MMMM # 162 The Breadth of Coverage

     The newspaper in Montgomery is one of those that carries USA Today's Sunday magazine insert. It's a competitor to the "Parade" magazine that generations of readers grew up with.

     Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention, but either recently or just yesterday morning, the magazine joined the rest of the newspaper publishing world and shrunk to not much bigger than the coupon inserts.

     All of this diminishing started in the Mid-2000's, and it became a sure thing in January of last year when The New York Times joined the parade, cutting 1.5 inches in its width and eliminating 250 jobs at a printing plant at the same time. (No, I can't quite see how the two are related either. How would it take fewer people to print a paper just because it is 1.5 inches less wide?)

     The symbolism of newspapers shrinking in size at the same time they diminished in profitability and, some would argue, importance, has been impossible to miss.

     TV pictures during the same times have gotten much larger (at least the receivers have), though I'll let someone else do that analysis.

     Papers still have not managed to make their profits in the digital/online world come even close to what they were making back in the old days. Classified income? Gone. Subscribers? Heading out the door.

     The Times new editor started work this past week...the first female to hold the post in 160 years. I'm still on my personal boycott of the paper because of the way they handled their online pay-wall implementation. True, a very tiny protest, but a little appreciate for the people I sent their way with links might have been nice. Or at least an answer to my email. (-:

[ALSO: Regular reader and commentator Kevin point out a fascinating study conducted in Kentucky that finds analysis of news coverage can predict future events...kinda. He sends a link to a paper in England, though I'm sure there will be a lot of coverage in the U.S. too. Thanks Kevin!]

[AND: Read Anniston Star Editor Bob Davis's editorial about the responsibility of journalists. He hit it out of the park.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]