is dependent on its ability to reframe completely the way it does business, and find new ways to attract and keep customers.”
Stephen Gray, Newspaper Next managing director and trainer, said, “What we teach is that there’s a huge frontier of opportunities in all kinds of local information,” but he adds, “A daily print product is not a very efficient way to deliver certain services,” due to its limited space and frequency.
Gray recommends companies strengthen their main product, whether it is a daily, weekly, or monthly newspaper – with paid or unpaid distribution, through surveying readers and nonreaders to find out the most desired content and format. Then, companies must diversify their information services, based on the customer surveys, to include Internet tools such as Web-based databases, online forums, and niche e-mail newsletters.
“In this new information frontier, by fulfilling information needs and desires, newspapers are expanding their business,” he said.
College students and graduates, who have grown up with the World Wide Web, are a key resource to newspaper companies as they plan for the future.
“Many newsrooms are getting younger and younger and these new journalists are eager to engage new media. So interns are learning a lot from their near peers in the professional world, instead of from journeymen reporters who don't have as much interest in online journalism,” said Dr. Kirby Moss, an assistant journalism professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and an Urban Spectrum Youth Foundation teacher. “It's no longer enough in the rapidly changing newspaper journalism industry to know how to just report and write. With the proliferation of the web and advertising dollars quickly flowing that way, this new generation of journalism students are much more versed in video/audio production, web design and editing, as well as reporting and writing content for the web. Some of them don't like it, but that's what the industry calls for.”
If the major dailies are struggling, it’s certain that the smaller community newspapers including multicultural news outlets like the Spectrum are, too. While maintaining the unique mission of delivering information about specific communities, these publications must also diversify and meet new demands.
“As the larger ‘mainstream’ newspapers continue to downsize, (African-American) presence in their newsrooms and boardrooms is dwindling. The role of newspapers about people of color is, therefore, even more critical in that they can continue to inform and empower our communities about topics the larger papers might overlook or marginalize. It will also be crucial to remember that the issues and opinions in communities of color are not monolithic, and present a diversity of ideas and opinions,” said Tracy Williams, president of TradeWinds Communications.
Williams was awarded “Public Relations Professional of the Year” at the Colorado Association of Black Journalists banquet in August.
Newspapers about communities of color “can stay relevant by staying on top of the technological advances taking place in the industry, which means making an investment in their employees with regard to professional development and technical training,” she said.
“Most importantly, these new opportunities expand their capabilities with regard to providing historical documentation of the vast experiences in communities of color, and for providing up-and-coming journalists of color with entrepreneurial guidance and inspiration in the years to come.”
Bill Cobbs, an accomplished movie and TV actor who is known for his roles in Night at the Museum, Bodyguard and New Jack City, agrees with Williams about the necessity for the Spectrum and similar publications to continue to deliver the news.
“The major newspapers deal with general issues and general concerns, but I think ethnic newspapers cover a lot of things that are related to different groups specifically, and deal with particular problems and concerns. Sometimes, quite frankly, the media at large shows a lack of concern for these issues that are important to various groups of people,” said Cobbs, who was presented the “Ultimate Gift Award” at the Urban Spectrum anniversary celebrations.
“In the past, our newspapers have been around to express our points of view, entertain us and provide a sense of community,” he continued. “I’m particularly impressed with the [Denver] Urban Spectrum. It’s a paper that deals with the entire community. It is not one-sided, but it doesn’t hesitate to speak loudly about issues not being addressed in our community. It does what, from my point of view, all newspapers should do. For us to lose our own personal voice in the media would not be good. Too often, our voices are not heard.”
“If a newspaper about people of color was important in the past, back when W.E.B. DuBois started the The Crisis (the official NAACP magazine founded by Dubois in 1910), it’s important today and I don’t see why it wouldn’t be important tomorrow,” he concluded.
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