The Morning News’ parent company released its first quarter earnings yesterday, and the news was even worse than most expected — an almost 11 percent decrease in earnings, an estimate that circulation has decreased by more than 10 percent, and no optimism that things are going to get much better anytime soon.
One can guess at the reasons for this. Some of it is the problems that newspapers are having in general, and some of it is unique to The News: Its arrogance and a dull and uninteresting product. Whatever the reasons, we’re almost certainly going to see more budget cuts, including layoffs, and that will just accelerate the cycle. The story hints at that: "We are diligently seeking efficiencies across the company," which is corporate speak for clean out your desks. There is also an increasing chance that, despite a poison pill stock structure, Belo could be bought by someone from out of town.
I realize the bosses at the Belo building could care less about what I have to say, but I hate to see any newspaper — even The News — suffer. So here’s some free advice: Just cutting costs isn’t going to help. You have to give people a reason to read the paper, whether that’s better writing, more attractive design, or stories that they actually want to read. You can’t just say, "Here, suck on this," like you’ve been doing for the past 16 years. Those monopoly days are long gone.
