Dolph Simons Jr., World Company chairman and Journal World editor, remains transfixed in thought as he plucks away intensely on the old typewriter in the corner of his office. A collection of the day's various news prints blanket his large desk.
"Nearly impossible to find one of these nowadays," Simons said of the old machine, polished to a fine black.
This year has, perhaps, been equally as colorless for the Journal World.
As part of the growing trend among newspapers across the country striving to adapt to new technologies amidst an ailing economy, the Journal World had to cut several part-time and full-time positions this year, according to Simons.
Metropolis newspapers, however, may be taking the hardest hits.
The
Kansas City Star, owned by the McClatchy Co., the third-largest newspaper
company in the
"The two biggest costs are newsprint and personnel," said Malcolm Gibson, general manager of the University Daily Kansan (UDK). "You can't cut newsprint often times, so you have to cut personnel."
Costs involved with the delivery of the newspaper also play a significant role.
"People forget that the single biggest cost of the newspaper is taking it door to door--the labor costs, the energy costs and so on," said David Winter, a journalism graduate student, who has worked with such newspapers as the Denver Post and the Detroit Free Press.
According to an Audit Bureau of Circulation report, the Kansas City Star's weekday circulation dropped 2.3 percent to 239,358 newspapers per day as of Sept. 2008. In comparison, the Lawrence Journal World reported circulating 18,635 during the same period for its daily publication.
Richard Musser, a retired KU journalism professor of 32 years, attributes part of the recurring layoffs to what many call "the death spiral"--a trend of rapidly declining ad revenues that began in the third quarter of 2007. There has been an overall decrease in ad revenues for 10 straight quarters.
According to the Newspaper Association of America, representing over 2,000 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada, ad revenues from third quarter '07 declined 7.4 percent, compared to -18.11 percent the same quarter of this year. This decline equates to about $2 billion in losses.
However, across the nation, smaller niche publications--publications targeted at a specific audience--are faring much better, Gibson said.
The UDK, a niche publication targeted toward students, had its most lucrative year last year, generating $1.4 million in ad revenue.
Of the $1.4 million generated by the UDK, only about $30,000 was generated by the online sector.
Gibson pointed to the current dilemma for nearly all newspapers, including the UDK, in trying to bring that revenue across to the web, but solutions have not been forthcoming.
To help relieve some of this tension, it may be time to revive the days of privatizing newspaper companies.
"Public ownership was good for newspapers for a while because it allowed them to do certain things that you couldn't do under private companies," Gibson said. "We need to relieve the pressures of the stock market."
Whatever the case may be, the online community has remained vocal in its frustration over the waning industry.
"There's a lot of whining out there," Musser said.
David Winter
"Well, I'm sorry--it's too bad. It comes to a point when this just doesn't help."
Musser stressed the need for the journalistic community to look at the newspaper business in a different light in order to make progress.
"Newspapers as a mass communication device; something for everybody--these are going to shrink," Musser said.
"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years. That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."
For students entering the tenuous newspaper industry, Musser gives this succinct advice:
"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years," Musser said. "That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."
Musser added that students should be fluent in digital, HTML, video, and blogging skills before entering the job market.
Gibson said that while there may be a few out there who can "do it all," being an expert in all these areas needn't be a prerequisite.
"There's never going to be one-man bands. Collaboration is key," Gibson said. "We can't teach you everything, but what we can do is teach you an appreciation for it all."
While disagreement among experienced journalists persists on how to best remedy the weakening industry, agreement remains ubiquitous in the fact that change is leading it to an uncertain future.
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