If a ruling from a judge in eastern Texas sticks, Microsoft will have to give up selling its Word franchise in 60 days. But that’s a very big if. In other news: Look at this cool ad for Microsoft Germany!
Conventional wisdom is that if today’s newspapers want to survive, they’re going to have to ditch their printing presses and most of their staff and learn to do more with less in an online-only world.
OK. But exactly how much less?
I’ve been asking Mark Josephson that question for months, and now he has an answer: Josephson, the CEO of local news platform Outside.in, figures the local, online-only newspaper of tomorrow for a decent-sized city has a staff of 20 people. That’s 20 people, period: Perhaps six of those people are “news gatherers.” Here’s his math.
I’m still on record predicting the demise of seattlepi.com–the online-only zombie version of the erstwhile Seattle Post-Intelligencer. My gut is that even though the Hearst-owned site has an edit staff 80 percent smaller than its predecessor paper, it still won’t be able to generate enough traffic and advertising to cover its costs. But while Hearst isn’t ready to declare victory, it does say that the first two months of seattlepi.com’s life have been “encouraging.” Via a press release, Hearst offers up a bevy of traffic stats that show the site has grown even as its staff has shrunk. Hearst doesn’t offer up any info about revenue, but does say that its “sales and marketing team is highly energized.” Good start.
One of the risks of employing a newsroom full of clever journalists — when you fire them, they might leave a biting memento on their way out.
As expected, Hearst is pulling the plug on its Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In its place, starting tomorrow, will be seattlepi.com, which will kind of be like an online version of the old newspaper — if it was put out with a fraction of the staff.
Peter Kafka has been covering media and technology since 1997, when he joined the staff of Forbes magazine. Most recently, he has been the managing editor of the tech and media Web site, Silicon Alley Insider. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
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