Byline: KATHY AMES CARR
A hardback book in the executive rotunda offices of The Plain Dealer chronicles some of the newspaper's most noteworthy front pages of the 20th century, from the Titanic's sinking in 1912 to the Indians' last World Series win in 1948 and Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974.
During most of its 169-year history, the newsprint format of Ohio's largest newspaper largely has remained unchanged. With the advent of the digital information age, though, the publication and others throughout the nation have become their own stories of adapting to a world where free content in cyberspace reigns, and print advertising and paid circulation wane.
Yet even as change surrounds The Plain Dealer from every angle, its executive leadership -- which includes new editor Debra Adams Simmons -- says the organization remains committed to its core mission of delivering the news through watchdog reporting and local coverage, just with added ways through which to deliver that content.
"We will have more tools to tell our stories," Ms. Adams Simmons said.
Ms. Adams Simmons and Plain Dealer president and publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger said the newspaper's goal is to find more streams of advertising revenue while expanding its audience by developing more mobile products.
"The industry is taking a hard look at mobile as a tremendous value for readers and as a new opportunity (to generate revenue) for newspapers," Mr. Egger said. "New challenges present new opportunities."
Tough circulation sledding
The Plain Dealer's strategy is consistent with other newspapers around the nation as they struggle to retain readers amid declining print circulation.
Even as The Plain Dealer has been lauded for its coverage of the corruption plaguing Cuyahoga County government, both its daily and Sunday circulation have continued to erode. Its average daily circulation as of Sept. 30, 2010, stood at 252,608, down 25.5% from 339,054 as of Sept. 30, 2005. The newspaper's average Sunday circulation during the same five-year period was down 23.8%, to 348,324 from 457,050.
The paper during that time frame has seen both its total and newsroom staff size shrink, though Mr. Egger declined to provide specific numbers. Since the mid-2000s, newspapers overall have experienced about a 30% to 35% decline in staff size through layoffs and attrition, and those numbers often are higher at metro papers, said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst for Poynter, a nonprofit journalism school in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Meanwhile, newspaper advertising and subscription revenue have plummeted as both readers and advertisers migrated to the Internet from traditional media. The Plain Dealer does not disclose its advertising revenue.
According to newspaper industry magazine Editor & Publisher, which references a June 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers report, print ad revenue for newspapers in the United States dropped by nearly 47% from 2005 to 2009 -- from $49.7 billion to $26.4 billion -- and should continue to fall through 2012.
Over the same period, digital ad revenue rose by 33%, but still amounted to just $2.7 billion in 2009.
According to Editor & Publisher's June 15 story, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers predicts another 19% drop in print advertising revenue and a 9% decline in circulation revenue through 2012 before a healthier economy starts to stabilize the industry. Digital ad revenue, meanwhile, is expected to decline about 8% from 2009 to 2011 but should begin to gain traction in 2012.
Adapting to an app world
Rather than lament the bad news, The Plain Dealer sees opportunity as the media landscape changes.
Both The Plain Dealer and its sister company, Cleveland.com, which posts most of the newspaper's content online, say they plan to do more than just post stories on Cleveland.com in order to target a larger audience and more advertisers, even from outside markets.
"We started focusing heavily on digital last year," said Denise Polverine, editor of Cleveland.com. "We launched the iPhone app in fall, and it's already been downloaded more than 12,568 times."
Ms. Polverine said New Jersey-based Advance Internet, Cleveland.com's parent company, will continue developing apps for mobile devices beyond the iPhone.
She said both Cleveland.com and Advance Internet also are developing topical apps, which would provide users with stories and information on topic-specific subjects such as a championship game or the Gulf Coast oil spill, and did not rule out the possibility of the company charging to download those apps.
From the editorial side, Ms. Adams Simmons said The Plain Dealer under her stewardship will continue to be accessible and accountable by relaying through various formats its coverage of Northeast Ohio government, the state's budget crisis, emerging industries and sports.
She became editor last Nov. 6, after former editor Susan Goldberg announced she was leaving to become an executive editor in California for Bloomberg News. Ms. Adams Simmons was promoted from managing editor, and joined The Plain Dealer in 2007. She previously was editor of the Akron Beacon Journal. She also has worked at the Detroit Free Press, Virginian-Pilot, Hartford Courant and Syracuse Herald-Journal.
Even with all the content available through additional platforms, it remains to be seen whether revenue from digital products will pick up the slack for newspapers from classified and other print advertising losses, Poynter's Mr. Edmonds said.
"Mobile web sites, tablets, apps and e-editions will provide additional revenue sources, but each one won't save the industry," Mr. Edmonds said.
Copyright 2011 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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