[Mpls] Star Tribune, City Pages & The Future of Newspapers

[WLDJ36 at aol.com]

With all the publicity surrounding the Star Tribune redesign and City Pages  
merger, here is something to consider from the MediaPost publications web site 
 under the headline "05 Proving to Be Worst Newspaper Year Since  Recession."
 
". .  an industry besieged by flat ad revenues, falling stocks, and  fleeing 
subscribers. Last week, Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer for  
Publicis Groupe, told a newspaper--the Chicago Tribune--"newspapers are  at a 
tipping point," in which online media will start to take more readership  and more 
ad dollars. He added that newspapers are in the worst situation of all  news 
media for growth as "the least visually engaging and least youth oriented"  
medium." 
 
It will be interesting to see how the Star Tribune and City Pages respond  to 
these challenges. The Strib redesign was a start but I maintain their web  
site is still too hard to navigate (but thanks for bringing back the "Politics"  
tab). The City Pages home page is too busy and their content could be  better 
organized. But, I can get to a hot story on their web site much faster  than 
trying to get the paper copy at my local coffee shop, book store or liquor  
store.
 
I wonder what both publication will do about the ad revenue lost to Craigs  
List, Yahoo and Google? Will they rely only on banner ads and cede the  
classified stuff to Craigs List, etc?
 
With Minneapolis wi-fi around the corner, how much news will the citizens  of 
Minnepolis grab online?
 
Here is the link to the rest of the story: 
_http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=35690_ 
(http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_ai
d=35690) 
 
Bill Dooley
Kenny