On 6/4/2013 7:35 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote:
I didn't say that falling subscription rates have anything to do with grammar.
I was merely responding to Peter's critique of newspaper writing. In fact,
Times subscriptions are up 17.6% over a year ago, due primarily to a
substantial increase in digital subscribers. Overall, the industry is flat.
Profit margins are down due primarily to a loss of advertising revenue. That's
the main reason for the cutbacks in photo expenditures.
Fair enough.
My point is that the staffing cuts at the Sun-Times are a consequence of
falling ad revenues, which are in turn a consequence of falling (or at
least persistently stagnant) subscription rates and declining newsstand
sales. And I have a hard time buying the notion that farming out the
work once done by experienced photographers to a phalanx of Instagram
ingenues is going to address the underlying issue. The newspaper
industry at large seems wedded to the proposition that the problem rests
solely in "the model" rather than in the product itself. I think that's
a steaming pile. Photos aren't the be-all and end-all of newspaper
sales, to be sure, but they certainly help. And there would seem to be
some value in having exclusive access to powerful images generated
in-house rather than sending out some schlub with an iPhone to get a
reasonably serviceable exposure or pulling something off the wires.
-- Walt
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