Every day we see another story about newspapers dying or going to the recycle bin. There is even a website on the subject – Newspaper Death Watch.

Several members of our team recently had the opportunity to hear from Tennessean publisher Carol Hudler and two of her marketing colleagues about the health of Nashville’s daily paper. She refuted several typical myths related to the newspaper business. Here’s what we learned in the course of the discussion.

• The Tennessean has adjusted to the ways people get news. In addition to the variety of print editions, they have several online and mobile platforms, including Tennessean.com, multiple Twitter accounts, YouTube, Facebook, and blogs. During the recent flood they delivered news and updates through all their platforms in a variety of ways. For example, they created an interactive flood timeline for the website and published a flood resource guide in the print edition. Their YouTube video on the devastation at the Opryland Hotel got 400,000 hits.

• They are also increasing their marketing services. With the many business advertisers they have developed relationships with over the years, they are integrating marketing counsel and solutions by packaging research, creative, and placements in print, online, and digital offerings.

• Although the printed publication still has challenges, they see opportunities in the Sunday edition where they plan to put more emphasis, including an expanded business section. 

• They continue to expand and upgrade their website to let people join in the conversation.  To help solve the comments dilemma, they’ve hidden all comments behind a link (you have to click on “comments” if you want to read them) and are “heading to more transparency about who commenters are.”

• Online is where they cover breaking news, while the paper the next day may not cover the story at all or may go into greater depth, depending on the importance of the subject.

The huge unsolved challenge is how to get readers to pay for online content. According to Hudler, The Tennessean’s parent company has some pilots underway to try to determine how to make this happen. 

We applaud them for not sticking their heads in the sand and hoping they can keep do things the same way they always have. At the same time, we’re skeptical about how successful they can be in charging for content online. The genie got out of the bottle long ago with the advent of free online news. Even though publishers want readers to pay, readers want it free and plenty of people out there will find ways to offer it that way.

Tell us what you think.  And stay tuned for the next chapter.

About the Author

Sue Atkinson, APR, is founder and Chairman of Atkinson Public Relations.

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