PITCH DECK TITLEatiner.gr/2020/Bowyer.pdf · Pitch Deck tagline . Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise

PITCH DECK TITLE

Pitch Deck tagline

Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on regional newspapers

College of Arts, Humanities and Education School of Humanities and Journalism Richard Bowyer [email protected]

ABOUT ME

Regional journalist for 30 years;

From typewriters to new technology;

Editor-in-Chief Staffordshire Sentinel Newspapers, Stoke-on-Trent;

Senior Lecturer in Journalism.

3 [email protected]; @Sightscreen; Blog: https://rbowyer62.wordpress.com/ May, 2020

mailto:[email protected]

https://rbowyer62.wordpress.com/

ABOUT ME

4

Research on the demise of regional

press;

Not just looking for the obvious

cause such as the rise of the web;

Looking at how the industry reacted

which hastened the decline.

[email protected]; @Sightscreen; Blog: https://rbowyer62.wordpress.com/ May, 2020



Background

5

Since 2005, 245 regional newspapers have

closed in the UK;

Journalism job losses 6,000;

Transformation of the business from print-

first to online first;

America 2,000 closures since 2004 and

30,000 job losses;

In Spain 26 closures since 2006;

In Greece, To Vima weekly and Ta Nea.




Background

6

Cairncross Review in the UK highlighted that

the sales of national newspaper print editions

had fallen from 11.5m daily copies in 2008 to

5.8m in 2018 and regional newspapers from

63.4m weekly copies in 2007 to 31.4m in 2017;

Print advertising revenues have fallen by 69 per

cent in a decade;

Number of frontline journalists in the industry

fell from about 23,000 in 2007 to 17,000 in

2019.




Background

7

The consequences are highlighted by

(Waterson, 2019) who describes that during the

last decade newspaper groups have merged,

staff laid off and offices closed in a final effort

to cut costs;

He adds that the result of these cuts is often a

‘single junior regional reporter left trying to fill

a town’s newspaper.’




What’s to blame?

8

The web…

We all agree the audience has moved;

Google and Facebook have stolen the cash..

But there are other factors….




9

Previous research I did was on how price increase led to rapid sales decline;

Use to go up 1p or 2p;

Dramatic rises 5p-10p;

But why?

May, 2020 [email protected]; @Sightscreen; Blog: https://rbowyer62.wordpress.com/

What’s to blame?



Revenues

10

Newspaper income was 80% advertising and 20% cover price (Hill, 2016);

When advertising collapsed had to make up for shortfall;

Now 39% advertising and 61% cover price, (Reach Plc).




My new research

11

Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers?

The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on UK regional newspapers.




My new research

12

My first research showed decline hastened due to cover price rises;

This research looked at the effects of the web-first policy on the printed product content.




My methods

Looked at FIVE newspapers from

different parts of England;

Four different newspaper groups;

Across 30 years, 1998, 2008, 2018

Three copies per paper per week.




My methods

I look at only news and sports stories

originated by a local reporter;

No features, letters, TV, national stories

from agencies.




My methods

Also spoke to four media experts to add their views on story count and local voices;

Asked them their opinion of story count and the need for local voices;

What they think the effect the web has had on stories in newspaper.




My methods

Why I spoke to the experts was so I

could decide as to whether story

count and local voices were important

to a newspaper;

Also, whether is it fair to measure the

‘demise’ of newspapers around story

numbers and voices?




My methods

So my methods were both qualitative

and quantitative;

Based on grounded theory;

I had no preconceptions, analysed

data line by line (Tracy, 2019).




The papers

Derby Telegraph

1998: 60,691 average daily sale;

2008: 35,152;

2018: 16,782;

2019: 15,029.


Five different newspaper, four different

newspaper groups, from across England…



The papers

Sheffield Star


2008: 47,216;

2018: 13,658;

2019: 12,609.






The papers

Newcastle Chronicle


2008: 67,103;

2018: 20,756;

2019: 19,259.






The papers

Norwich News


2008: 21,031;

2018: 6,765;

2019: 6,351.






The papers

Wolverhampton Express and Star


2008: 130,216;

2018: 42,208;

2019: 38,698.






The results Sto

ries,

pag

es,

quo

tes

69

90 89

48 47

58

19

23

27

14 12

21

13 12

16 15 13

18

54

49

68

54

39 41

15

22

18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Monday, May 18,

1998

Wednesday, May,

20, 1998

Friday, May 22,

1998

Monday, May 19,

2008

Wednesday, May

21, 2008

Friday, May 23,

2008

Monday, May 21,

2018

Wednesday, May

23, 2018

Friday, May 25,

2018

Derby Telegraph 1998-2018

Local News Local pages Local people

The results

42

94

61

69

55 54

18 16

25

15

19 16

18 20

30

18 19

26 25

38 35

42

55

49

17 17

32

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Monday, May 18,

1998

Wednesday, May,

20, 1998

Friday, May 22,

1998

Monday, May 19,

2008

Wednesday, May

21, 2008

Friday, May 23,

2008

Monday, May 21,

2018

Wednesday, May

23, 2018

Friday, May 25,

2018

Newcastle Chronicle 1998-2018

Local news Local pages Local people

Sto

ries,

pag

es,

quo

tes

25 27

31

58

47

56

23

32 32

8

11 12 13 11 12

17

20

17

22

19

27

39

29

42

23

34

22

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Monday, May 18,

1998

Wednesday, May,

20, 1998

Friday, May 22,

1998

Monday, May 19,

2008

Wednesday, May

21, 2008

Friday, May 23,

2008

Monday, May 21,

2018

Wednesday, May

23, 2018

Friday, May 25,

2018

Norwich News


The results Sto

ries,

pag

es,

quo

tes

35 35

27

64

55

41

26

19 20

10 8 9

15

12 11 12 13

9

17

23

14

45

30

21

12

15

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Monday, May

18, 1998

Wednesday,

May, 20, 1998

Friday, May 22,

1998

Monday, May

19, 2008

Wednesday,

May 21, 2008

Friday, May 23,

2008

Monday, May

21, 2018

Wednesday,

May 23, 2018

Friday, May 25,

2018

Sheffield Star 1998-2018


The results Sto

ries,

pag

es,

quo

tes

The results

101

72

83

77

101 105

93

103 102

13 12 16

12 15 16 15

19 20

33 35

37

31

40

45 47

81

65

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Monday, May 18,

1998

Wednesday, May,

20, 1998

Friday, May 22,

1998

Monday, May 19,

2008

Wednesday, May

21, 2008

Friday, May 23,

2008

Monday, May 21,

2018

Wednesday, May

23, 2018

Friday, May 25,

2018

Wolverhampton Express and Star 1998-2018


Sto

ries,

pag

es,

quo

tes

The highlight results


Derby Telegraph, lowest figures:

1998: 69 stories, 49 quotes, 12 pages;


2018: 19 stories, 15 quotes, 13 pages.

Derby Telegraph, highest figures:

1998: 90 stories, 68 quotes, 21 local pages;







Newcastle Chronicle, lowest figures:

1998: 69 stories, 49 quotes; 12 pages;



Newcastle Chronicle, highest figures:








Express and Star, lowest figures:

1998: 72 stories, 33 quotes; 12 pages;



Express and Star, highest figures:






The experts


I spoke to four experts about story count, the need for quotes;

Changes in the industry.

Mike

Sassi

Peter

Sands

Mark Charlton

Martin Wright



Experts’ view


Readers thought there was ‘nothing’ in

newspapers;

So a feeling to give value for money

by packing full of stories;

Desire to provide more stories due to

pagination reductions.

Derby Telegraph 2019



Experts’ view


Story count ‘key’ to selling the

newspaper;

Newspaper hard to sell without ‘high

story count’ (Wright, 2019);

One of the reasons for decline is that

newspapers carry fewer than a third of

local stories than they once did (Sassi,

2019);

Fewer stories was due to logistics ie fewer

staff than principles (Charlton, 2019).

Express and Star 2019



Experts’ view


Demands of the web ie updates, video,

Facebook Live, audio, effects the

number of stories which can be

produced or repackaged for the

newspaper (Charlton, 2019).




Experts’ view


Quotes are vital, but time restraints

mean reporters are not talking directly

to readers;

Quotes lifted from social media, some

have false names, often no names,

ages, addresses, so readers’ cannot

related to them (Charlton, 2019)




Experts’ view


Balance is important so talking to

people helped this to happen and built

trust (Sassi, 2019);

Reporters going out to stories and

talking to people was essential part of

reporting (Wright, 2019).

Norwich News 2019



Findings


As a general rule the number of voices

and stories has declined;

Shown best in the figures for Derby

Telegraph and Newcastle Chronicle;

Norwich and Sheffield similar figures in

1998 and 2018, but due to style rather

than need.



Findings


Wolverhampton Express and Star is an anomaly;

Prided it self in having national and local news;

Got rid of national news;

Concentrated on local news;

Reduced production staff to achieve this.



Conclusion


Audience moved online;

Rapid increase in cost of newspapers;

Fewer local stories;

Less time to talk to local people;

More centralised pages.



A few thoughts


Online first policy;

Lost editions, going overnight;

Closing offices, main and district;

Thinner paper;

Ink saving;

Dying readership.



A few thoughts


The web was central to the decline;

How newspapers reacted, blind panic,

accentuated the decline.



Any questions?




Thank you




References


Cairncross, F., 2019. The Cairncross Review. A sustainable future for journalism;

Hill, J. (2016). The British Newspaper Industry. The future of the regional press. Palgrave MacMillan;

Charlton, M,. 2019. Interviewed by Richard Bowyer for 'Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on English regional newspapers.’

Sassi, M,. 2019. Interviewed by Richard Bowyer for 'Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on English regional newspapers.’

Sands, P,. 2018. Interviewed by Richard Bowyer for 'Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on English regional newspapers.’

Tracy, S.J., 2019. Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact. Wiley;

Waterson, J., 2020. Read all about it? How local papers’ decline is starving communities of news;

Wright, M,. 2019. Interviewed by Richard Bowyer for 'Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise of the web have had on English regional newspapers. '



Documents

PITCH DECK TITLEatiner.gr/2020/Bowyer.pdf · Pitch Deck tagline . Where have all the stories and voices gone in local newspapers? The effect falling advertising revenues and the rise