steveintoronto
Superstar
You've missed the qualifier in this instance: "On the internet". Advertising was thought to be able to cover the costs for newspapers publishing internet editions. In many cases, it didn't, compound with the fact that some newspapers (news-sources) were incredibly inept with their business models. Compound that again with the iMe devices and the hordes of instant gratification 140 character consumers, and it spelled 'death knell' for a lot of yesterday's news providers.
The Star might be yet again botching their business model, we'll see. What I refuse to pay for is blurbs of pseudo-info aimed at the walking mindless with their iMeMyself tablet in their hands. There's a hope on TorStar's part that persons willing to pay for real journalism will subscribe to them. The Star has dumped a lot of their serious journalists years ago to chase the iVanity crowd. (Some still remain, but rarely featured on their pre-digested pap page for zombies).
The gig may already be up for the Star, we'll see. The Star has certainly tapped into a new vein in the last few weeks with their cycling and road safety issues. Note that's something no-one else in Toronto is doing, and they might have found a vein with enough blood to sustain paid readership. I certainly hope so, but many serious readers have already left for the Globe, which has had a series of failed on-line experiments itself. The Globe now seems to have it right, although the business model combined with the paper edition is quite different from the Star's. I'm still a bit perplexed as to the StarMetro business case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarMetro_(newspaper)
From the new StarMetro corporate website:
http://www.starmetromedia.com/
One of three alternating banners on the opening page. It leaves me uneasy to read that. Their cause d'etre is to sell messages, and yet they want you to pay for their internet access?
That's the crux of both the business case, and the 'social' case of the 'Atkinson agenda' clashing. Of course, you can't have it both ways, but the Globe is in the black (one of very few print mediums in Canada to do so) and not having to 'appeal to all types' to do it. Their appeal is quality journalism.
A poster above (Transit Bart?) mentioned The Economist. Always an excellent read, has been for eons, but not local and daily content.
To discuss the meaningfulness and quality of today's news is inseparable from a public, at least in the developed world, with a measurably diminishing IQ and awareness of issues, both local and global.
This is the complete opposite of what was touted to happen with the internet. The world is at the fingertips of swaths of people, and they get their news from the likes of Facebook et al. WTF?
The Globe has dealt with this quite well considering (full disclosure, I was close to a number of persons at the Globe, including Editorial), but the Star catered to disposable news bytes in the recent past, and a format for instant plastic emulsion. And it was a business failure. The crowd they catered to wouldn't pay for content then, they won't now. So perhaps the Star can save themselves and pull out of the death dive they were in by catering to a public with enough belief in issues to pay to underwrite them. We'll see.
Again, I am very impressed with the new emphasis on real street issues in the Star the last week, and the apparent attempt to keep it front page...I've already sent some material to the lead author on the subject.
Quick Addendum:
On a huge up-note, and there will only be a few disagreements in this string on this: Post Media is taking an absolute drubbing. There's little to defend at the Stun, but at least the Pest has some excellent journalists amongst the raving reactionaries (I remember when Corcoran 'Corky' wrote for the Globe) and an outstanding managing ed (Coyne), but alas, one only has to view their opening web-page to see they're desperately selling themselves for drugs (legit ones,, but still...).
The *Real* question is: "How much longer can the Post Diggers survive?" (and featuring the criminal Conrad Black defending Trump to grovel for a pardon is pathetic)
Post Addendum (pun fully intended):
I sit corrected on Coyne!
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/rep...l-post-will-remain-columnist/article26868832/
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