Kaimin Cutting Back for Financial Reasons

[EverettGriz]

BHG, everyone recognizes the value papers used to give universities. And I too think it's sad. But there's a reason ad revenue is down 25% -- no one reads the paper so no one wants to advertise in it. To survive, the Kaimin will have to go all electronic and then do a lot of praying.

Reality isn't always fun.

 

[argh!]

it is true, i used to follow greenie around like he was a little dog. it is also true that i passed the torch to alpo. i heard he used it on citay's dumpster in chinatown, but that has yet to be proven in court. maybe um75 could clarify the situation?

 

[Big Hole Griz]

EverettGriz, I fully understand that print mediums needs to transition to electronic display. However, at the collegiate level a strong daily newspaper adds to the daily conversation. This is the first that I've heard of a cutback in print. I plan to help alleviate the budget shortfall at the Kaimin so that it can remain relevant to all of the students on campus.

 

[Hammer]

Why in God's name are they printing a student newspaper in 2015?

Are there more than a handful of students who don't get the majority of their news electronically on a phone, laptop, tablet or from the TV? Spend the money they do have on being more relevant to the students and their habits, as opposed to supporting dying tech. @ least give the kids who work on the news the chance to get skills they will need when they get to the real world.

And finally, does every F%$king thread on the football board have to degenerate into a pissing contest between AG & Player, a referendum on Royce or... Never mind.

Maybe you should focus on who is doing the pissing in this thread. Not me, no mention of the guy you refer to. Perhaps you should say: "Does every thread on the board have to result in [certain poster] directing comments at PR?" Do I need to point this out to you every time, or can you figure it out by yourself?

Boom. Shots fired. :twisted: :twisted:

And then this is followed by 420 posts some stupid graphics. Years ago, argh used to follow me around like a puppy dog. But he passed the torch to Alpo (as he says it)

Anybody that has ever met argh knows why he has to follow people around like a puppy dog! :lol:

 

[grizcountry420]

Newspaper and cable companies are going to be a part of the past...

Not sure about cable co's,they will be eliminated as far TV content,although will continue as internet providers, however I'm in agreement with printed press and magazines, it a better experience on the internet, and the killing of trees by forestry management could be reduced so more can burn in forest fires, after all the what radical environmentalist would prefer.

I wish I could find a valid stat projecting on how many college students even read a newspaper.

It's just a matter of time with the cable companies. With all of the streaming services all ready out there. You'll soon be able to choose what program channels you want to purchase online. Everyone's getting burnt out payin 70-100 bucks a month on cable.

 

['68griz]

It's very sad to hear that the Kaimin is cutting back on publication. I wrote for the Kaimin many years ago, I also had a column. Too bad people like PR, that aren't from Montana, don't realize the value that a paper from a top ten journalism school contributes to the daily life at a great university,

I too worked for the Kaimin MANY years ago, and I agree that it is terribly sad to witness its apparent demise. I understand that "young people" may not choose to get their news from a print media, but I also recognize that a good many of them simply don't get any news from anywhere. I am sometimes stunned at how uninformed about the world the vast majority of folks under 40 are -- and those are my children, who were raised otherwise.

 

[spsyk]

Newspaper and cable companies are going to be a part of the past...

Not sure about cable co's,they will be eliminated as far TV content,although will continue as internet providers, however I'm in agreement with printed press and magazines, it a better experience on the internet, and the killing of trees by forestry management could be reduced so more can burn in forest fires, after all the what radical environmentalist would prefer.

I wish I could find a valid stat projecting on how many college students even read a newspaper.

It's just a matter of time with the cable companies. With all of the streaming services all ready out there. You'll soon be able to choose what program channels you want to purchase online. Everyone's getting burnt out payin 70-100 bucks a month on cable.

I don't know where you live, however in Missoula,Mt. your choice is either cable, or DSL from the phone company, and as far as band width, cable is superior.

In order to get all those streaming service out, you still need a internet provider, and in the case of Missoula, that would be Charter.

And no doubt when it is all said and done, your internet service will cost as much as it did when TV content was included.

That is how monopolies work.

Competition is slim in Missoula, Charter or the phone company, and the phone company will never catch up and provide the band width that of cable.

 

[CDAGRIZ]

it is true, i used to follow greenie around like he was a little dog. it is also true that i passed the torch to alpo. i heard he used it on citay's dumpster in chinatown, but that has yet to be proven in court. maybe um75 could clarify the situation?

Seems pretty racist. Disappointed in you.

 

[Umista]

Kaimin readers like myself will miss it. Yes I am one of the ten readers. I've read news papers for 60 years and still subscribe to many. Yes indeed I am getting the Missoulian rag via the internet during my stay up North.
For some of you city dwellers, you don't have a clue how tough it is to get internet service in remote places where I live in Canada. Fiber-optic lines are getting close and cable is still a thing of beauty. Satelite is slow and a last resort. A paper published once a week is available when we travel in to a store to get our supplies and usually talks about lions attacking humans, drunk natives, hockey and sewing quilts etc.

Oh and before I forget with Florio teaching young students I am not willing to read the Kaimin until football games and I won't pass up on blasting Engstrom for causing all the recent issues.

 

[UMGriz75]

The readership of the Kaimin on campus remains high. It provides good campus coverage that no other source provides. It has become a very useful tool for promotion of sports, and dedicates considerable coverage to the panoply of varsity and club sports, really, quite the turnaround from years ago. I think it generates, in particular, coverage of football and basketball among the campus community that is irreplaceable. In my view, it has been a singular source of renewed enthusiasm among students on campus for the sports environment at UM.

 

[Sam A. Blitz]

The readership of the Kaimin on campus remains high. It provides good campus coverage that no other source provides. It has become a very useful tool for promotion of sports, and dedicates considerable coverage to the panoply of varsity and club sports, really, quite the turnaround from years ago. I think it generates, in particular, coverage of football and basketball among the campus community that is irreplaceable.

I agree. I don't think readership is the problem. You walk into a building on campus and kids are reading it. It's a good publication from one of the best journalism schools in the country. Regardless, it's a free newspaper and I don't think circulation could even be tracked, so that is irrelevant. Declining enrollment is the real issue here. As far as ad revenue goes, it seems like the Kaimin just needs to do a better job of soliciting and selling its ad space.

 

[argh!]

Maybe you should focus on who is doing the pissing in this thread. Not me, no mention of the guy you refer to. Perhaps you should say: "Does every thread on the board have to result in [certain poster] directing comments at PR?" Do I need to point this out to you every time, or can you figure it out by yourself?

Boom. Shots fired. :twisted: :twisted:

And then this is followed by 420 posts some stupid graphics. Years ago, argh used to follow me around like a puppy dog. But he passed the torch to Alpo (as he says it)

Anybody that has ever met argh knows why he has to follow people around like a puppy dog! :lol:

weren't you going to beat me up at one point hammer? :lol:

 

[kemajic]

Why in God's name are they printing a student newspaper in 2015?

Are there more than a handful of students who don't get the majority of their news electronically on a phone, laptop, tablet or from the TV? Spend the money they do have on being more relevant to the students and their habits, as opposed to supporting dying tech. @ least give the kids who work on the news the chance to get skills they will need when they get to the real world.

And finally, does every F%$king thread on the football board have to degenerate into a pissing contest between AG & Player, a referendum on Royce or... Never mind.

Maybe you should focus on who is doing the pissing in this thread. Not me, no mention of the guy you refer to. Perhaps you should say: "Does every thread on the board have to result in [certain poster] directing comments at PR?" Do I need to point this out to you every time, or can you figure it out by yourself?

But you bite every time; that's why he keeps doing it.

 

[PlayerRep]

Why in God's name are they printing a student newspaper in 2015?

Are there more than a handful of students who don't get the majority of their news electronically on a phone, laptop, tablet or from the TV? Spend the money they do have on being more relevant to the students and their habits, as opposed to supporting dying tech. @ least give the kids who work on the news the chance to get skills they will need when they get to the real world.

And finally, does every F%$king thread on the football board have to degenerate into a pissing contest between AG & Player, a referendum on Royce or... Never mind.

Maybe you should focus on who is doing the pissing in this thread. Not me, no mention of the guy you refer to. Perhaps you should say: "Does every thread on the board have to result in [certain poster] directing comments at PR?" Do I need to point this out to you every time, or can you figure it out by yourself?

But you bite every time; that's why he keeps doing it.

No, I rarely bite. That's the point. Get your facts right before you post.

 

[kemajic]

:laugh: :laugh:

Why in God's name are they printing a student newspaper in 2015?

Are there more than a handful of students who don't get the majority of their news electronically on a phone, laptop, tablet or from the TV? Spend the money they do have on being more relevant to the students and their habits, as opposed to supporting dying tech. @ least give the kids who work on the news the chance to get skills they will need when they get to the real world.

And finally, does every F%$king thread on the football board have to degenerate into a pissing contest between AG & Player, a referendum on Royce or... Never mind.

Maybe you should focus on who is doing the pissing in this thread. Not me, no mention of the guy you refer to. Perhaps you should say: "Does every thread on the board have to result in [certain poster] directing comments at PR?" Do I need to point this out to you every time, or can you figure it out by yourself?

But you bite every time; that's why he keeps doing it.

No, I rarely bite. That's the point. Get your facts right before you post.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[tnt]

I would think if a business had a 25% decline in sales, they would be looking at the sales department for answers.......... The small decline in readership in no way explains the poor performance of their ad sales.

 

[PlayerRep]

I would think if a business had a 25% decline in sales, they would be looking at the sales department for answers.......... The small decline in readership in no way explains the poor performance of their ad sales.

What decline in readership? I didn't notice that in the article.

Did everyone note who wrote this Kaimin article? I found that to be odd.

 

[tnt]

I would think if a business had a 25% decline in sales, they would be looking at the sales department for answers.......... The small decline in readership in no way explains the poor performance of their ad sales.

What decline in readership? I didn't notice that in the article.

Did everyone note who wrote this Kaimin article? I found that to be odd.

I would hope that printing 2500 copies instead of 4000 would represent a decline in readership, but you are right the article did not say how many of 12000 or so students paying for the paper were actually reading it not to mention how many fewer community members were reading when the off campus distribution was stopped.

 

[UMGriz75]

Last fall, the Kaimin cut costs by slicing its print run from 4,000 papers to 2,500, and stopped distributing at several locations around Missoula.

Well, there's an old saying that "you can't cut your way to prosperity."

The problem with a truncated publication schedule is that, compared to a daily schedule when everyone has the habit of looking for it in its usual racks, people stop looking for it. Then, you've really got a problem.

I'm pretty sure that when I was there, we had a press run of 5,000 or so and, of course, that was part of the pitch to the advertisers that 1) it was well read among a captive audience of consumers who likely did not subscribe to the Missoulian, and 2) it was well read by the local residents who had a great interest in University activities, such as City Hall, the County, the banks, etc, and University neighborhoods where we also distributed to those local business locations. Much of that was validated simply by the size of the press run relative to the size of the population served. The size of the press run, rightly or wrongly, sent a message to advertisers. In my view, "rightly." If it is voluntarily cut, that is an "admission" to advertisers and its hard to say, "gee, we are just trying to balance a budget." The marginal cost of each additional copy is extremely small. That's not where you cut.

As noted, I think the Kaimin has become increasingly influential in its sports coverage and promotion of enthusiasm for sports on campus and is in part responsible for a surge in student interest in recent years. I thought it did a much better job on "trial" coverage than its downtown counterpart.

 

[Griz90]

Newspaper and cable companies are going to be a part of the past...

Not sure about the cable companies but newspapers will survive, if only in small town America. Communities with less than 100,000 people, and even more so less than 50,00, and even more so less than 25,000, will continue to have profitable small newspapers. The newspaper is still a viable advertising medium for small business owners to reach their target market - which is people who live within their immediate trade area. The newspaper is the only media that covers local high school sports teams and community colleges and prints local birth announcements and prints local obituaries. The newspaper is the only media that covers local city councils and county government. People who live in small towns across America can't get info about their community on the internet. Momma still wants the local grocery store's sale circular and the local furniture stores and car dealers need to get the word out to their local residents. I don't know about the big city newspeprs but small town newspapers are valuable to local residents and to local advertisers.