OC Register on brink of collapse ... TJ Simers takes buyout

[mp170.6]

I was discussing this topic with my dad yesterday.

 

All newspapers are suffering, I get it.  Orange County has 3.1 million residents.  What I don't understand is why the OC Register could fail so badly in Orange County where we have no dedicated local TV news stations of our own.   The local news on channels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 is biased toward Los Angeles County.  We also have no competing newspapers, so if done right, they should be able to capitalize on advertising opportunities, whether print or online.  After all, this is home to the Angels, Ducks, Disneyland, Knott's, and tons of other venues competing for our entertainment dollars. 

 

Orange County isn't poor either.  If they published a quality product, people wouldn't complain if the OC Register needed to raise subscription prices to keep up with inflation. 

[yk9001]

Orange County isn't poor either.  If they published a quality product, people wouldn't complain if the OC Register needed to raise subscription prices to keep up with inflation. 

 

Respectfully disagree.  They could be spitting out a combination of Jim Murray, Twain, Tolstoy and Hemingway on a daily basis, and the schnorrers on this site would complain if they had to spend a nickel to read it.

[mp170.6]

Respectfully disagree.  They could be spitting out a combination of Jim Murray, Twain, Tolstoy and Hemingway on a daily basis, and the schnorrers on this site would complain if they had to spend a nickel to read it.

 

You have a point.  I think fewer people would complain.  How's that?

 

They lost their way when they started dumping the exclusive OC content for "stories" about sunflowers, recipes, and cures for hemorrhoids.  And don't get me started on those sponsored faux articles written by real estate brokers masquerading as journalists seeking to find new clients. 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Bottom line is society is based on immediacy and relevancy now

Newspapers aren't immediate. Even the OC Register's website is often behind the times.

As for relevancy, no offense to Mr fletcher but he's tweeting and essentially reporting the exact same thing several others are.

You don't need 8 guys to cover a ball game that most in the market can watch (Ef off Dodgers.)

Years ago local TV markets came up with the LNS. It was a model that each news station donated 1 or two camera trucks and the pool had 8-10 to work with.

So if Johnny loser was arraigned, one guy would be there to get it and would feed it to all stations. Same went for any planned daily events. The costs were dramaticaly lowered but the content came in in abundance. Now a 12 min feed can look very different from channel to channel when cut to :40. You may never notice.

But any scheduled event found on city news service or in a press release could be covered by one camera and not 4 or 5.

Newspapers used AP and UPI and still do use AP for outer market stuff. The truth is you don't need six different reporters and columnists to report the 90% of the same stuff and most of it is stuff we know or read.

How many of you get multiple tweets or watch multiple sites for the same info -- the angels daily lineup. Several different ppl post it every day. Tim Mead posts it, so it doesn't need the work of ESPNLA, LA Times, and OC Register doing the same thing.

Trout hurts his back in a game? You'll get the info from Vic and Gubi at the same time those other guys report it. To me, and this is my opinion, it's regurgitation from one source with little actually digging and reporting.

I always liked Siners because he said and asked things original, no matter how much you hate him.

That's my antiquated media model soapbox.

Now, I worked at a company last year that had inside views of the model and much of the business promises made by the owner of the Reg. At the time it sounded like arrogance and typical business machismo. Handshakes and partnerships all over. And look, the Angels bought in, providing tens of thousands of tickets to OCR subscribers.

I feel for the employees who had to buy in to the promise. But do I really need to subscribe to the OCR to see what the food columnist says? Love her work but Yelp or many other sites and blogs give me the same info and more.

It's sad to see the paper could go away. I delivered it on the weekends as a kid. My visit there in high school reaffirmed my desire to be a journalist.

Hopefully something is worked out (another super rich buyer comes in) and it is saved, but saved for how long… that's the question.

Edited June 9, 2014 by SOTO

[mp170.6]

Good post SOTO.

 

That's pretty much how I feel.  Most of what the OC Register focuses on these days are topics I don't care about.  They could discontinue the Food, Travel, Nature, Sports, and Entertainment sections as far as I'm concerned.  We can find that content anywhere. 

 

What's sorely lacking in Orange County is any kind of investigative or adversarial journalism on issues that affect Orange County.  We have tons of political corruption here that doesn't get reported on, and they don't bother with topics addressed by city councils, school boards, or county commissions anymore.  That's something I find unforgivable because these meetings are held 1-2 times per month.  Detailed agendas are usually posted online and if the meetings aren't televised, many can be watched online or played back later.  A reporter doesn't necessarily have to go there to report on the merits of what was discussed or decided on. 

 

If it's just impossible to cover these things because of declining revenues, why not let journalism students from Orange County's many colleges and universities cover the basics to gain some experience? 

[Chuck]

Social media and Forums like ours also take away from the hits that websites like the LA Times and the OC Register could. Reduced amount of page views and hits reduce their net profits in advertising. 

[mp170.6]

Social media and Forums like ours also take away from the hits that websites like the LA Times and the OC Register could. Reduced amount of page views and hits reduce their net profits in advertising. 

 

What would you say is a ballpark figure for the advertising revenue the OC Register might get from its webpage?

 

I'm only talking about banner ads like AngelsWin has.  Presumably they have a lot more pageviews, so are we talking $1 million annually?  $10 million annually?  I guess what I'm asking is if their website advertising offers much of any revenue compared to what they get for print ads. 

[Jimmag]

I like reading the newspaper hope the OC Register can hang on for a while.

[markb]

Social media and Forums like ours also take away from the hits that websites like the LA Times and the OC Register could. Reduced amount of page views and hits reduce their net profits in advertising. 

 

Adblock has a significant effect as well.  I'm familiar with a number of people at twitch.tv, and they've been deploying all kinds of measures to try and defeat it, because like 50% of their viewerbase uses it.  While the average internet user is less savvy, it's still a pretty big hit if even, say, 15-20% are using it.  

Edited June 9, 2014 by markb

[Tank]

i miss Life magazine.

[2002_halos_II]

Nowhere in the OP article did it say OCR was "collapsing" tho.

 

 

I liked getting a daily paper although the content for Mon-Wed was pretty SLIM. You did have options for Weekends only IIRC.

 

Nowadays I will pick up a  Sunday paper about once a month.

[gotbeer]

Adblock has a significant effect as well.  I'm familiar with a number of people at twitch.tv, and they've been deploying all kinds of measures to try and defeat it, because like 50% of their viewerbase uses it.  While the average internet user is less savvy, it's still a pretty big hit if even, say, 15-20% are using it.  

 

I use adblock.  Which is a shame, because banner ads really don't bother me, but the new fad is constant video streaming ads which I detest.   So by by all ads.

[ABC]

Generally speaking, as long as people remain unwilling to pay for content, these industries will continue to suffer.

 

I know I am among a vast and aging minority in that I have the paper delivered to my doorstep ever morning.  Do I read it every day? No, of course not. But it's there, reliably, everyday.  And I am supporting my local economy by doing so.  There are plenty of other options available to me to get my news on the internet and I use those resources as well.

 

Someone has to write the stories we all read. And that someone needs to be paid for their work.  Stories don't just appear out of thin air. Someone has to work on them. They have to drive to where the story is. They have to spend time gathering the information. And then they have to have the skill to translate all of that into a clear and understandable format so the general public has the information necessary to understand the world in which they live. Sometimes it's sports. Sometimes it's crime. Sometimes it's a new store opening. Whatever it is, someone needs to be there and they need to be paid.

 

Most of all, however, someone needs the skills to be able to do what they do. Anyone can write grammatical diarrhea in 400 words or less. Telling a clear and concise story in that amount of space requires education and experience. That is what journalists and real writers do. And that is why people go to their local papers to find out what is happening. Chances are, if something newsworthy happens in Southern California most people on this board will head on over to the LA Times Website, or the OCR website, to find out what is going on. Why? Because Bobby's Southern California whimsical musings on the skateboarding culture of Newport Beach blog just isn't going to cut it.

 

As an aside.  If you like the content that a website is providing, one way you can show your support is by clicking on the ads that website provides in order to offset their costs. Like a News site?  Click on an ad on the page of the article you liked, don't just click the like button.  Like a certain message board? Throw the operator a bone every now and again and follow an ad link. It's not a lot of work on your part and it does two things. First, it tells the website operators what content pages are engaging their viewers, which usually promotes more of that same type of content in the future, and second, it keeps the revenue going towards the content providers so that they can continue to bring you more of what you like.

 

Ad-blocking software is great for those spam sites that shove popup after popup after popup in your face to the point at which you can't actually get to the content that you want, but let's face it, a well thought out, well put together and well run website should be rewarded for their hard work.

 

So, today as you surf the web, make it your mission, if you like the content provided on a webpage, click an ad.

 

That's unethical. Plus it can hurt the advertiser and in the long run the actual website because advertisers will pull out. I've personally pulled ads from sites where I was able to track click fraud.