Subscribe
for just...
plus
How important is local news, and how do we save it? Well, let's talk about that.
Before we start, I just want to make something very clear. Local newspapers are exceptionally important for our society and, don't just take my word for it, it's actually something that we can measure.
For instance, back in May, we heard about a study from the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at Chicago that had looked into the cost of the local municipalities in places where local newspapers had closed. What they found was that the local governments saw a rising level of cost, which hinted at a higher level of mismanaged or poorly conducted local projects.
And by comparing this to places with and without local newspapers, they noticed a statistically significant difference between them. So the conclusion was that local newspapers served a very important role in local societies.
Revenue bonds are commonly issued to finance local projects such as schools and hospitals, and are backed by the revenues generated by those projects. General obligation bonds, on the other hand, are typically used to finance public works projects such as roadways and parks, and are backed by local taxes and fees. Revenue bonds should be subject to greater scrutiny because of the free cash flows that those projects generate, and these bonds are rarely regulated by the state government. A local newspaper provides an ideal monitoring agent for these revenue-generating projects, as mismanaged projects can be exposed by investigative reporters employed by the local newspaper. When a newspaper closes, this monitoring mechanism also ceases to exist, leading to a greater risk that the cash flows generated by these projects will be mismanaged.
So, the importance of local newspapers is something we can directly measure, and because of this, we need to protect them and make sure that they continue to exist.
Right?
Well, this is where we have a problem. And in this article we will talk about why and how local newspapers need to adjust their models to a world where the newspaper no longer fits in.
So what is really happening?
Well, first of all, it's important to remember that what we call 'local newspapers' has a very wide definition. There are massive differences between countries, there are huge differences between cities. For example, a local newspaper in Boston USA has the same potential audience as the entire country of Denmark (where I live).
Defining a local newspaper for a city with millions of people is very different to a local newspaper in a small town with only a few thousand people.
Register to try out Baekdal Plus completely for free for one week.
Baekdal Plus is your premium destination for trends and analysis for the media industry. Every year you get 25 reports about the future media trends, business and editorial strategies, monetization analysis and insights about how to use analytics specifically for publishers.
As a subscriber, you also get full access to all the Plus reports (more than 200) published over the past 8 years, as well as the ability to share what you read.
Yes, of course, please write to plus@baekdal.com and I will send you a regular invoice that you can pay via your bank. I will need your company name, address and VAT number (if within the EU). Also, please note that due to this process being manual, this will be for an annual subscription only.
Yes, please write to plus@baekdal.com for details. But for 25-99 users: the price is 20% off the subscription price ($79/year per user), 100+ users is a fixed price at $5,000 (for all combined).
Yes, please head over to Baekdal Media to read about consulting where I can help you with strategy reviews, trend and strategy reports, and strategic guidance for you media company or a specific publication.
How do we define relevance? We look at what people are doing.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Climate change coverage needs a different focus, otherwise we lose our audiences
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Solve one problem, to solve all of them.
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Churn is something you have to manage long before people even subscribe
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
When publishers want to engage with their audiences, are they really unengaging them instead?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Only about 15% of the public pays for news, so how we do convert the remaining 85%?
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Free for subscribers
...or full access for $12
Founder, media analyst, author, and publisher. Follow on Twitter
"Thomas Baekdal is one of Scandinavia's most sought-after experts in the digitization of media companies. He has made himself known for his analysis of how digitization has changed the way we consume media."
Swedish business magazine, Resumé
plus
plus
plus
plus
plus
plus