Photo courtesy of emilylt at flickr.comOoooooh!! Aaaaaaaaah. Fancy! Shiny!
Is it the Fourth of July?
Nope. Just the new glossy pages of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Literally.
Frank Vega, publisher of the declining San Francisco Chronicle, announced today the Chron will now print some pages on glossy paper. The move comes less than two weeks after the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported circulation of the San Francisco Chronicle nose-dived 25.8%, more than any other major urban newspaper.
The paper’s initial response to the report was that such a decline had been expected following the change from a business plan relying on advertising revenue to a focus on revenue from individual subscribers. Subscription rates have nearly doubled in the last year and a half.
Apparently, part of that Wile E. genius master plan involves mesmerizing potential readers with spine-tingling glossy paper. As if the breathtaking beauty of glossy paper fanciness will distract readers from a serious lack of substantive content.
Rather than spend that increased subscriber revenue on glossy paper, a more prudent and effective business decision would be to hire back some investigative reporters.
The Chron laid off investigative reporters earlier this year and took Rachel Gordon off the City Hall beat where she was one of the more analytical and interesting writers.
As long as the Chron continues to be a propaganda machine for wealthy politicians and developers, all the gloss in the world won’t save it.
It’s the content, stupid.
It's so nice to see your voice in your own place. And that's the best use of a lipstick on a pig illustration I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteGood observation. Let's face it everyone, printed news is becoming a thing of the past. The ones that stick it out the longest better have some solid content. Savy readers are not dazzled by glossy print and furthermore don't appreciate being dumbed down to that level. Get real!!
ReplyDelete