Anyone who reads the daily Register can acknowledge that they actively promoted today’s Open House breakfast meeting with publisher Terry Horne. We were told that this was the fourth and largest attendance event they have held with 205 registered. In fact, due to limited meeting space, they had to break us up into two groups.
Back on Nov 30th I posted an Orange Juice story based on Mr. Horne’s comments at an OC Forum event. While he did repeat some of that material this morning I will try to recap what he shared with our group. Before doing that let me take us back to a story by Mary Ann Milbourn that appeared in the Aug 23rd 2007 Register.
Headline.”New publisher’s focus is local.”
“Terry Horne, who take over as publisher of the Orange County Register on Sept 15th thinks the best response to the newspaper’s drop in advertising and other challenges is a renewed emphasis on local news.
“What we need is a total focus on hyperlocal news, a focus on producing information no one else can provide our readers,” He said Wednesday after being named the Register’s new publisher.” In that article he states that “my recent experience told me the newspaper needs to be creative in growing readership.”
And now back to today’s data from Mr. Horne where he informed us that in taking the reins his goal was to set strategy and set direction. “16 months ago we were about to fail.” He pointed out that the Tribune (parent of the LA Times) filed for Chapter 11 protection stating that dozens of other newspapers will follow.
Supervisor Norby’s Executive Assistant Bruce Whitaker once gave me some valuable advise. Simply stated. Whenever writing a story bear in mind that “numbers numb.” As such it is a challenge to compare the past with the current status of the Register without sharing some of those statistics. I guess I might ask you the readers to function as a focus group and tell us how you feel the paper is performing since Terry took the helm 16 months ago (as we entered the current recession.)
Terry repeated the business mantra of the paper in that the Register must be “cheaper, better and faster” to survive or grow. He told us that there is a “very short period of time for our industry to change” adding that we must “become what the marketplace demands.”
Acknowledging that their “audience is changing” we were told that part of the challenge faced by any newspaper relates to the age of the readers where “those over age 45 are four times more likely to read the print edition” while the younger generation prefers getting their news On-line.
All in all its been a tough year for major newspapers. The Star Ledger (which I delivered in Newark, New Jersey back in 1950) lost $40 million last year. I believe it was the SF Chronicle that Terry quoted as having lost $50-60 million.
Their Internet statistics which Terry shared amazed me. In Nov they have had 36 million page views and 3,224,281 unique visitors.
He told us to look for a “huge redesign of the web site in the next few months.”
For the business community at the breakfast he informed us that they will not raise ad rates in 2009. Additional features will be “express ads” where you do your own design, saving everyone time and money. We were told that the only newspaper actively offering that feature today is the Boston Globe.
Another feature will be text messaging to promote the automotive and real estate industries where you can download an entire inventory.
To support those interested in reaching potential visitors and local residents we will be able to access information on a new entertainment site at www.orangecounty.com
To create a “lean, mean culture” they have 341 fewer employees since last year.
Prior to leaving Mr. Horne did field a few questions including more in depth support for the local Latino community. Prior to today I did not know that their Excelsior edition is the 25th largest Spanish newspaper in the country. Another guest raised a question about providing news, not just ads. While they have “247 individuals involved in their news and commentary” departments he recognizes that they simply cannot cover every possible story. As such we were encouraged to contact them if we find stories that we feel have been overlooked.
LG commentary added 8 January
In this post I overlooked one of the key points raised by Mr. Horne that relates to helping the small business owners. I refer to their effort to level the playing field between major advertisers and the smaller business owner. The key is frequency of ads rather than simply dollars spent per year.
As I think about the “strategy and tactics” being presented I also think back to the recent massive advertising by the major retailers. We are all aware of that proven fact that 40% of all retail sales occurs in Oct, Nov and Dec leading up to the Christmas holiday. First quarter sales are typically flat.
My sense is that the Register will experience a decline in revenue from stores such as JC Penney, Macy’s, Kohl’s and Best Buy whose pre-printed inserts filled our papers. While I have no idea as to the charges for inserting their flyers their traditional ads will surely drop off until their next season begins. If “the price is right” than this concept can become a good partnership between those who have the products for sale and those who can help get the message out to the targeted consumer.
After his presentation we were divided into small groups and toured the Santa Ana facility. In that tour we were limited to the area where inserts are added to the newspapers and the press room where we watched from above as they printed this coming Thursday’s four color Yorba Linda Star local edition.
As a side note I took a trip down memory lane and asked about one of my “old” customers. Mergenthaler linotype typesetting machines where we did stop to look at the antiquated method used to set type line by line. Printing 24 community newspapers at the Register’s Grand Street facility, and cranking out 14 papers per second (or 255,000 daily) surely required the word of the year. Change.
Juice readers. Are you satisfied with the Register?
If not what suggestions would you care to suggest?
While we at the local blogs represent the future in this industry we still need to have the weekly newspapers from which we get many of the stories covered on our sites.
Larry,
I worked at the Register in several capacities, as a young man, in production and advertising. I hope they can survive.
I do think that too many of their reporters, such as SAUSD reporter Fermin Leal, do not report – they just copy press releases and post them. That is NOT reporting.
The Register’s website is awful, so hopefully the redesign will be better.
I hope they get it fixed as the LAT isn’t welcome here. But I’m not optimistic — I actually put the Reg on a postage scale last Monday a.m. — all of 5.7 ounces.
email from one of our senior pastors:
I was glad he mentioned the express ads as we’ll have our first one running tomorrow in the Globe News. I did the layout myself, uploaded it to their web site paid for the ad with our Village Church debit card and only had to make one phone call to ask a question about the exact size of the ad.
I am anxious to see how it turns out in the print publication. Price was reasonable and they are offering a four for three price break.
What the Express Ads do is make it possible to generate ads with fewer OC staff. It also is great for anyone with some layout skills and wants to save some bucks.
…Mike
Here’s an issue I don’t see mentioned: can the “younger generation” read? What percentage of those 30 and younger in OC are functionally literate? When children don’t grow up reading and they haven’t received their “news” from any other source than pre-digested network news, the papers don’t have a good chance of hooking them.
If newspapers are putting most of their effort into
such items as the anonymous posts via email, then they aren’t distinguishing themselves from blogs.
reply from my email distribution.
Larry-
I can’t imagine a world without a newspaper. It’s just not the same to cozy up to a computer as it is to the newspaper and coffee in the morning. I like that the Register finally are doing some good articles on pages 2 and 3 of the front page section. The local and sports sections are the ones I read first with all the local stories most interesting to me.
The OC Register has been my favorite for a long time.
Marilyn Bxxxxxxxxx
another response to my email distribution
When I write a letter to the editor in the Local section I expect it to be printed because it is filled with timely information that is apropos for current events. Thank you. ……………… BS
Art –
For SAUSD being the county’s #1 school district, student population wise, I think Mr. Leal’s reporting is sorely lacking. The paper devotes lots of space to Capo, a school district in one of our trendier and more upscale communities.
Regarding the ‘express ads.’
As a follow up to Larry’s posting my e-mail: The ad ran today and I am extremely pleased. If you get the Laguna Woods Globe News (Thur Jan 8 edition) it’s on page 19 for the Village Church of Laguna Woods Village.
I also agree with Horn about ‘localization.’ Done right–these types of editions can do a lot for building community and providing local information that would not be available in a larger Metro edition.
Mike
Pastor Mike –
I agree,localization can do a lot for building community, however the Register does not serve all communities equal. I’d like to know if Mr. Horne addressed the newspaper’s lack of community newspapers for the county’s central cities.
anon. I hate to admit it but the old expression is still true today regardless of which newspaper or network channel you happen to watch.
“If it bleeds,it leads.”
While this 1995 report generally applies to TV broadcasting the following comment is still valid and may also be a factor in our local print media.
“Stations use sensation and tabloid journalism to manipulate and condition viewers,” concluded the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Media Watch organization. “Crime stories, mainly murder, dominate half the newscasts.”
Hi anon. This is Larry. I wrote this post not art.
As I live in the CAPO school District I am familiar with the local events that included a successful RECALL election. While it does not contain any blood and guts this is a major news story that perhaps I should have blogged. Several Mission Viejo neighbors did attend the last packed house meeting where I am told that the Board did not come out of Closed Session until 11:30 p.m.
Our “trendier” or “upscale” community white collar abuse of power, and waste of taxpayer funds, still needs to be exposed. For their coverage of the CUSD I thank the Register staff
#10 anon.
A local (Santa Ana) Latino attorney did raise the question about coverage for the Spanish speaking community. As such your input was acknowledged yesterday. Mr Horne pointed out some interesting data based on his experience in Arizona before coming to the Register. As time goes on the younger Latino generation is more inclined to read the English version of newspapers.
Anon, didnt the Reg and LAT buy up all the small regional papers from private small publishers? A lot of the old papers are still operating around here under the Reg or LAT umbrellas although not frequently. They seem to be mostly for the purpose of publishing legal notices and keeping seniors busy writing and reading local gossip.
How that translates into a ethical requirement to operate community papers in all communities I don’t understand. Wouldn’t that will be dictated by how effective that community paper was for selling space in the paper and getting people to read it not by some altruistic need to kill trees and create litter so that the community can have their own paper?
If enough churches and businesses wanted to “build community” in a city that didn’t have a community paper they would likely start one. During good economic times the number of “papers” increases dramatically because of money to be made.
My opinion is that there needs to a move by people to embrace other non-paper technologies to deliver our news (legal notices, gossip and advertising) because of the dramatic difference in the environmental effects between the two methods of communicating the community paper brand of news and entertainment.
#14 anonymous
Yes, some years back the Register did purchase local papers.
While they speak of going to two local editions per week our Saddleback Valley News local just dropped their Wed Edition. On a sad note our Friday Jan 2nd paper had all of 20 pages of which the last five and a half pages were devoted to foreclosure and other public notices.
Its a sad day when the largest revenue generator for the Register in this issue deals with families losing their homes and businesses.
Juice readers.
After the Register published another story on the Mission Viejo Rose Parade float today I received an email requesting my participation in an 18 question “Accuracy Check” survey relating to their coverage.
Having hundreds of letters and a few Op-Ed’s published in the Register and their local edition this is the first time in over 20 years that I have ever received such an invite.
Having posed a few comments let’s see what response, if any, I receive from Editor Ken Brusic.
#16, say it ain’t so! My hatred and venom will have nowhere to go if the Reg changes itself into a good major newspaper. My God, they practically treated you like a person. Whats next tolerance for differing opinions? Coverage of items not favorable to their owners?
Anonymous #17.
While I know you are from the “show me” state in your heart I will give the new president/publisher the benefit of the doubt and will take a wait and see approach to your comments.
Let’s see if they follow up on my remarks be it by email, snail mail, in person or a phone call.
Terry Horne is a realist and perhaps seeing the demise of other majors in this industry they are truly turning a new leaf as we enter the new year
Larry –
You’re fortunate to have a community newspaper in your town. However, Garden Grove, Westminster and Santa Ana are not so fortunate. These cities do not have a local Register community paper. I think that’s what #10 meant by the post.
Couple that with the fact that SAUSD is the largest school district in the county, it’s sad the Register fails to adequately cover SAUSD. Urban schools needs as much newspaper coverage as the tony Capo district.
anon #19.
Thank you for that info. I will pass it along to the editor and the publisher to see what feedback they offer. You might also appeal to the ombudsman
#19 & #20
Santa Ana is the most populous city in the county and it’s been home to the Register for over a century. It’s a shame Santa Ana doesn’t get the same coverage as the other cities.
Anon #19 and Juice readers. Terry Horne, president/publisher of the Register just sent me the following email response to anonymous #19
“Fair commentary. We have discussed what product might succeed in some of
these communities. Some have been launched and failed. We haven’t given up.
We continue to look at opportunities and gauge them. I doubt we will launch any new print newspapers in 2009 but perhaps we can do a better job in the Register Local section on those communities and give them online coverage
on ocregister.com. We will continue to evaluate the opportunity. Thanks.
Terry”