The Paragould Daily Press: Is Paid Content the Beginning of the End?

Every few days I read the Paragould Daily Press, my hometown newspaper—a newspaper I worked at as a sports writer for four years—online. I’m never looking for anything in particular. It’s just part of my routine: every morning I skim national, state, and local news for a few minutes. However, when I visited the PDP today, a few things were different. First, the website had been redesigned (and not in a good way—it takes talent to clutter what little content the PDP creates). More importantly, you now have to buy a subscription to read the paper online.

This isn’t about having to pay for content (I’m sure the PDP has heard plenty of negative feedback from its online readers already); I understand what the PDP is attempting to accomplish with this move. The move to paid content was inevitable (I remember sitting in a staff meeting and discussing this very matter over five years ago when I was writing for the newspaper), as it will be and has been for much larger publications. Nevertheless, it is a move that makes me wonder how much longer the Paragould Daily Press will survive.

I’m not an expert on news media or advertising, but a few things are simple. In case you didn’t know, small daily newspapers are dying every day. Heck, medium and big daily newspapers are shutting down, slashing content, and cutting costs. Moving to paid content online is becoming a must. Who wants to pay for a print copy when you can read most of the content online for free?

And here’s the deal, newspapers make money by selling advertising space. However, what company is going to pay premium prices for print ads when everyone is viewing the content online? Consider this: according to State of the Media, revenue from print advertising lost $2.1 billion in 2011. In comparison, revenue from online advertising rose by $207 million in the same time (you can find some more solid data here: http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/newspapers-building-digital-revenues-proves-painfully-slow/). Those are grim numbers for a business trying to sell the impact of print advertising.

I know the Daily Press’s plan for the last couple of years has been to offer a portion of its content for free online in hopes of gaining new subscribers. We now know that wasn’t enough. While the move to paid content online may be intended as a sign that the PDP will evolve and continue to serve the city of Paragould for another 130 years, I’m afraid that it’s the beginning of the end.

Once again, I’m no expert, but online advertising presents a new set of problems for newspapers. Despite what public perception may be, online advertising has a plethora of problems and may not be as stable as the general public thinks. Thus, small daily newspapers like the PDP are forced to make a decision: die a slow death by declining print advertising revenues or attempt to adapt. The question is whether small dailies can find the right balance between the two. Of course, this isn’t even factoring in the specifics of the individual markets.

The Daily Press survives because of local businesses. As you may know, small businesses are having troubles of their own. If local businesses keep buying print ads, the paper will continue to hang on. Even that may not be enough to ensure survival. However, as the move to paid content most likely signals, print subscriptions are steadily declining. So in the end, the survival of the PDP will depend on its ability to create effective online advertising strategies and convince local businesses that people are buying online subscriptions to the website, which means selling online subscriptions. Then again, maybe I am underestimating the number of new print subscribers, but I doubt it.

The problem with paid content is that people always find a way to get the news for free. Whether it is from Twitter, Facebook, Topix, local blogs, or word of mouth. In order to charge for content, the content needs to offer something more than just basic information. Believe or not, some people are willing to offer much of the same news and information for free. Does the PDP offer enough to charge for its content? Sadly, probably not. Much of the “news” stories aren’t much more than free advertising for business—but as I talked about earlier, it’s hard to blame the newspaper whose survival is dependent upon these companies.

Eventually the Paragould Daily Press, which is owned by Paxton Media Group—the same company that owns the neighboring Jonesboro Sun—will shut down (that is, unless someone local buys the newspaper as an act of love). As the cities of Paragould and Jonesboro continue to converge, the need for two daily newspapers in Northeast Arkansas will continue to disappear.