NEWS & INFORMATION CENTER (FT)
WEB EDITOR
NewsOK.com is looking for a web editor skilled in all aspects
of web journalism -- including content curation, social media,
blogging, cms tools, site editing, industry technology and
news/sports judgment -- to work with multiple departments in
[B]The Oklahoman's news operation as it continues its aggressive
transition to a digital media company.
Really don't want this to be a "bash" the DOK thread, but I really don't have any control over that. Debated even if I should start it or not. Even if you hate the DOK for whatever reason, they don't plan on going away entirely, just becoming a "digital media company" you can love/hate. Thoughts?

I give OPUBCO credit for being more out in front of this trend than most newspapers.

They were one of the very first papers to have a digital presence, starting with a strictly subscription model in the early 90's. They also digitized their entire archives very early on, switched to a free web format before most others, etc. Then about five years ago, they scrapped their alliance with Channel 9 and invested in an in-house video production studio and hired good people to run it.

And very recently, they replaced both their editor and publisher with people that are much more multimedia savvy.


Unfortunately, that entire industry is crashing down around them and there is only so much you can do. Newspapers run on ad dollars and those are obviously going elsewhere these days. And it's proven difficult for on-line models -- be they subscription, ad-driven or a combination of the two -- to support the infrastructure required to report and produce content.

It doesn't seem like anyone has figured out how to make this work financially but at least the Oklahoman has been pretty progressive in trying new things. I suspect they will last longer than most papers.

Kind of sad to see... I've always enjoyed reading a newspaper

"I suspect they will last longer than most papers."

When we used to subscribe to The Oklahoman (daily and weekend), I was occasionally overwhelmed by the nearly incredible amount of tree-based by-products that could pile up around the house. I know that all of that organic matter could be recycled, but still . . .

And that is only one very small example of the waste of natural resources involved in providing information (and advertising) to (and for) interested parties.

When "newspapers" are no longer paper-based what do you suppose "they" will be called?

Yes, once the recycling trend really kicked in and I started collecting papers it was a bit startling to see how quickly they stacked up. I'm 51, so I grew up with newspapers and always, always started my day by reading the local and also some trades; but I quickly realized there was a better way to get information and dropped all hard-copy subscriptions about 15 years ago. And of course, anyone much younger than me has zero attachment to actually holding paper in hand.

The next big step is already happening elsewhere and likely to come to Oklahoma in a big way soon: consolidation. The Oklahoman already has a partnership with the Tulsa World, the Journal Record covers both OKC & Tulsa, etc. But I think you'll see much bigger synergies and it would make sense for the Oklahoman to buy the World or vice versa. Plus, just about every community still has a paper (Edmond Sun, Norman Transcript, etc.) and those could easily be folded into one big infrastructure where you just have small, local news bureaus.


Really, I don't worry about the demise of newspapers... It's the loss of news rooms -- the people actually creating content -- that is most troubling. That can be replaced to a certain extent by bloggers, citizen journalism and sites like this, but there will always be a need for real fact-checking reporting. I'm just not sure where that is going to come from, as newspaper news rooms are really the last vestige.

Kind of sad to see... I've always enjoyed reading a newspaper

Interestingly, for me, the decision to cancel the Oklahoman (after subscribing for *years*) had absolutely nothing to do with electronic media alternatives or web reporting. It had to do with the paper providing less and less content, and that coupled with what I saw as a drastic decrease in the quality and depth of its sports section. Under the heading of "paying more, enjoying it less," I realized I was wasting money and cancelled it. I will, on (rare) occasion, grab a Sunday paper, especially during football season, but that's about it.

Opubco has done a good job of transitioning to a digital media company, but there's nothing quite like opening up the front door and grabbing a nice, fresh newspaper to read at the table with a cup of coffee. I know, I'm an old foagie (and I'm a software developer, too, so go figure), but when the content doesn't justify the expense, I guess its just something that's gone by the boards.

I haven't held a paper newspaper since 2004 or so. If the Oklahoman disappeared tomorrow I don't think very many under 35 would even notice.

Apart from everything else that is wrecking that industry, advertisers know that the newspaper reader demographic is old and getting older.

That's bad for all the obvious reasons but even more critical when trying to sell ads, which aim for younger age groups since they do most the consuming.


The bottom line is that none of the traditional papers have been able to find a business model that works. Even with the shift to on-line presence, ad revenues are half of what they were just five years ago and dropping like stone. All the moves have been stop-gap, laying off more and more people in response to huge drops in revenue.

But as the saying goes, you cannot cut yourself into prosperity.

I gave up the hard copy as soon as the digital version went on line. I have subscribed since 1965 (and before that my mother since I was born, 1943). It works very well since I do a bit of traveling. It also saved me quite a bit of money up until this month and the price more than doubled. I was paying $50 annually and it just went to $9.95 monthly, about $120 annually. By the way, all of the Gaylord holdings have been way ahead of their time technically. First radio (WKY), TV (WKY) West of the Mississippi, first color TV and first station (WKY) to initiate it's own color broadcasts West of the Mississippi. And I believe the first newspaper to use computerized typesetting. That might be a "West of the Mississippi" thing also. I'm sure there are other things as well.
C. T.

It's sad to hear so many have given up on their local newspaper. I would encourage everyone who is dissatisfied to challenge the Oklahoman to do better through writing letters and e-mails or start their own blog. Oklahoma City needs a daily newspaper, and I don't see anything out there that is trying to take he Oklahoman's place.

It's sad to hear so many have given up on their local newspaper. I would encourage everyone who is dissatisfied to challenge the Oklahoman to do better through writing letters and e-mails or start their own blog. Oklahoma City needs a daily newspaper, and I don't see anything out there that is trying to take he Oklahoman's place.

The letters to The Oklahoman--unlike those to the Gazette--are so heavily edited and/or whimsically tossed that I don't think this is a viable option to save the tree-based edition.

There will always still be a local news"paper" . . .
It will just be called something else.

I'd bet that the Candlewyke Trimmers Guild and The Gutenberg Press Manufacturers were also justifiably upset back in the day. (Not to mention The Spokeshavers Union).

The only thing is (and this is probably just a bit of Olde School Paranoia creeping in) . . . Without a "hard copy" of history (e.g. newspapers, magazines and books), won't it be far too easy for the Winston Smiths of the Future to do their jobs?

And what will our source of news (and propaganda) be if the electricity ever goes out completely?

Perhaps it is time to buy Parchment Futures . . .
Or smoke signal generators.

Personally, I haven't given up on the Oklahoma and have always been a big advocate. There are some things I don't like about it, but for the most part I just ignore that and pick out the news items that interest me.

I believe what we'll always need is a local newsroom, but we don't necessarily need the paper itself.

I read an article last year that said that for what the NYT spends annually on printing and delivery, it could buy every subscriber an iPad.

It's sad to hear so many have given up on their local newspaper. I would encourage everyone who is dissatisfied to challenge the Oklahoman to do better through writing letters and e-mails or start their own blog. Oklahoma City needs a daily newspaper, and I don't see anything out there that is trying to take he Oklahoman's place.
The Internet took its place.

"The Internet took its place."

Correction: Substitute "is in the process of taking" for "took."
(Sort of like living in the tidal pool of cultural evolution. With very few transitional fossils.)

For the younger generation it is done. When I graduated high school I was already embarrassed for our state when I was forced to read that rag. It's just garbage, and the few articles that aren't poorly written are about things that we don't much care to read.

Dang, dude . . .

Are you--in the role of a type of self-proclaimed spokesperson for "Our State"'s Generation [Whatever]--still so young and "easily embarrassed" that you are carrying around some sort of metaphorically damp,vestigial, umbilical cord connected to Virtual Reality? . . . Or whut?

And that "forced to read" bit . . .
(Geez).

(Jist axin' . . . No offense meant . . . =)

Still . . . I have to admit . . .
Those old "Editorial 'Cartoons'" in the Oklahoman offended my sense of humor.
Much like the "Nancy" cartoons on the front page of The Rocky Mountain News (Sunday Edition)

The Internet took its place.

I would say the Internet hasn't taken its place. There's no real Internet news site for Oklahoma City. Sure,there's a few blogs here and there, but most of them are commentary or humor with the rare news item here and there. Nobody is doing any real journalism or day-to-day news coverage of the area. There are gaping holes in news coverage in this state. Our public officials are held less accountable for it.

I am a subscriber and utilize the on-line version. Why do both? There are things in the print version that I don't find in the online one. Plus, they recently changed the failed policy of charging for archived stories. If you hadn't copied/parted it into another form and saved it, your access to it would vanish (think it was 3 months). I have thought many times about canceling the hard copy because they would raise the rates and decrease content. i hted and still hate the redesigned paper from a few years ago (smaller pages=less content). They can't decide what they want to be. Need a standard format for the paper. The Monday sports section would go Gazette style format, Look would do the same thing. then there was a period where they did this upside down printing and haven't noticed it lately so maybe they abandoned it, but they would have to Front pages for the Sports. Even online there is confusion, instead of utilizing the standard format of the rest of NewsOK.com, when you click on Life etc, it looks like a totally different site. The feedback sections are done differently as well (somedort of social media thing instead of whatever 3rd party that does the rest of the "paper". Then you have the separate style & feedback of their reporters blogs (the feedback on those hae been the most trouble free for me, although the CAPTCHA thingy requires cycling thru many choices before I can decipher every letter in the two words).

I think the term "newspaper" will hang around long after the "paper" part vanishes. We have seen similar things with other media. Lots of people still call them "records" or "albums" when vinyl disks vanished from production a few years ago (or is it decades now). Depends largely on how long a certain term has been around. Don't hear much mention of VCR and tapes any more (though VCR machines are still produced). I haven't seen new releases on tape in a few years now. Everything is on regular DVD or Blueray

Interesting post about the NYT and iPad. The state legislature figured out they could buy all of the legislatures new laptops and distribute the bills electronically for the same cost or cheaper than having the bills professionally printed (the company I worked for was their printer for decades). Course the hard copy doesn't disappear, they just "print" inhouse now and anyone can spit out a hard copy from their desktop printer.

Dang, dude . . .

Are you--in the role of a type of self-proclaimed spokesperson for "Our State"'s Generation [Whatever]--still so young and "easily embarrassed" that you are carrying around some sort of metaphorically damp,vestigial, umbilical cord connected to Virtual Reality? . . . Or whut?

And that "forced to read" bit . . .
(Geez).

(Jist axin' . . . No offense meant . . . =)

The young think they are the center of the universe....every single one of them.....
How's that for a generalization? Most drive like it.

Just like those who already proclaim all physical media dead, most don't realize that our broadband infrastructure would crater if everyone tried downloading HD movies and shows instead of the mix of those who download and those who use physical media. For the companies to build out the broadband infrastructure that we would need to have that level of activity what we pay for broadband would need to more than double to cover the investment. Other countries are so far ahead of us in their build outs because when you consider that most of them are smaller than our states and much more dense it makes the build out much cheaper. Many of their telecom providers are also partly state owned/supported or were when they did their build outs.



Still . . . I have to admit . . .
Those old "Editorial 'Cartoons'" in the Oklahoman offended my sense of humor.
Much like the "Nancy" cartoons on the front page of The Rocky Mountain News (Sunday Edition)
I always preferred the News over the Post but since they shut down a couple of years ago I read the Post, online for now. We subscribe to the Austin American Statesman (a Cox newspaper) and will probably subscribe to the Post when we move up there.

Their has a study that indicated it would be cheaper to give everyone a kindle, nook or iPad who has a subscription and serve it digitally than continue in printed form for most newspapers. The deliver costs could pay for the cost of the device in less than a year by their numbers. The question is can they get the readers and advertisers through the transition.

For the younger generation it is done. When I graduated high school I was already embarrassed for our state when I was forced to read that rag. It's just garbage, and the few articles that aren't poorly written are about things that we don't much care to read.

Guess I don't fit the mold of the generation then...well depending on how old you are. Being in my early 30s, I still get the newspaper and enjoy it from time to time. However, the biggest benefit I get from it is those blasted coupons...too addicted to saving 70-80% every week on the grocery bill (especially when it is all non-generic brands).

Like Radical pointed out, gotta be careful of generalizations. There are many in their 20s/30s that don't have the "superiority disease" that many (especially on here) catch. I enjoy being laid back, enjoying life, and not being the overly aggressive a-hole on the interstate that feels anything under 20 over is an injustice.

Is print media on its way out? Eventually maybe. I would guess that newspapers do see a boost from the recent coupon push, especially with the economy sputtering. However, that won't last forever.

Of course any generalization isn't always true. But I'm sitting right now in a large room with 60+ people in it. Most of them early to mid-20's. I see only one newspaper, and nobody is using it. Everyone is reading from their phones, their laptops or books.

I would say the Internet hasn't taken its place. There's no real Internet news site for Oklahoma City. Sure,there's a few blogs here and there, but most of them are commentary or humor with the rare news item here and there. Nobody is doing any real journalism or day-to-day news coverage of the area. There are gaping holes in news coverage in this state. Our public officials are held less accountable for it.
I guess I just don't care much about local news. I keep up with any upcoming bills and a few business openings/closings. But that doesn't require a local news paper.

No real internet news site for OKC? Maybe it doesn't fit your definition of "real", but NewsOK.com is the online version of the daily paper, the Oklahoman. Sure it has gaps and isn't perfect...

I really see no reason for a daily printed publication anymore. Its a waste of paper, it costs a lot to produce, the news is outdated by the time you read it. I can't remember the last time I picked up a daily newspaper.

A "newspaper" is less a paper product the same way that an "album" is no longer a vinyl disk onto which audio is recorded. But I think we'll be calling them that for a long time to come.

However, the big changes in journalism were well demonstrated in "Page One," the documentary by Andrew Rossi that was recently shown at the OKCMOA. Big points that I got were these: 1) The historical newspaper business model was to pay for the reporters and writers through sales of classified & institutional ads. Those advertisers shifted to the Internet, CraigsList being a big benefactor. 2) Information is freely available on the Internet through aggregator site such as Google & Yahoo, which gather content from sources such as the NY Times, Wash Post, Wall St. Journal, Dallas Morning News, etc., and generate revenue from ad banners and the like. 3) The sources and aggregators haven't yet worked out a revenue sharing arrangement to pay the newspapers (or TV networks and other institutions). 4) Finally, a story from a blogger is very different from that of a staff reporter at a legacy news publication because the latter's work is vetted, scrutinized and edited by superiors, and the organization bears liability for errors and misrepresentations. Simply, anyone with a computer and Internet access can express a viewpoint, but very few are worthy of being called "journalists." I hold up Steve Lackmeyer as an example of the best we have in OKC.

I hope that these news organizations discover a means of generating revenue before they're all gone. If not, what we'll be left with are bloggers, tweets, Facebook postings and message boards like these, which for the most part are inaccurate, full of bias, snarky and frankly not worth the time to read - this comment included! :)