 
Thames
Member
Username: Thames
Post Number: 334
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 8:36 am: |    |
I canceled home delivery many years ago.
The paper ended up everywhere but on my porch. When I asked for it on the porch, I was told that they aren't required to do that but I could request it. I did, but that never happened. It usually ended up down by the curb somewhere. In the winter, many times, it would get buried by the snow plow.
I finally canceled. I figure if I have to get dressed to fetch my paper anyway, there was no sense in paying for delivery. |
Fnemecek
Member
Username: Fnemecek
Post Number: 1847
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 10:46 am: | |
The Freep gave us Metromix. They should be driven into bankruptcy just for that. |
Gannon
Member
Username: Gannon
Post Number: 14908
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 10:59 am: | |
LOL, F, yeah...that semi-porn view of the city always seems to turn my stomach, but when I was sharing a drink with some journalists from the Freep a few months back they said it gets all the hits so it makes the most money...or something like that.
It looks too much like the After5 view of life...which is so far removed from productive reality it is sadly funny.
Let's all just party our troubles away, right! |
Maf_omac
Member
Username: Maf_omac
Post Number: 98
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 11:11 am: | |
I look back at fondness of my paper throwing days. I had heard back in 2002 that the papers were cutting checks to the delivery drivers - to keep them from having to collect.
Newspapers, in general, are dying - given the proliferation of online content, blogs and the news available through cell phones and PDAs.
And even if newspapers don't die right now, it is a good bet to have the coffin ready - because detroit, as a city, is also dying. You don't hear of people "moving" to detroit just on general prinicple any more.
RIP Freepress |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1176
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 11:56 am: | |
Online news isn't dying at all -- look at all the links to the Detroit newspapers that everybody posts here. And there always will be a niche demand for print. |
Bob
Member
Username: Bob
Post Number: 1222
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 12:14 pm: | |
My Freep always ends up in a puddle. It will be a year then they will announce big newsroom cuts because they are making no money. |
Wilus1mj
Member
Username: Wilus1mj
Post Number: 279
Registered: 05-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 12:49 pm: | |
I pay $9.75/month currently for Free Press home-delivery daily...I hope it will be less for Thur, Fri, Sun. |
Realitycheck
Member
Username: Realitycheck
Post Number: 282
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 4:38 pm: | |
Crain's DetBiz publisher Mary Kramer, calling herself "a print news junkie," grudgingly acknowledges today in her blog that "the world is going digital."
With that in mind, catch the ominous two words that start her closing sentence:quote:We're going to continue to grow our online offerings while printing a weekly edition subscribers get on Mondays. For now, it's the best of both worlds. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1179
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 9:08 pm: | |
"We're going" ...? Please crack the code, how are these two words ominous? |
Deteamster
Member
Username: Deteamster
Post Number: 180
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 9:42 pm: | |
Worst idea ever.
Reading shit on the internet sucks. It's like staring at a lightbulb. I sit on a computer all day at work, why the fuck would I want to at home? I'd just read Freep.com at work, but I'd actually probably rather be doing work.
Freep has been down the wrong road for about 15 years. Instead of making a better paper, they've continually been making a smaller, shittier paper. "The Break Room", "Play" "Carolyn Hax" "Motor City Moms". All total shit. So marketing claims they get the most hits. Well, maybe, but from people who don't get newspaper subscriptions, namely morons. Instead of constantly dumbing-down and shrinking the paper, they could have expanded subscriptions by improving it. Maybe they figured if they kept making their paper shittier and shittier, nobody would notice when they stopped delivering it.
Remember when they had like 5 local sections? Nowadays you'll find about one page, with news you can't possibly use, like Kwame buying lube in the cooler.
This isn't a matter of keeping up with the times. Newspapers aren't obsolete. People still have houses, well, some people do, and want to do something besides stare at each other at the table or watch Fox News. At least, I assume they do. Hey, last I checked, the New York Times still delivers newspapers, and for a shit ton of money too. Then again, the NYT is a real paper, and NYC is a real city. |
Ggores
Member
Username: Ggores
Post Number: 503
Registered: 10-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 9:53 pm: | |
As a former delivery carrier, I'd like to remind everyone that the strike is still on. Thousands of jobs were sacrificed. Competetive journalism... damn I miss it. |
Fareastsider
Member
Username: Fareastsider
Post Number: 1007
Registered: 08-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - 11:54 pm: | |
Ignoring the obvious decline in the quality of the papers content this digital switch is an obvious choice for the papers and not only this industry but others as well. Given it is a change that many people are pissing and moaning about for whatever reason you just need to look at facts to realize this is a must do. Dont worry in less than 5 years ALL papers will primarily be digital. Consider the costs of printing and trucking that the company could save. Given that those resources wont be invested as most of us would like it is a sound business decision. In fact it is likely justified as ad revenues have been plummeting. The internet and sites like Craigslist have greatly reduced relevancy of classifieds revenue. People now can get there news and information from a myriad of sources that didnt exist 20 years ago, again reducing revenue and readership. Then there is time as when a paper reaches you it will not be as up to date as television or internet sources. Today with bandwidth increasing rapidly and more and more ways to access the internet the relevancy or for that matter the necessity of a daily printed paper becomes less and less relevant or profitable. Keep in mind the changes in technology, access and bandwidth that will occur in the near future. I would have thought more people saw this coming at least in the near future but I guess I was wrong.
So I guess I got my observations out and I should let people continue to gripe, piss and moan in face of obvious reasons this transition is occurring. I applaud the Free Press/News for being the first major paper to make such a decision. Now only if other individuals and businesses of this region would take note and be ahead or at least at pace with the game. Which reminds me of a quote in the paper today regarding that point. In his article Paul Anger quotes a banker friend who said in regards to business survival
"You're no good to anyone if you're not in the game."
This will not be the first major change in media as many more are likely on the way including magazines, movies, TV, books, radio and more. This is just the beginning!
Of course I realize the loss of jobs that are occurring but as I stated these changes are necessary and relevant given current technology and capabilities in terms of convenience/equity/relevance. In a perfect world the offset costs would be invested wisely and provide better journalism than we have seen in recent years. I also fear less local content as the technology could allow for more consolidation of news resources but that is a whole discussion in itself. Those points aside which people will argue anyways are irrelevant in regards to the realities I mentioned above. |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 786
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 3:42 am: | |
That whole digital revolution hit home when I was looking for a truck, picked up the Trading Times 35pages of nothing I could afford or want. 2 MONTHS later my Uncle up north calls and wants the Trading Times, I warned him ," It sucks", says send it up any way. Never said a word about how small it had gotten. I told him if you want stuff go to craigslist. |
Rid0617
Member
Username: Rid0617
Post Number: 362
Registered: 03-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 3:45 am: | |
I sent them an email and told them people cannot take a laptop in the toilet |
Reddog289
Member
Username: Reddog289
Post Number: 789
Registered: 08-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 3:59 am: | |
If I,d read all the stuff online instead of subscribing I,d have more space, yet nothing for the toilet. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1181
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 8:49 am: | |
Rid,
You'll have a print product, it's just that four days a week, you'll have to go out and buy it. Does everybody still think the printing presses are going still? |
Bob
Member
Username: Bob
Post Number: 1226
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 9:27 am: | |
And as of this point, there are still a couple Dailies in the area that deliver, the Oakland Press and the Macomb Press, although I would not be surprised if they both follow suit. Their parent Journal Register has one foot in the grave already, although the Macomb Daily is one of their most popular papers and actually has increasing readership. Of course if you live in Wayne County you a screwed in that aspect. But if you feel like going to the newsstand you can get much condensed daily paper that will be printed every day. |
Ndavies
Member
Username: Ndavies
Post Number: 1622
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 11:41 am: | |
Why aren't all the enviromentalists celebrating this decision and trying to stop the production of newspapers nationwide. Stopping all newspaper printing in this nation would definitely have an effect on CO2 generation.
Think of all the paper this will save in a year. Think of all the forests that will no longer have to be sacrificed to our daily news habit. Think of all the chemicals that won't need to be used to create the paper. Think of all the electricity used to turn those modern high speed presses. You would no longer need to produce billions of gallons of toxic print ink.
While this is a cost savings for the newspaper, it could be the start of a truly revolutionary green movement for news industry and our nation. |
Servite76
Member
Username: Servite76
Post Number: 129
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 11:50 am: | |
Yes Ndavies, just think we could put thousands of more people in the unemployment line. Print ink isn't toxic. |
Ndavies
Member
Username: Ndavies
Post Number: 1623
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 12:05 pm: | |
Exactly my point. Thanks for taking the bait.
Why should the print industry receive preferential treatment over the car industry? Thier customer base is requiring a different product. They are looking for something more in tune with their lifestyles and changing thier companies business model is required. The newspapers could make a change that will greatly help the enviroment.
The print industry has a way to greatly reduce their CO2 footprint. It's cost effective and enviromentally responsible. Why aren't they doing it any cost as the auto industry is?
Print ink was only made non toxic about 10 years ago. The creation of inks is definitely toxic. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1182
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 2:48 pm: | |
Some explanation from the News:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pb cs.dll/article?AID=/20081218/O PINION03/812180365 |
Servite76
Member
Username: Servite76
Post Number: 130
Registered: 02-2008
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 3:06 pm: | |
Sorry Ndavies, I took the bait, hook, line and sinker. For a minute there I thought you were serious. Must have been all those years of breathing in paper dust and ink.
(Message edited by Servite76 on December 18, 2008) |
Jams
Member
Username: Jams
Post Number: 7308
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2008 - 4:17 pm: | |
Interesting commentary:
quote:The Digital Slay-Ride
What's killing newspapers is the same thing that killed the slide rule.
http://www.slate.com/id/220685 4/
From the piece:
quote:Before we get too weepy about lost journalistic jobs and folded publications, let's ask how often reporters lamented the decline of other industries, products, and services swamped by Rossetto's digital typhoon. Here's a very short list of typhooned jobs for which I wish there were a Paper Cuts-like mashup of losses:
Bank tellers
Typewriters
Typesetting
Carburetors
Vacuum tubes
Slide rules
Disc jockeys
Stockbrokers
Telephone operators
Yellow pages
Repair guys
Bookbinders
Pimps (displaced by the cell phone and the Web)
Cassette and reel-to-reel recorders
VCRs
Turntables
Video stores
Record stores
Bookstores
Recording industry
Courier/messenger services
Travel agencies
Print and cinematic porn
Porn actors
Stenographers
Wired telcos
Drummers
Toll collectors (slayed by the E-ZPass)
Book publishing (especially reference works)
Conventional-watch makers
"Browse" shopping
U.S. Postal Service
Printing-press makers
Film cameras
Kodak (and other film-stock makers) |
Zzshock
Member
Username: Zzshock
Post Number: 2
Registered: 12-2008
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 3:38 am: | |
It's funny to read the wailing and gnashing of teeth that this shift invokes in the old timers. Personally, I've had no use for the newspaper other than to pick it up off of the driveway and leave it on the kitchen counter.
Hey, it sucks for the people who made their livings as part of the old paradigm, but people now have so many other methods to get their information, radio, television and the internet, that dead tree papers are just obsolete. |
Realitycheck
Member
Username: Realitycheck
Post Number: 283
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 8:49 am: | |
Deteamster posted 2 days ago:quote:. . . the New York Times still delivers newspapers, and for a s--t ton of money too. Then again, the NYT is a real paper . . . RealityCheck excerpts a Dec. 7 business section report in the NYT:quote:The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.
. . . Standard & Poors recently lowered its credit rating on the Times Company below investment grade, and Moodys Investors Service has said it was considering a similar move. Times Company stock has lost more than half its value this year. Seismic shifts under way for all papers, 'real' or unreal. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1183
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 10:15 am: | |
Zzshock,
"Radio and TV" and Internet aggregators get their news from guess where? Fully-staffed newspaper newsrooms, with reporters making a middle-class living with health insurance. What TV and radio reporters do is called "rip and read." WWJ has some reporters doing original work, but nowhere near the numbers the Free Press or News have.
TV newsrooms have been gutted and even before they were, they've always followed the papers' reporting.
As for aggregators like yahoo news -- they aren't paying the news organizations but they use their work. |
The_rock
Member
Username: The_rock
Post Number: 1502
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 10:45 am: | |
Good point, Zzshock---I am one of those old-timers who grew up reading the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Detroit Times, Birmingham Eccentric, Pontiac Press and NYT. We still have home delivery for the News, Freep, GP News and Sunday NYT (cost is unreal for the Sunday NYT!).
I play with the computer daily, but the thought of reading a complete paper on my computer monitor holds the same interest as reading a novel on-line----none!!
But you are correct--there are so many other ways to get news, another big obstacle being the vast number of commercials that haunt a TV or radio news broadcast. They drive me nuts,but thank God for the remote and its mute button. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1184
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 10:59 am: | |
Bless all consumers of news like you, rock, long may you thrive. |
Zzshock
Member
Username: Zzshock
Post Number: 4
Registered: 12-2008
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 1:29 pm: | |
Well Pffft, that just means that there won't be a shortage of potential employees as the newspapers go down and big media takes over.
You want to see where news is headed? Look no further than retail. Look at your Wal-Marts, Costcos and Targets. A few big and powerful companies and their chains servicing the majority while a couple of smaller businesses get by on being more particular and niche focused.
If the newspapers can't compete in their own space, then they'll be made to compete with big media like NBC, Fox, CNN, BBC and smaller independent blog sites. There will be newspaper based groups who will survive, but I wouldn't bet on any myself.
On the bright side e-paper and e-readers are coming along well, so that could be an alternative to people who don't want to use their computer monitor or smart phone for everything.
http://images.google.com/image s?hl=en&q=e+paper&gbv=2
http://images.google.com/image s?gbv=2&hl=en&q=e+reader |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1185
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 2:07 pm: | |
LOL think "big media" doesn't already own the Detroit papers? Google "Gannett" ...it doesn't get any bigger. |
Zzshock
Member
Username: Zzshock
Post Number: 5
Registered: 12-2008
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 2:18 pm: | |
http://www.gannett.com/about/c ompany_profile.htm
"Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company. In the United States, the company publishes 85 daily newspapers, including USA TODAY, and nearly 900 non-daily publications. Along with each of its daily newspapers, the company operates Internet sites offering news and advertising that is customized for the market served and integrated with its publishing operations. USA TODAY.com is one of the most popular news sites on the Web. The company is the largest newspaper publisher in the U.S."
Hunh, doesn't sound like a company I'd be envying right now. |
Pffft
Member
Username: Pffft
Post Number: 1186
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 2:47 pm: | |
Whatever, but trust me, it's "Big Media." |
Bobl
Member
Username: Bobl
Post Number: 297
Registered: 07-2008
| | Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 - 2:50 pm: | |
During the newspaper strike of 1967-1968 some small scale tabloids arose, distributed at news stands, bars and restaurants.
One featured local crime stories, and referred to the criminals with terms like "guttersnipes", "punks", and "malcontents".
What terms would they use today? |
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