Black Monday: Tronc Axes Half the New York Daily News Staff

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It is capturing cynical headlines across the media landscape: Tronc, the widely trashed name for the media company formerly known as Tribune Publishing, has sacked half the staff of the New York Daily News.

Smaller Newspapers Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You, New Report Finds

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Smaller-market papers, with 50,000 or smaller print circulation, are doing quite well overall compared with their larger counterparts, according to the new report by Damian Radcliffe and Christopher Ali. In this Q & A, Ali explains the contrary success of these numerous smaller papers.

The Place of Newspapers in the Local Marketing Ecosystem

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“Digitally speaking, NextDoor is encroaching on a space that local papers really should own.” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal. “It’s basically a glorified forum that in my view would be every bit as successful, if not more so, if hosted by a truly local entity.”

Borrell: Too Many Local Newspapers Remain Stuck in Their Newsroom ‘Church’

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Facebook collected $13.6 billion in local ad spending in the U.S. in 2016, according to the report — more than all local media put together — $12 billion. The report says Facebook, Google and other global pureplays will continue to dominate digital ad revenue that comes from merchants and other businesses at the community level.

Newspapers Have High Level of Trust, but Will They Capitalize on It?

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The key will be not how Facebook shares its revenues or tinkers with its news-feed algorithm. How successful newspapers are in achieving sustainability will depend on the richness of the connections they build with their audiences.

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

Can Chat Apps Help Local Papers ‘Talk’ Their Way Out of Distress?

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Messaging apps would be the ideal medium for U.S. dailies to capture committed readers in the emerging era of the “New Localism.” The big advantage of chat apps is that publishers can send questions and other “push” notifications to subscribers that promote high levels of engagement.

How Local Publishers Can Use Email Newsletters to Monetize their Audiences

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The country’s largest publishers have teams of editors putting together their email newsletters, but local publishers can adopt many of their same strategies with just a little bit of creativity. Here are five strategies for local publishers looking to monetize their email newsletters right now.

How DMN’s Speakeasy Became a Major Revenue Driver in the Digital Transition

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The newspaper’s in-house digital agency has grown to 70 client businesses that provide a significant share of the estimated $40 million of annual revenue that doesn’t originate within the walls of the DMN. The division has become the centerpiece of the company’s work to to re-establish a revenue growth model.

Why Local News Sponsorships Are More Relevant than Ever

Two Views of Community News — From 30,000 Feet and at Ground Level

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There are plenty of bad prognostications about the future of the community news business out there. But if you look at what is actually happening company by company, site by site, the view is not universally grim. There are a number of players making serious progress in digital revenue.

Can LifePosts’ Digital Obits Provide Clues for Sustainable Local Publishing?

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LifePost’s digital obits are offering a way to commemorate people and pets in a dedicated place outside of social media. The idea has drawn support from Twitter ex-CEO Dick Costolo, among others.

Missing from ‘Spotlight’ Movie: How News Sites Pay for Top-Quality Investigative Journalism

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The Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative team uncovered the pedophile priest scandal in the Catholic Church, but for all the acclaim the reporting won, it didn’t save the paper from a catastrophic financial decline that nearly put the Globe out of business. To understand how such journalistic success could be followed by such financial failure, Street Fight spoke with Dan Kennedy, associate professor in the School of Journalism at Northeastern University, who has written extensively about the subject.

How Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Uses Quality Journalism to Pay the Bills

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Like other dailies, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has taken big hits in advertising and distribution revenue on the print side, but it’s still profitable. To find out how the Journal Sentinel uses quality journalism to stay in the black, Street Fight spoke with editor and senior vice president George Stanley.

How Gannett’s Cost-Cutting and Breakthrough Video Ads Helped Land Journal Media Group

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In less than six months, the newly constituted Journal Media Group did a 180-degree about-face, shifting from a strategy focused on acquisitions to being acquired by Gannett. The USA Today publisher brought two things that JMG couldn’t match: The proven ability to consistently wring substantial cost savings out of expansion and a digital ad strategy that holds the promise of making everybody — advertisers, audiences, and stockholders — happy.

How Hearst Newspapers Became the Leader in Its Peer Group

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Under president Mark E. Aldam, Hearst Newspapers is going full bore on digital, creating in-house digital marketing services and betting big on programmatic advertising. In our interview, Aldam explains how Hearst has become a top performer in the still financially challenged newspaper industry.

After 2 Spinoffs, Journal Media Group Looks to Strengthen Digital Offerings

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The new Journal Media Group includes the 17 dailies that used to be part of E. W. Scripps and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which used to be owned by Journal Communications. We asked the company’s president, Tim Stautberg, about what JMG will be doing to succeed in both print and digital…

Street Fight Daily: BuzzFeed Raises $50M, Senator Warns of Wearables

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology50 Million New Reasons BuzzFeed Wants to Take Its Content Far Beyond Lists (New York Times)… Senator Warns Fitbit Is A ‘Privacy Nightmare’ And Could Be ‘Tracking’ Your Movements (Business Insider)… Apple iPhone Privacy Changes Lead to Layoffs at Retail Tracking Startup Nomi (Recode)…

Street Fight Daily: Nokia’s New Chief, New York’s ‘Smart’ Bar Crawl

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Nokia Announces New Strategy and Chief Executive (New York Times)… New York City Bars to Use Apple’s iBeacons for App-Driven ‘Pub Crawl’ Promotion (AppleInsider)… The Decline of Newspapers Hits a Stunning Milestone (Slate)…

Is Newspapers’ Falling Knife Finally Starting to Rise?

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Wall Street thinks the long-term decline of newspaper revenues may be near bottom as print losses are close to being outweighed by consumer and digital revenue increases. With Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos buying into the industry as a long-term play, the broader financial markets are following suit. The newspaper industry is getting some of its most positive signs in years…

Street Fight Daily: Newspaper Revenues Sink, Why ZocDoc is Winning

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Newspaper Ad Sales Skid for Seventh Straight Year (Newosaur)… Why ZocDoc is Winning: Dissenting Employees, Unlimited Vacation, & Diet Coke (VentureBeat)… Brands Buy Real-Time Mobile Ads Based on the Weather (AdWeek)…

Why the Commoditization of Local Information Is an Opportunity for Journalism

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Some have seen the shift of local information — from something that was unique to newspapers to a commodity that is available from a variety of sources — as the end to local news. But I actually think it presents a great opportunity for journalists to do what they do best: put information into context and tell us why it matters…