Our chain-owned paper reflects industry's retreat

It was common ten years ago to hear pronouncements about the impending death of newspapers. The author Michael Wolff made an especially overblown pronouncement. I guess Wolff is nothing if not an attention seeker. He's the author, you'll remember, who wrote an early, supposedly very revelatory, book about the Trump administration.
The appearance of the book caused an uproar of attention in the news media. I arranged to have the book special-ordered at our Morris Public Library. Thanks to the library of course. I got about a fourth of the way through the book and abandoned it. Anyone who watches MSNBC for several hours a day would have already known everything in it. An early book by David Frum was much the same. Are we supposed to be shocked that unusual things began happening when Trump assumed the presidency?
Are we supposed to be shocked now to realize that nepotism might actually be a bad thing? Nepotism had that reputation for a reason. So now we have the matter of Donald Trump Jr. being subpoenaed - you know, "Fredo." So there's a firestorm of Republicans lining up like on cue to express outrage over the subpoena. It has been said that the best way to bring down a mob boss is to go after his kids. Hmmm. I wonder if Richard Burr has something up his sleeve here.
Anyway, I remember when author Wolff made a sensational assessment of the newspaper industry. He suggested a huge percentage of newspapers were going to go under within a pretty tight timeline - 18 months as I recall. Everyone knew that newspapers were coming under new pressures because of online. However, it was far from certain that newspapers would have their role simply wiped out. That wasn't likely to be the case back then. It is much closer to being the case now.
The online world has steadily evolved to meet people's needs. On-paper communications of all kinds have been in retreat. I told a friend the other day that writing out a paper check feels like more of a chore than in the past. Paper thank-you notes certainly feel like more of a chore and are being phased out by many.
Newspapers have been under a slow and steady assault. Had they simply disappeared ten years ago, it would have been a bombshell development. So, this wasn't likely to happen. I wrote long ago that when papers finally seem all but gone, vestigial or whatever, it will not be bombshell news. That is because we will have moved on from them. Absent the need, we will simply pay no more attention to the issue. All that matters is that our needs are being met.
 
Wisdom of a big business guy
Warren Buffet is now quoted saying most newspapers are "toast." The job cuts at newspapers are continual. In 2016 the newspaper industry's ad revenue was about a third of what it was ten years earlier. It went from $49 billion down to $18 billion. The people who work in "news" can go into much hand-wringing. I used to be involved in news production of course. I loved to be all over the community paying attention to endless things.
People like me over-emphasized our role in the business. It was never really about us. I answered to people who thought all the issues in connection with sports coverage had such tremendous gravity. News department people were notorious for losing their temper and getting into arguments over how we did our work. A newspaper owner should have just been amused. It was never about us, it was about the advertising. "Ads were the most important editorial content from the standpoint of the reader," Buffet said.
 
Dispiriting situation here
Our newspaper in Morris has been under chain ownership for a long time now. The strings are pulled out of Fargo ND. Chain ownership is of course very cold and calculating. If we thought we might be surprised by Forum Communications, like maybe they'd just leave us alone and let us follow precedent, well no, it doesn't work that way. I think Jim Morrison was guilty of being a little Pollyannish.

Chains are run by bean counters who want to maximize profit in the short term. The most cynical view is that they are engaged in "harvesting." This means the sacrifice of future business health to make sure you can rake in the maximum profit now. This is done with "legacy advertisers," interests which as much as anything advertise because it's an established habit.
The people who still try to sell ads for papers try to seize on the legacy habit. They'll call and immediately remind the business that "last year this is what you bought for such-and-such special section." It might be the spring ag section. That's a totally outdated thing now. It hangs on. Don't sucker for it.
Buffet says "the world has changed hugely." And on other fronts we see the rapid retreat of bricks and mortar like with our Shopko store in Morris. What's going to happen with that building? That store opened with the name "Gibson's" and it was a huge deal. Gibson's represented the cutting edge model for retail, away from the old main street (with its "pool hall") and on the outskirts with free parking. We called it a "discount store." Del Sarlette who was involved with main street was probably showing defensiveness when he joked that you could get your "19-cent Gibson window scraper."
It was no joke. The old prevailing notions were being whisked away like the notion that you had to pay to park downtown. The parking meter system lasted longer than it should have.
It takes a while for new systems to really take hold. Some people hesitate because change in itself intimidates them some. I can be in that category myself. Only recently did I obtain my first debit card. I'm getting there, don't worry. Newspapers? It's yesterday's news.
Hopefully the day is coming soon when there will be no more Morris paper, so we don't suffer the indignity of "getting your name in the paper" when we get a minor traffic ticket. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Aren't you already annoyed by that? Stop buying it.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com