In a desperate bid to attract young readers "who have been deserting daily newspapers in droves and driving news executives to distraction," mainstream media companies "are churning out ... easy-to- read publications that are light on serious journalism, heavy on the partying scene, and, for the most part, free," reports Mark Jurkowitz. "I think it's a silly strategy because it's all about what they're putting out in daily papers that's driving [young] readers away,'' Nashville Scene's Albie Del Favero tells Jurkowitz. ''Daily newspapers in general write in a style that is not at all appealing to young readers.''
When the free weekday tabloid Express debuted Monday morning, the City Paper and its band of merry pranksters were prepared, hawking 10,000 copies of its own Expresso at subway stops across the nation's capital. The City Paper parodists, led by Webmeister Dave Nuttycombe, "anticipated the journalistic emptiness of Express," according to Slate's Jack Shafer, who says the Post's new lite version "ladles the news out with an eyedropper into tiny text boxes and then flattens it with a steamroller." Also revealed: The editor of Express is none other than Dan Caccavaro, former editor of AAN-member Valley Advocate.
The Courier-Journal’s new tabloid will target 25- to 34-year-olds and will focus on lifestyle and entertainment news, according to an internal memo intercepted by LEO's Tom Peterson. The as-yet-unnamed paper will launch as early as November with shared C-J personnel but ultimately will have its own staff, according to the memo. Boise Weekly Publisher Bingo Barnes tells Peterson that the free weekly published by Gannett's Idaho Statesmen doesn't compete fairly: “They’ve given some advertisers free ads for a year. And we’ve lost some ads as a result. Their goal is total market dominance."
"Before the Express can work as an advertising vehicle, it must first achieve marginal editorial success," Slate's Jack Shafer says about Washington Post Co.'s "latest strategy to reclaim young AWOL readers." New Times CEO Jim Larkin tells Shafer the Post and other dailies are trying to stem the erosion of their near monopoly that began in the early 60's; San Diego Reader's Howie Rosen suggests the papers have priced themselves out of local markets with their steep advertising rates. Village Voice Media CEO David Schneiderman says the dailies "patronize" young readers, and "then wonder why they don't read their newspapers."
In another daily paper attempt to capture young readers, The Washington Post's Express will be given away to commuters and is designed to be read in 15 minutes. "So The Post is going after the hipster demographic -- what a surprise," Washington City Paper Editor Erik Wemple tells the Post. Express will debut in August.
Bob Kittle, editorial page editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune, claims he had never seen the 10-month-old AAN paper when he learned CityBeat Editor David Rolland would be appearing on a local NPR "Editor's Roundtable" alongside him. Directed to CityBeat’s Web site, Kittle was shocked to find profanity -- so shocked, in fact, that he tried unsuccessfully to get Rolland kicked off the radio program, on which Kittle is a regular pundit. "CityBeat is not journalism. It’s trash," Kittle wrote in a letter to radio station KPBS. In this week’s CityBeat, Rolland responds that Kittle’s real intent was to "limit the range of debate" in San Diego, which he says, "has been too narrow ... for too long."
The owners of the Long Island Press, one of the seven applying papers voted into the association at the Pittsburgh convention, "have begun plotting how to take the paper daily to compete with Newsday," reports the New York Post. Jed Morey, CEO of the paper's parent company, the Morey Organization, which also owns three radio stations on Long Island, tells the Post: "We consider the weekly a trial balloon. The size of this market lends itself to two dailies."
The Board of Directors of Creative Loafing, Inc., announced that it will investigate two of its directors from Cox Newspapers, Inc., owner of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The question is whether the two directors used the confidential board meetings to learn enough about publishing alternative newsweeklies to launch "accessAtlanta" as a direct competitor to Creative Loafing (Atlanta).
A few weeks ago the Baltimore Sun launched "LiVE!" its version of the ubiquitous daily paper sop to "young readers." Baltimore City Paper wasted no time in starting its own new weekly "Advice Column for Journalists Looking to Get in on the Lucrative Alt-Weekly Market." Here's a sample: "After more than two years with virtually no homegrown pop-music coverage ... three LiVE! covers in a row devoted to the hot musical acts of today. Ga-zinga! You surely are giving us a run for our money, pop-music-wise, which, of course, as everyone knows, is a big reason people pick up a publication like ours. And that's the idea, right? A publication like ours? Except folks gotta pay for yours."
Jay Smith and Buddy Solomon, Cox Newspaper executives who sit on the Creative Loafing board as a result of Cox's 25 percent ownership in the alt-weekly chain, were apparently taking notes during the board meetings. The proof? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cox's flagship daily, last week rolled out accessAtlanta, a free-circulation weekly aimed directly at CL's young readers. John Sugg dubs the new paper Creative Loafing's Mini-Me and says CL has taken steps to freeze out Cox's Trojan Horse board members. "This action has exposed [Smith and Solomon] to charges of conflict of interest and the appearance of bad faith and ethics," says CL President and CEO Ben Eason. "We intend to wage this war with everything we have."
