Newspapers ain’t what they used to be…
The LA Times reports (with some glee), that my hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle’s circulation is plummeting, 16% in the first half of 2005, the largest amongst any of the nation’s biggest 20 newspapers. The usual row of factors (the Interweb, Craigslist, the generational divide in how folks get their news) is exacerbated by the unique character of the Bay Area–a cosmopolitan, tech savvy readership that gets much of their news online and from out of town papers. Oh and Craig lives here.
I applaud the efforts of the Chron to modernize because A) I think ragging on one’s hometown paper holds about as much wait as calling Hollywood shallow and B) SF Gate, the paper’s web presence, is one of the most popular newspaper websites in the country and has rapidly grown and diversified over the last year, adding blogs, podcasts, and rss feeds.
Question I have then: Is it too little, too late? SFGate got rss feeds only after months of complaining from readers (I had to have one designed for Beth Lisick’s column). Podcasts are broken down by category but there’s no way to get them all and then pick and choose like you would when, say, reading sections of a newspaper. I haven’t really checked out the blogs yet but doesn’t SFist and Laughing Squid already do what the Gate’s Culture Blog does?
“Forum” did a pretty good show about The Future of Newspapers not long ago. I also liked this Slashdot article about the topic.
How is your hometown paper grappling with change?