Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Still a deal??


The Modesto Bee has a new ad campaign called "Still a deal." Poster ads around town compare the price of a gallon of gas ($2.20) , a gallon of milk ($3.59), and the new price of the Modesto Bee (75 cents).

What do you think?

Thanks to the reader who sent this in.
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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

During our current hard times, studies clearly show people will not give up their cell phones or internet carriers.

And clearly you can’t put MNI in your car to look for a job, and you cant drink MNI to give you energy to look for a job.

And clearly you wouldn’t use MNI to look for a job (especially when MNI just fired you, and then hired a freelance mercenary to take your place)

So then, why would anyone in their right mind buy a newspaper, let alone a MNI one?

"Got MNI" (sorry, I mean milk) See, makes no sense.

Anonymous said...

How can you compare a gallon of gas and a gallon of milk to a pint of newspaper?

Anonymous said...

All arguments aside about bias in the media, I think newspapers can still be a deal at 75 cents or even $1.

Most McClatchy newspapers are not because they charge me for information I can get for free online.

When newspapers serve the community as a source of local information I can't get at CNN.com or FOX.com then they are well the price.

Anonymous said...

You know you’re dead men walking when the best idea is for Marxist tenured professors to write newspapers for FREE


Professors could rescue newspapers
Christian Science Monitor

March 9, 2009 Jonathan Zimmerman

A hundred years ago professors wrote for the press – free of charge. New York - The American newspaper is dead. Long live the American newspaper!

OK, so reports of the demise of daily journalism are a bit premature. But you can't open up the newspapers today without reading bad news about the papers.

Declining circulation and advertising revenues have forced newsrooms to trim their staffs, which means less real reporting.

A few city papers have closed – the most recent victim was Denver's 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News – while others fill their pages with fluff pieces or wire-service stories. Put simply, it's getting too expensive to gather news.

So here's a novel idea: Let's get university professors to do it. For real. And, best of all, free of charge.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:27 "they charge me for information I can get for free online."

BINGO, (politics aside) we have a winner.

As they say, the truth has a certain ring to it all its own.

Anonymous said...

If I won’t buy a biased MNI paper, why would I BUY anything ward churchill wrote?

Anonymous said...

Furloughs, Shorter Hours Coming to Gannett U.K. Papers, Too

By E&P Staff

Published: March 10, 2009 9:25 AM ET

CHICAGO Newsquest, Gannett Co.'s community newspaper publishing group in Great Britain, is asking its employees to take the same unpaid furlough that is mandatory for the chain's U.S. employees.

With employees expected to object to the move, the Guardian newspaper reported Tuesday, Newsquest is also floating alternatives to the unpaid week's furlough, such as shorter work weeks, or unpaid days off stretched over several months.

Anonymous said...

Google's Outlook Darkens As Search Advertising Market Weakens

By Scott Morrison Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones)--Search giant Google Inc.'s (GOOG) advertising business appears to be under increasing pressure as fewer shoppers search for products online and advertisers spend less.

Kevin Lee, president of search engine marketer Didit.com, said U.S consumers are "searching less" for various types of products.

Lee, who runs one of the largest search engine marketing groups, said search advertising spending by his U.S. clients so far this quarter was flat or down year-over-year, with some clients showing marked drops due to "click supply issues."

"Ad spending is notably lower than we expected during planning last fall.

Anonymous said...

The ad campaign is not going to work. I shredded the paper and carefully put it on top of my post toasties and it tasted like crap.

Anonymous said...

At least they honesty highlighted their paper in Commie RED.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:27--
You are so right!

I can't figure out why the Star-Telegram is letting go its high school sports writers, but keeping ones who churn out info that's available on the wire. And the reason I would buy the S-T over the DMN is...local news?

What am I missing here? I'm not a business wiz, but this just doesn't make any sense to me.

Anonymous said...

I've said it before, but LOCAL NEWS and efficient operations is why small newspapers were churning out 30-35% operating profits while large newspapers were wetting their pants over a 15% operating profit.

These layoffs and pay cuts are probably necessary because the trouble newspapers have gotten themselves into, but they won't be enough to save the industry if it refuses to reinvent itself.

There are maybe three reporters (or columnists) on any given newspapers staff who are good enough at what they do to justify only writing two or three pieces a week.

Unless you are a top-tier investigative journalist -- and whether you think you are or not you probably are not -- you should be writing multiple stories PER DAY.

Anyone who can't accept that should be the first to go because I promise you there are hundreds of recent graduates who know what it is like to go to a city council meeting, sniff out the interesting stories, and churn out five or six stories over the next two days.

The same goes for sports. Yeah the columnist who makes a quarter million a year writing once a week might have his share of readers, but is that number higher than the shared number of readers six high school and college reporters would have writing a combined 40 to 50 stories a week?