U.S. Weekly Newspapers Embrace Web Sites

Newspaper Research Journal, Fall 2007 by Adams, Jennifer Wood

And a third said:

It has enhanced our local franchise and strengthened our position as the No. 1 information provider in the market we serve.61

One respondent who indicated his/her online newspaper is cannibalizing the subscription base said:

Since cutting our online stories to "teasers" our circulation has picked up with lots of new subscriptions that were previously just reading the online edition.62

Another respondent reported:

I believe it hurts our out-of-state subscriptions, but we don't care about that loss. We would rather they get quicker service as to deal with the problems with late delivery and high cost of delivery of the print product. I also know that we are providing free content to some people who don't subscribe, but many of them probably would not subscribe if the web content were not available. They are of a generation that expects content to be free.63

R5. Do the newspapers' managers routinely review, evaluate and/or modify the goals for their online newspapers to sustain quality online products?

Almost three out of four (73.9 percent) respondents said they routinely review, evaluate and/or modify the online newspaper and its goals, twenty-five percent report they do not and 1.1 percent said "I don't know."

The way most cited to sustain a quality online newspaper was regularly evaluating the product, which includes updating the design and adding new features (40 percent).64 Another 28.3 percent said they meet regularly with the staff and other management to discuss the product, 13.3 percent indicated they look at their competition or other Web site to see how to improve their sites, 13.3 percent said they routinely monitor their Web traffic, hits and online ad sales, 10 percent said they ask for reader and advertiser feedback and another 11.7 said "Other."

In addition to these tasks, respondents indicated leadership and staff motivation are two important ways to sustain a quality online product. As one respondent put it, "(I) treat it with the same concern and respect I do the print edition."65 Another said, "(I) provide the people on the front lines what they need to make it better."66

Discussion and Conclusions

This study examined the state of the online newspaper at U.S. weekly newspapers and the management of the online edition. While most of the newspapers in the study had an online newspaper, the study revealed many interesting insights into the production and management of the online newspaper.

One interesting insight was that most of the respondents embraced their Web sites as a reality of the newspaper business. One respondent noted:

Just as we did with the TV, we must change or be ran [sic] over. We may be small, but we pride ourselves in doing anything the 'big boys' can do.67

Most respondents realized the Internet is the future of publishing and are now trying to figure out how to best manage the site to increase readership and revenues.

With the Internet, weekly newspapers can start to level the playing field and compete with other media outlets when it comes to breaking news. They can break news on their Web sites and not wait, sometimes a full week, before publishing a story in their printed editions. However, only 12 percent of respondents reported updating their sites daily. As previously stated, 63 percent of online newspaper readers said they check the Web daily for breaking news. Weekly newspapers would be wise to update their Web content on a daily basis. This could help weekly newspapers stay competitive with other media outlets during normal news cycles and especially during major news events.