By Rachel Bunn
Edited by Rebekah Baldwin
Journalism jobs may be changing, but despite reports about the decline of print media, students and career experts say journalism students are not going to find it difficult to find jobs.
Alone, the raw statistics may seem discouraging. According to several recent studies, the number journalism jobs are decreasing while the number of journalism graduates is on the rise.
In August, the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research released its annual survey of journalism graduates, showing a dramatic decrease in jobs/job interviews from the 2007 findings.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says jobs in journalism have declined over the past 20 years, with the sharpest declines coming in the past five.
From 2008 to 2009, enrollment at journalism schools across the country has increased about 30 percent, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Journalists and business experts are releasing new analyses of the future of the news industry on a regular basis. What is really happening to newsroom jobs?
“I’ve heard some students say they’ve had a hard time finding a job, but not a lot,” said Marian Higgins, Grady Career Consultant at the University of Georgia Career Center.
Cecil Bentley, director of career services at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, says that although the Cox survey may be influenced by the recent downturn in the economy, it may be an indication of things to come.
“There will be a continuation in magazines, newspapers and other publications with seeing jobs disappear and change,” Bentley said. “I don’t see all jobs coming back [when the economy recovers].”
Bentley said that journalism schools are trying to keep curriculum current to give students an edge in the job market.
Students, although aware of the changes taking place, are not discouraged.
“I think all Grady professors are pushing the idea the newspaper isn’t going to last, but I still think they are going to be available,” said Mimi Ensley, a junior magazines major from Dalton, Ga.
Both Bentley and Ensley said that the newsroom is changing so quickly that graduating in 2011 will be offered jobs that do not yet exist.
“Digital has changed how we do things,” said Bentley. “There’s still people doing work—they just have broader skill sets.”
Bentley says the major words for journalists have been “multi-platform” or “multi-purpose” journalists. This means, journalists should be responsible for more than just telling stories—they should be editors, photographers and digital media experts as well.
“More experienced higher paid individuals are the ones being let go. Publications are hiring more entry-level candidates with different skill sets,” said Bentley.
Higgins said that journalism students should be focused on transferable skill sets, giving them a greater variety of jobs they can apply for.
“Skills I would look for are communication (oral and written), leadership, teamwork (whether you can work well with others), familiarity with technology, whether or not you can work independently and your level of creativity,” said Higgins.
So does that mean students should abandon their journalist roots? Not necessarily.
“I would say start with an initial goal [such as] magazines, then look to newspapers, publishing companies, PR firms and other companies,” said Higgins.
Bentley says that students should be open to any opportunities that come their way.
“Be more open-minded about the type of work you’re willing to do; don’t look past what’s out there,” said Bentley.
Still, students are a little wary of what the future holds for them.
“It’s scary, as a student, not knowing what jobs will be available when I graduate,” Ensley said.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Changing revenue sources for media
Rebekah Baldwin
Edited by: Rachel Bunn
9/30/09
Information can spread like wildfire over the Internet, which many argue is a good thing for our society, but wildfire is hard to control, and when you can’t control something, it’s hard to charge for it.
When the Internet first started becoming a source of media, the industry didn’t have a model to charge for online content. As a result, illegal downloading flourished, and newspapers, knowing they had to create an online presence, started putting their stories up for free. Paying customers began to expect their music, news, and other online content free of charge.
In response to this, the music business has started to exploit other revenue sources. Ringtones, merchandise sales, and song placement in movies, TV shows, and commercials, have all become more important ways to generate profit than ever before.
Some in the music business have even learned to take advantage of the benefits that free music has to offer. Lindsey Epperly, a third-year music business certificate student at the University of Georgia and street team director for a band called the Dirty Guv’nahs, is an advocate of using free music as a promotional tool.
“I think it allows the artist to build a growing relationship with their fans, helps them connect, and often promotes their group, pages, and mailing lists by directing them to the site where they're giving away music.”
The music industry might be able to replace some of the loss of recorded music sales with other revenue streams, but it will be harder for the news industry to survive without their traditional 3-legged stool: subscriptions, newsstand sales, and advertising.
With both subscription numbers and newsstand sales down, newspapers and magazines have to rely more and more on a single source of income- advertising.
Not all publications are ready to abandon circulation and newsstand revenues however.
“Marketing for circulation is an ongoing strategic part of the newspaper business, even though we recognize that the internet is a viable way to get our product out there,” says Jenna Wages, Strategic Innovative Director of Marketing at the Athens Banner-Herald. “We’re not going to just give up one one area of our business because its not doing well.”
For The Fayette Citizen, a local paper that covers Fayette County, Georgia, a single source of income is nothing new. The paper has always been free, and survives on advertising revenue alone.
A publication that survives solely on advertising could potentially be a source of ethical conflict, but Joyce Beverly, the Fayette Citizen’s publisher, says she has no concerns on this issue.
“I don’t have a single ethical problem with it. Really, we don’t run into many problems. If you want an advertorial I’ll sell you one,” Beverly says.
Even if the ethical issues are taken out of the equation, there are other problems associated with relying on a single source of income. If advertising dollars dry up, the publication has no other revenue source to back it up.
This has become a problem in the current economic climate, as total advertising expenditures were down nearly 17 percent in 2008, and internet advertising fell for the first time since its introduction according to a report by the Newspapers Association of America. Additionally, the competition for classified ads with Craigslist has significantly reduced newspapers’ advertising revenue.
But Beverly believes it is still possible for publications to survive on advertising alone.
“I really believe that you can survive on ad revenue. Google’s the biggest company in the world, and they get their revenue strictly from advertisements,” she says.
In a culture where no one wants to pay for content, and advertising dollars dwindle, the media industry will have to use innovative new strategies and search for new sources of revenue in order to survive.
Edited by: Rachel Bunn
9/30/09
Information can spread like wildfire over the Internet, which many argue is a good thing for our society, but wildfire is hard to control, and when you can’t control something, it’s hard to charge for it.
When the Internet first started becoming a source of media, the industry didn’t have a model to charge for online content. As a result, illegal downloading flourished, and newspapers, knowing they had to create an online presence, started putting their stories up for free. Paying customers began to expect their music, news, and other online content free of charge.
In response to this, the music business has started to exploit other revenue sources. Ringtones, merchandise sales, and song placement in movies, TV shows, and commercials, have all become more important ways to generate profit than ever before.
Some in the music business have even learned to take advantage of the benefits that free music has to offer. Lindsey Epperly, a third-year music business certificate student at the University of Georgia and street team director for a band called the Dirty Guv’nahs, is an advocate of using free music as a promotional tool.
“I think it allows the artist to build a growing relationship with their fans, helps them connect, and often promotes their group, pages, and mailing lists by directing them to the site where they're giving away music.”
The music industry might be able to replace some of the loss of recorded music sales with other revenue streams, but it will be harder for the news industry to survive without their traditional 3-legged stool: subscriptions, newsstand sales, and advertising.
With both subscription numbers and newsstand sales down, newspapers and magazines have to rely more and more on a single source of income- advertising.
Not all publications are ready to abandon circulation and newsstand revenues however.
“Marketing for circulation is an ongoing strategic part of the newspaper business, even though we recognize that the internet is a viable way to get our product out there,” says Jenna Wages, Strategic Innovative Director of Marketing at the Athens Banner-Herald. “We’re not going to just give up one one area of our business because its not doing well.”
For The Fayette Citizen, a local paper that covers Fayette County, Georgia, a single source of income is nothing new. The paper has always been free, and survives on advertising revenue alone.
A publication that survives solely on advertising could potentially be a source of ethical conflict, but Joyce Beverly, the Fayette Citizen’s publisher, says she has no concerns on this issue.
“I don’t have a single ethical problem with it. Really, we don’t run into many problems. If you want an advertorial I’ll sell you one,” Beverly says.
Even if the ethical issues are taken out of the equation, there are other problems associated with relying on a single source of income. If advertising dollars dry up, the publication has no other revenue source to back it up.
This has become a problem in the current economic climate, as total advertising expenditures were down nearly 17 percent in 2008, and internet advertising fell for the first time since its introduction according to a report by the Newspapers Association of America. Additionally, the competition for classified ads with Craigslist has significantly reduced newspapers’ advertising revenue.
But Beverly believes it is still possible for publications to survive on advertising alone.
“I really believe that you can survive on ad revenue. Google’s the biggest company in the world, and they get their revenue strictly from advertisements,” she says.
In a culture where no one wants to pay for content, and advertising dollars dwindle, the media industry will have to use innovative new strategies and search for new sources of revenue in order to survive.
Magazines Do More With Less
By: Kate Parham
Editor: Becky Taylor
Budget cuts, layoffs, fewer pages. Just another day at consumer magazines.
By now, it’s obvious that magazines are hurting. Some are folding, many are producing smaller issues and most have had major staff reductions.
A spokeswoman for Time Inc. told The New York Times that Time Inc. laid off 600 employees last October. Condé Nast magazines have lost about 8,000 ad pages through the October issues compared with last year, according to Media Industry Newsletter. And according to Audit Bureau of Circulations, newsstand sales were down for all but one of Hearst’s magazines.
The future of magazines is grim and many are struggling just to stay afloat. With less money to spend and fewer employees at work, numerous publications are forced to discover what it truly means to do more with less.
Nick Marino, managing editor at Paste Magazine in Atlanta, said, “We do a lot more ourselves than we used to: the staff has to write more, we’re all responsible for more in general, but that’s journalism in the 21st century.”
Journalism’s new face does not exactly exude money. Even the big, national publications are feeling the effects of the current economic climate. In fact, according to The New York Times, after a three-month McKinsey & Company project at Hearst, several magazines were told to cut about 25 percent from their budgets.
According to Marino, Paste has also had to make budget cuts of 25 percent, in addition to smaller page counts for each issue. “Our editorial budget has been cut drastically,” said Marino. “We use different freelancers now, instead of the highest paid writers, but it’s ok because there is no shortage of people who want to write for us.”
Fewer staffers is a concept Kali Justus, editor at Lakelife Magazine in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia, can relate to. Justus is literally a one-woman show, as she has been the only full-time employee in the editorial department at Lakelife for over six months, but come October Justus will be joined by an associate editor.
“Before I got here there was only a part-time editor and maybe one intern per summer,” Justus said. “Some of the decisions that have been made by the publishers, like hiring 2 full-time employees, reflect a growing need for in-house workers, which is of high value these days.”
However, Lakelife has been moving in both directions—in-house growth and freelance needs—according to Justus. “The previous editor did not rely as much on freelancers because the stories tended to be a lot longer,” Justus said. “Whereas I’ve added a good many more stories, but cut down on length, which has created a need for additional freelancers.”
In Justus’ opinion, the increased need for freelancers is very simple. “If you have more stories, that’s a lot more places that one person needs to be.”
Ramsey Nix, editor at Lake Oconee Living, is, of course, in the same boat. “We saw our biggest decline in ad revenue between last fall and last winter,” Nix said. “We were up to 168 pages and by last winter we were down to 112, so that was quite a dip.”
Nix said that Lake Oconee Living has instituted a much stricter budget- of $4,000 per issue for freelance, compared with $6,000-$8,000 in years past. “It’s not much at all, once you break it down between the 8 features we run in each issue and the 8 departments we have at the magazine,” Nix said. “Once you break it down, it’s spread really thin.”
Lake Oconee Living has also seen staff reductions. “We used to have 5 staff members and now we’re down to 3,” Nix said. But rather than increasing their freelance budget, Nix said that, “We’re just doing more work.”
Editor: Becky Taylor
Budget cuts, layoffs, fewer pages. Just another day at consumer magazines.
By now, it’s obvious that magazines are hurting. Some are folding, many are producing smaller issues and most have had major staff reductions.
A spokeswoman for Time Inc. told The New York Times that Time Inc. laid off 600 employees last October. Condé Nast magazines have lost about 8,000 ad pages through the October issues compared with last year, according to Media Industry Newsletter. And according to Audit Bureau of Circulations, newsstand sales were down for all but one of Hearst’s magazines.
The future of magazines is grim and many are struggling just to stay afloat. With less money to spend and fewer employees at work, numerous publications are forced to discover what it truly means to do more with less.
Nick Marino, managing editor at Paste Magazine in Atlanta, said, “We do a lot more ourselves than we used to: the staff has to write more, we’re all responsible for more in general, but that’s journalism in the 21st century.”
Journalism’s new face does not exactly exude money. Even the big, national publications are feeling the effects of the current economic climate. In fact, according to The New York Times, after a three-month McKinsey & Company project at Hearst, several magazines were told to cut about 25 percent from their budgets.
According to Marino, Paste has also had to make budget cuts of 25 percent, in addition to smaller page counts for each issue. “Our editorial budget has been cut drastically,” said Marino. “We use different freelancers now, instead of the highest paid writers, but it’s ok because there is no shortage of people who want to write for us.”
Fewer staffers is a concept Kali Justus, editor at Lakelife Magazine in the Lake Oconee area of Georgia, can relate to. Justus is literally a one-woman show, as she has been the only full-time employee in the editorial department at Lakelife for over six months, but come October Justus will be joined by an associate editor.
“Before I got here there was only a part-time editor and maybe one intern per summer,” Justus said. “Some of the decisions that have been made by the publishers, like hiring 2 full-time employees, reflect a growing need for in-house workers, which is of high value these days.”
However, Lakelife has been moving in both directions—in-house growth and freelance needs—according to Justus. “The previous editor did not rely as much on freelancers because the stories tended to be a lot longer,” Justus said. “Whereas I’ve added a good many more stories, but cut down on length, which has created a need for additional freelancers.”
In Justus’ opinion, the increased need for freelancers is very simple. “If you have more stories, that’s a lot more places that one person needs to be.”
Ramsey Nix, editor at Lake Oconee Living, is, of course, in the same boat. “We saw our biggest decline in ad revenue between last fall and last winter,” Nix said. “We were up to 168 pages and by last winter we were down to 112, so that was quite a dip.”
Nix said that Lake Oconee Living has instituted a much stricter budget- of $4,000 per issue for freelance, compared with $6,000-$8,000 in years past. “It’s not much at all, once you break it down between the 8 features we run in each issue and the 8 departments we have at the magazine,” Nix said. “Once you break it down, it’s spread really thin.”
Lake Oconee Living has also seen staff reductions. “We used to have 5 staff members and now we’re down to 3,” Nix said. But rather than increasing their freelance budget, Nix said that, “We’re just doing more work.”
Daily papers after the loss of the print AJC
by: Becky Taylor
editor: Kate Parham
“Covers Dixie like the dew,” was the slogan of the Atlanta Journal.
That could have applied to the paper’s distribution as people in all corners of Georgia could purchase a printed copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Beginning in 2007, the paper began eliminating areas of the state from their distribution zone. Daily papers in Georgia that always had the Journal-Constitution as a companion were now alone in reporting news in a daily printed format.
The Valdosta Daily Times has made no changes in the way it handles the news.
Within months, the paper not only saw the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rescind its distribution, but the area also lost access to the printed version of Jacksonville-based The Florida Times-Union (which sold under the title of The Georgia Times-Union north of the state line).
“We’ve continued on what we were doing,” said Sandy Sanders, publisher of the paper.
He said they have attempted to cover the local area better.
The Valdosta Daily Times has a circulation of 18,000 on weekdays and 19,000 on Sunday.
Sanders said he has not noticed any effects of the loss of both publications other than that they “may have picked up some single copy sales.”
George McCanless, publisher of The Macon Telegraph, has experienced one direct effect of the loss of the printed Journal-Constitution from his area.
The Telegraph received business from the Journal-Constitution by acting as a carrier of the paper.
McCanless said the paper has not attempted to expand its coverage area or its distribution. The Telegraph covers seven middle Georgia counties and delivers papers to 23. The paper’s circulation is 50,000 daily and 65,000 on Sundays.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer falls between the Valdosta Daily Times and The Macon Telegraph in circulation numbers. Daily, it is about 35,000 and 40,000 on Sundays. Senior editor for news Dimon Kendrick-Holmes said the numbers were smaller than they had been in the past.
He said the Ledger-Enquirer covers the Chattahoochee Valley area which includes such areas as Harris County, Ga., and Russell County, Ala.
Holmes-Kendrick said the Ledger-Enquirer’s goal was to reach more citizens in the area who were now looking for a daily newspaper with the loss of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But there is a contradiction.
Holmes-Kendrick said The Ledger-Enquirer is expanding their coverage into the LaGrange/Troup County area. At the same time, he said the distribution area was smaller. Print copies of the paper are distributed in a 30-40 mile radius from the city of Columbus. Previously, the radius had been 100-150 miles.
editor: Kate Parham
“Covers Dixie like the dew,” was the slogan of the Atlanta Journal.
That could have applied to the paper’s distribution as people in all corners of Georgia could purchase a printed copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Beginning in 2007, the paper began eliminating areas of the state from their distribution zone. Daily papers in Georgia that always had the Journal-Constitution as a companion were now alone in reporting news in a daily printed format.
The Valdosta Daily Times has made no changes in the way it handles the news.
Within months, the paper not only saw the Atlanta Journal-Constitution rescind its distribution, but the area also lost access to the printed version of Jacksonville-based The Florida Times-Union (which sold under the title of The Georgia Times-Union north of the state line).
“We’ve continued on what we were doing,” said Sandy Sanders, publisher of the paper.
He said they have attempted to cover the local area better.
The Valdosta Daily Times has a circulation of 18,000 on weekdays and 19,000 on Sunday.
Sanders said he has not noticed any effects of the loss of both publications other than that they “may have picked up some single copy sales.”
George McCanless, publisher of The Macon Telegraph, has experienced one direct effect of the loss of the printed Journal-Constitution from his area.
The Telegraph received business from the Journal-Constitution by acting as a carrier of the paper.
McCanless said the paper has not attempted to expand its coverage area or its distribution. The Telegraph covers seven middle Georgia counties and delivers papers to 23. The paper’s circulation is 50,000 daily and 65,000 on Sundays.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer falls between the Valdosta Daily Times and The Macon Telegraph in circulation numbers. Daily, it is about 35,000 and 40,000 on Sundays. Senior editor for news Dimon Kendrick-Holmes said the numbers were smaller than they had been in the past.
He said the Ledger-Enquirer covers the Chattahoochee Valley area which includes such areas as Harris County, Ga., and Russell County, Ala.
Holmes-Kendrick said the Ledger-Enquirer’s goal was to reach more citizens in the area who were now looking for a daily newspaper with the loss of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But there is a contradiction.
Holmes-Kendrick said The Ledger-Enquirer is expanding their coverage into the LaGrange/Troup County area. At the same time, he said the distribution area was smaller. Print copies of the paper are distributed in a 30-40 mile radius from the city of Columbus. Previously, the radius had been 100-150 miles.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The Vinyl Precedent
by Mark Stephenson
Editor: Ryan Brooks
Though print media is faltering with the rise of online platforms, the newspaper is not the first to experience such hardships in the face of change. The music industry—with sales declining due to music downloads online—has undergone similar changes.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the market for digital music has consistently grown over the past seven years. In the first half of 2009, digital sales reached up to 35 percent of the entire market, up from around 30 percent last year. Of these, the popular music platform iTunes accounted for a 69 percent share.
"I download all my music,” says UGA sophomore William Hodges. “It’s so much easier than carrying around a bunch of CDs.”
However, according to a 2009 press release from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the vast majority of music downloading—as much as 95 percent—is done illegally, with no reward for artists and producers.
“We all do it,” says Sam Williams, a DJ at UGA’s student-run radio station WUOG.
Due to its ease and availability, the illegal downloading of music from online sources like blogs has hurt musicians and the music industry in much the same way free news blogs have hurt news-people and the newspaper. The RIAA reported a 24.7 percent decrease in CD sales last year, with music sales overall down 8.3 percent.
Amidst all the negative statistics, one trend in the music market may hold promise for the offline news industry. As CD sales plummet and illegal MP3s cripple the digital market, the sale of vinyl records has increased exponentially in recent years.
In 2008, the RIAA estimated an overwhelming 124 percent increase in vinyl sales with more than 1.88 million new vinyl LPs sold. Predictions for 2009 put total record sales at well over 2 million. While vinyl’s share of the total music market is still very small at about 1 percent, the nostalgic medium seems to have found a new niche—and that niche is growing.
In many of the small, downtown stores of Athens, Ga., one can easily find that niche at work. On Clayton Street, the sound of Janice’s turntable is often audible outside her vintage clothing store, Minx. Janice says she has been strengthening her vinyl collection for longer than she can remember, and she guards her records carefully behind the front counter.
“I’ll sell you my records over my dead body,” the storeowner says, scoffing when asked if any of her large selection of ‘70s LPs were for sale.
WUOG has always prided itself for its large archive of vinyl music, a rarity in college radio. But Sam Williams says he thinks it would be better to make the conversion to a solely digital platform.
“Vinyl gets messed up. Records get stolen. I just make playlists on my laptop before my show,” Williams says. Asked if he thought WUOG would convert all its vinyl to digital music any time soon, Williams’ answer is strangely similar to Janice’s.
“The station’s going to die out before vinyl does,” Williams says.
Now a town staple, Wuxtry Records has carried vinyl since it opened 33 years ago, cashier Mike Turner says. Upon first glance around the store at the record collection accrued over so many years, this makes for an intimidating shopping experience. Rows of boxes filled with albums line the floors, the walls and everything in between. Spanning across generations of eclectic musical styles and genres, the record prices vary anywhere from $3 used copies of Fleetwood Mac to $40 double LPs by Radiohead.
The differences between the somewhat luck-based, haphazard process of finding and buying an album at the Wuxtry and that of the instantly-gratified music download are immediately discernable. Turner believes the vinyl record listener has an entirely different mindset than an online music consumer.
“The problem with blogs is that they don’t have any original critical thought,” Turner says. “They just post a picture and a press release and then a free song. They recycle other blog posts, constantly update with new music.”
While hesitant to attribute a lot of credence to the much-hyped “vinyl resurgence,” Turner, who also owns local independent label Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, says he’s seen a consistent stream of vinyl customers over his five years working at the Wuxtry, and acknowledges a recent increase.
“Even Best Buy is stocking vinyl now,” he says. But despite new media, fads and fluctuations in popularity, Turner believes the niche market for vinyl has always been there and always will be.
Vinyl will never hold the share of the marketplace it once did, nor will the printed news industry ever be again what it once was. But newspaper presses might take hope and direction from the precedent of vinyl, which continues to be pressed at increasing rates for an increasingly marginalized customer base.
Vinyl shoppers browse the shelves at the Wuxtry in downtown Athens.
Editor: Ryan Brooks
Though print media is faltering with the rise of online platforms, the newspaper is not the first to experience such hardships in the face of change. The music industry—with sales declining due to music downloads online—has undergone similar changes.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the market for digital music has consistently grown over the past seven years. In the first half of 2009, digital sales reached up to 35 percent of the entire market, up from around 30 percent last year. Of these, the popular music platform iTunes accounted for a 69 percent share.
"I download all my music,” says UGA sophomore William Hodges. “It’s so much easier than carrying around a bunch of CDs.”
However, according to a 2009 press release from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the vast majority of music downloading—as much as 95 percent—is done illegally, with no reward for artists and producers.
“We all do it,” says Sam Williams, a DJ at UGA’s student-run radio station WUOG.
Due to its ease and availability, the illegal downloading of music from online sources like blogs has hurt musicians and the music industry in much the same way free news blogs have hurt news-people and the newspaper. The RIAA reported a 24.7 percent decrease in CD sales last year, with music sales overall down 8.3 percent.
Amidst all the negative statistics, one trend in the music market may hold promise for the offline news industry. As CD sales plummet and illegal MP3s cripple the digital market, the sale of vinyl records has increased exponentially in recent years.
In 2008, the RIAA estimated an overwhelming 124 percent increase in vinyl sales with more than 1.88 million new vinyl LPs sold. Predictions for 2009 put total record sales at well over 2 million. While vinyl’s share of the total music market is still very small at about 1 percent, the nostalgic medium seems to have found a new niche—and that niche is growing.
In many of the small, downtown stores of Athens, Ga., one can easily find that niche at work. On Clayton Street, the sound of Janice’s turntable is often audible outside her vintage clothing store, Minx. Janice says she has been strengthening her vinyl collection for longer than she can remember, and she guards her records carefully behind the front counter.
“I’ll sell you my records over my dead body,” the storeowner says, scoffing when asked if any of her large selection of ‘70s LPs were for sale.
WUOG has always prided itself for its large archive of vinyl music, a rarity in college radio. But Sam Williams says he thinks it would be better to make the conversion to a solely digital platform.
“Vinyl gets messed up. Records get stolen. I just make playlists on my laptop before my show,” Williams says. Asked if he thought WUOG would convert all its vinyl to digital music any time soon, Williams’ answer is strangely similar to Janice’s.
“The station’s going to die out before vinyl does,” Williams says.
Now a town staple, Wuxtry Records has carried vinyl since it opened 33 years ago, cashier Mike Turner says. Upon first glance around the store at the record collection accrued over so many years, this makes for an intimidating shopping experience. Rows of boxes filled with albums line the floors, the walls and everything in between. Spanning across generations of eclectic musical styles and genres, the record prices vary anywhere from $3 used copies of Fleetwood Mac to $40 double LPs by Radiohead.
The differences between the somewhat luck-based, haphazard process of finding and buying an album at the Wuxtry and that of the instantly-gratified music download are immediately discernable. Turner believes the vinyl record listener has an entirely different mindset than an online music consumer.
“The problem with blogs is that they don’t have any original critical thought,” Turner says. “They just post a picture and a press release and then a free song. They recycle other blog posts, constantly update with new music.”
While hesitant to attribute a lot of credence to the much-hyped “vinyl resurgence,” Turner, who also owns local independent label Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records, says he’s seen a consistent stream of vinyl customers over his five years working at the Wuxtry, and acknowledges a recent increase.
“Even Best Buy is stocking vinyl now,” he says. But despite new media, fads and fluctuations in popularity, Turner believes the niche market for vinyl has always been there and always will be.
Vinyl will never hold the share of the marketplace it once did, nor will the printed news industry ever be again what it once was. But newspaper presses might take hope and direction from the precedent of vinyl, which continues to be pressed at increasing rates for an increasingly marginalized customer base.
Vinyl shoppers browse the shelves at the Wuxtry in downtown Athens.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
UGA students still pick up newspapers
By: MIRIAM CAMP
Edited by: CHARI SUTHERLAND
Although students at the University of Georgia use new media to get national news they still grab the old fashion newspaper on campus.
The Red and Black has been able to keep their readership with all the new technology available, but editor Carolyn Crist admits that students at UGA pick up the paper, because it is available, on their way to class.
Crist said that students may only get the paper for the crossword puzzle and because it is easy to flip through the six to eight pages.
Barry Hollander, associate professor of journalism at UGA, agrees that students grab The Red and Black because, “it’s free and in their face and hard to avoid.” He admits that the paper can be more interesting to students then the lecture they have to sit through. Hollander also stated that The Red and Black keeps readership numbers up by keeping it free and focusing on their audience. Since the writers are part of their audience’s demographic they have an advantage.
Crist, the 21- year- old editor from Newnan, Ga., said that The Red and Black Web site can receive hits from all over the world for various reasons such as study abroad students or when a national news event occurs in Athens, Ga.
“In the last two years we have definitely seen an increase to hits online,” she said.
Bridget Mailley, a 20-year-old UGA student, does not have a Twitter account and does not think that new technology has harmed the news industry. Big news organizations such as CNN using Twitter seems unprofessional to Mailley.
Mailley, a senior from Athens, Ga. studying international affairs, said she reads news, “less than I should.” When she does get news she turns to online newspapers such as The New York Times or BBC. She also grabs a copy of The Red and Black on campus, because it is free and convenient.
In the future, Mailley said she would consider paying for a subscription to a paper before she would think about buying an individual paper.
Mailley said she watched the Obama election online and when she heard from a friend that Michael Jackson had died, she looked up the story online.
Jeffords, a telecommunications major from Marietta, Ga., said she gets news daily using her AOL homepage news headlines when she is online.
Like Mailley, Chelsea Jeffords, 19-year-old sophomore, does not have a Twitter account. She said that she does not think new technology has harmed the news industry, because blogs and Twitter cannot bring in revenue like print media.
Hollander does not believe that UGA students use Twitter in large numbers. “The Facebook news feed almost makes Twitter redundant,” Hollander said.
Mailley said she thinks newspapers will be out of print in the next 10 years. Jeffords disagrees. “I’m going to say no, because I hope not,” she said.
Edited by: CHARI SUTHERLAND
Although students at the University of Georgia use new media to get national news they still grab the old fashion newspaper on campus.
The Red and Black has been able to keep their readership with all the new technology available, but editor Carolyn Crist admits that students at UGA pick up the paper, because it is available, on their way to class.
Crist said that students may only get the paper for the crossword puzzle and because it is easy to flip through the six to eight pages.
Barry Hollander, associate professor of journalism at UGA, agrees that students grab The Red and Black because, “it’s free and in their face and hard to avoid.” He admits that the paper can be more interesting to students then the lecture they have to sit through. Hollander also stated that The Red and Black keeps readership numbers up by keeping it free and focusing on their audience. Since the writers are part of their audience’s demographic they have an advantage.
Crist, the 21- year- old editor from Newnan, Ga., said that The Red and Black Web site can receive hits from all over the world for various reasons such as study abroad students or when a national news event occurs in Athens, Ga.
“In the last two years we have definitely seen an increase to hits online,” she said.
Bridget Mailley, a 20-year-old UGA student, does not have a Twitter account and does not think that new technology has harmed the news industry. Big news organizations such as CNN using Twitter seems unprofessional to Mailley.
Mailley, a senior from Athens, Ga. studying international affairs, said she reads news, “less than I should.” When she does get news she turns to online newspapers such as The New York Times or BBC. She also grabs a copy of The Red and Black on campus, because it is free and convenient.
In the future, Mailley said she would consider paying for a subscription to a paper before she would think about buying an individual paper.
Mailley said she watched the Obama election online and when she heard from a friend that Michael Jackson had died, she looked up the story online.
Jeffords, a telecommunications major from Marietta, Ga., said she gets news daily using her AOL homepage news headlines when she is online.
Like Mailley, Chelsea Jeffords, 19-year-old sophomore, does not have a Twitter account. She said that she does not think new technology has harmed the news industry, because blogs and Twitter cannot bring in revenue like print media.
Hollander does not believe that UGA students use Twitter in large numbers. “The Facebook news feed almost makes Twitter redundant,” Hollander said.
Mailley said she thinks newspapers will be out of print in the next 10 years. Jeffords disagrees. “I’m going to say no, because I hope not,” she said.
UGA student, Mary Catherine Kinney, 21, from Albany, Ga., checks her Twitter account from her Blackberry phone.
Campus Print Readership Steady
Jessica Smith and Antionette Rollins, both journalism majors, scan the front page of the Red and Black outside Park Hall.
by Chari Sutherland
Miriam Camp, editor
For a college newspaper, it can be a challenge to get their print product into student hands that seem perpetually connected to technological devices.
However, Ed Morales, the Editorial Director of the University of Georgia’s The Red and Black, said there are certain events that lead the reader to print media. Last spring’s stories about the shooting involving UGA marketing professor George Zinkhan is one example. “(During that,) you couldn’t find a paper anywhere on campus,” Morales said.
A recent challenge for The Red and Black was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ceasing delivery of its papers to the Athens area. The bins that The Red and Black had shared with the AJC were removed. This decreased readership slightly. Morales said the print edition has not consistently suffered despite this. “Our circulation is 30,000 to 35,000 with the pass-along rate,” he said. Readership is encouraged, he said, because the paper is free and it gives students something to do while waiting for class.
At The Daily Gamecock, the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina (USC), the situation is similar.
“We can’t keep the print version on the shelves at the beginning of the semester,” said Scott Lindenburg, Director of Student Media at USC. By midterms, their readership begins to decline slightly, possibly due to the level of student schoolwork, he said.
USC’s Gamecock experienced growth beginning in 2006. “We went from a three-day a week paper to a five-day.” He said there were spots on or near campus that are found to be hotter or colder depending on stories and time of year. They also do readership surveys to find out what readers want to see in the paper. Their writing style has gotten shorter and they rely on more images to draw people in.
Danielle Everson, the Managing Editor at Valdosta State University’s The Spectator,
said their readership has also increased. “Our staff has been focused on the issues that matter the most on our campus,” she said. Last year, they increased their number of published copies from 3,000 to 4,000.
said their readership has also increased. “Our staff has been focused on the issues that matter the most on our campus,” she said. Last year, they increased their number of published copies from 3,000 to 4,000.
Alex McDaniel has been editor of The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi since March. She said in previous years, the print version of The Mississippian declined primarily because of poor content and design. The paper was still trying to serve as its readers’ sole source of breaking news—a model that has started to fail. Readers have begun to access news from online sources.
“We were giving readers things they didn’t need or want,” McDaniel said. “(We) needed to give them something they couldn’t get elsewhere.” As a result, the paper is now doing more features and investigative stories, which is more interesting and inviting. At USC, Lindendburg said he’s found readers are also drawn to original cartoons or Sudoku puzzles.
The Mississippian readership responses are becoming more positive, McDaniel said. There have been more empty receptacles, a high pass-along rate and more Web site traffic. She said this is because, “we package stories so they lead online.”
When discussing social media, Morales, Lindenburg and McDaniel all spoke about “the brand”—their individual papers. As McDaniel put it, The Mississippian doesn’t think separately about their print product, their Web site, their Facebook page, or Twitter account. “We see it all as a brand--one brand and one product.”
McDaniel said Twitter and live blogging are valuable for getting campus news—such as game scores—out quickly. The USC Gamecock also uses Twitter to post updates on a football games and breaking news.
Morales said The Red and Black’s Web site readership increases during football season also. As many as 80 to 82 percent of visitors to the site are from outside Athens. The Red and Black football blog gets 1000 viewers a day. Lindenburg said The Daily Gamecock gets as many as 8,000 hits a day during game season.
The Spectator’s participation on Twitter and Facebook has helped increase the VSU student body’s awareness of the paper. However, keeping those online media updated is a constant challenge, Everson said.
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