Blogs and newspapers are getting close, friends, and they're starting to have children. Many papers, like the NY Times, have launched blogs that provide the fluid immediacy of relaxed online chat. And many blogs, like the Huffington Post, have grown as good as real newspapers, with staffs of professional writers breaking news.
Now, professional journalists are launching web-only newspapers, trying carve out ad dollars in the middle ground. VoiceofSanDiego.org is a three-year old, web-only newspaper that gives the big paper in town a run for its money. VoiceofSanDiego is up to 15,000 unique readers a day, while circulation for The San Diego Union-Tribune has plummeted 8.5% in the past six months alone.
All this debate over names and who is professional or not is besides the point; the real story is many mid-market newspapers will disappear within a decade. High-end outlets such as WSJ and NYT will survive on paper, and small community weeklies should remain alive with ads for plumbers and electricians. But those tier-2 vehicles in the middle, filled with padded AP wire reports, have troubled days ahead. Falling circs lead to falling advertising response rates, and as marketers notice print doesn't make the phone ring, they'll continue to push ad dollars online.
Andrew Donohue, co-chief of the San Diego newsblog, notes online quality may be better, too. Donohue told Mediaweek that 75% to 85% of a traditional newspaper's costs go to infrastructure. As for him, he can spend "every penny on hiring reporters."
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