Margaret Sullivan on the future of The Buffalo News
Maybe this is what Mark Twain had in mind when he quipped, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
The former Buffalo newspaper editor must have understood what it’s like to be alive and well, even as the public wipes away a quiet tear at your demise.
That’s what life is like these days for many of us who work at The Buffalo News. People seem to think we’re at death’s door.
It’s far from true. There’s no question that American newspapers are going through difficult times. Large, well-established papers in major cities are going bankrupt or, in a couple of cases, closing altogether.
Here at The News, we’re more fortunate— although certainly not unaffected by the difficult trends.
How are we more fortunate?
1. We’re making a profit. The decline in advertising revenue is significant—and likely to get worse— but we’re still in the black and planning to stay that way.
2. We have none of the crippling debt that many newspaper owners are carrying. Many of those debt-heavy papers would be making money if it weren’t for their debt load.
3. We have extraordinarily high acceptance among local residents. The News, as a print newspaper, has the highest “market penetration” among the 50 or so largest metropolitan dailies in the United States.
4. Our Web site is the leading local media Web site, by far, in Western New York. When you combine the Web site and the newspaper, we’re reaching 80 percent of Western New Yorkers on a regular basis.
Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway owns this paper, and who has long appreciated the role of newspapers in a democratic society, said this about The News in a recent e-mail exchange:
“Despite the tough economic trends in our territory, we are in better shape to deal with survival than almost any other metropolitan daily.”
And he believes that—despite the difficulties—The News should be able to find a way to be around for a long time, if its management and employees are willing to reinvent themselves and make real changes.
One of those changes is reducing expenses dramatically. Like other newspapers around the country, The News is in the midst of that right now.
That’s why you’ve heard media reports about staff reductions here, but it should be noted that not a single fulltime journalist in our newsroom has been laid off. About a dozen are taking a voluntary buyout, leaving a newsgathering staff of about 160—far larger than any other media outlet in the area.
Meanwhile, our Internet presence is bigger and better than ever, with Web readership and profitability sharply up.
Tomorrow, I’ll convene the first meeting of what I’m calling the “Reinventing the Newsroom” committee. When I asked for volunteers from the staff, I was overwhelmed with the response.
Together, we’re going to figure out how to move forward with greater challenges and fewer people in the brave new world of Internet-era newspapering, and how best to make ourselves indispensable to you, our readers.
It won’t be easy. But it’s necessary. Crucial.
“The longer we can stay in the game, the better the opportunity for developing a business plan that will work,” Buffett told me.
At this point, no one knows what the future looks like for newspapers.
What we do know is that our mission —providing in-depth and enterprising journalism for our region—is too important to let slip away.
Newspaper journalism protects our freedoms and guards our way of life. We intend to make sure it’s around, in Western New York, for a long time.
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