News Biz Shakeout

   The Times, it is a-changing. Also the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer and dozens of others.
    Daily newspapers are trimming and consolidating their operations as they search for ways to keep up their financial strength and readership, as well as maintain their influence on advertisers, politicians and consumers.
   The heyday of William Randolph Hearst may be long gone, but you wouldn't know it from the shenanigans in Philadelphia as new owners fight each other over control of the newsroom. At stake is whether the editor decides how to handle news stories or whether an owner dictates which of his political cronies gets favorable coverage. The Inquirer has had five owners in the past seven years, and the current batch has fired the editor twice in the past year.
   Meanwhile, the new owner of the Washington Post -- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon -- has promised editorial independence for the newspaper as the parent company goes off seeking new business opportunities in the Digital Age.
   The New York Times has rebranded its international edition, for decades published jointly with the Washington Post as the International Herald Tribune. It's now the International New York Times, and its formerly independent news staff has been folded into the directorship of New York-based editors.

   The recession also hit hard at some newspapers, forcing them to drop Saturday editions. For some papers, Saturday publication was largely a public service. A few papers have gone further, to publishing only three or four days a week, focusing on days when advertising was big.
   Monday remains a big sports news day, carrying reports on weekend high school, college and professional games, and Thursday and Friday are big days for advertisers hoping to stimulate weekend shopping.

   All this in the context of competition from broadcast and cable television news operations, mobile devices carrying flash news reports, and Internet chat rooms with instant commentary and opinion.

   But there are still many folks who are too busy to stay glued to computer screens and mobile devices all day, and others who either do not have computers, do not want them or do not know how to use them. And for these and many others, there is the time and opportunity to wait for background information and thoughtful analysis pieces, largely in print media.
   And, of course, for those who want to know what the local board of education and town council are doing with their tax dollars, plus how well the local police and fire departments are protecting their towns, there are the small daily and weekly newspapers. For them, advertising revenue from local merchants who neither need nor can afford the massive exposure of metro dailies remains their prime support.
   As for the metro dailies, they will find new ways to live long and prosper.