They’re basing their report on a March 10 Free From Editors blog post – an item which has also been circulating among staff in the Ann Arbor News newsroom.

The publisher of the Flint Journal, Dave Sharp, was previously publisher at the Ann Arbor News, and is an “uber-publisher” for the Newhouse-owned papers on this side of the state, a group which includes the Ann Arbor News.

There have been rumors about the Ann Arbor News doing something similar. But there are always rumors, and often they come to nothing. However, the silence coming from publishers and other top managers in the wake of a “traditional” media outlet picking up these reports is troubling. It’s another example of a lack of communication that’s damaging to both employees and readers, whose support and loyalty are desperately needed if the newspaper is to survive.

[Editor's note: The quotes in the URL to preset the search pose a difficultly I don't know how to suss. For now, readers should kindly highlight the URL, copy it, and paste it into the address of their browser. Or else follow the partial hyperlink and type "ann+arbor" into the search box.]

So here we are-after years of Boothsucking money from the state of Michigan is search of 40% profit margins and ready to abandon the sinking ship. Sad.

My guess is that if the editorials leaned in a different political direction, nobody would have a problem with the paper. As a matter of fact, if the News would have changed editorials on only three days in the past 15 years, everything would be fine and this discussion wouldn’t be happening. I also think that if someone cancels a newspaper subscription over an editorial, that’s just too bad. (over a presidential endorsement? seriously?)

BTW, I neither work for the News, nor have I ever met anyone who works there.

link

MLive Story on egg crash

Chicago Tribune story on egg crash

[Editor's note: links as URLs shortened with text links to keep them from sliding off the edge of the column.]

Why is the Ann Arbor News using wire service coverage for local events? Who is actually covering this?

Newspapers as a whole need to make changes. Big changes. Better online versions are a given. Lots of people want to read a physical paper, but what the newspapers are just beginning to understand is that a good online version will only enhance the printed version. Newspapers need to come up with a real way of measuring readership so to give advertisers confidence in their choice of the newspaper as a vehicle. They need to rethink distribution and printing. There is no reason that newspapers have to be the size they are: we might be heading back to a broadside-style paper. How about paper boxes that are printers and can print out a day’s paper on 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper within a few seconds after someone pays. That would cut out unnecessary and expensive printing. Reporters need to be trained and supported in new technologies. If online comments are available, they need to be monitored. 24-hour local updates should be available online so the paper is considered *the* resource for breaking news. Citizen reporters and student reporters should be encouraged (a la stopped. watched) with professional oversight.

Personally, I think newspapers are imperative for a strong community. Local news, local sports, local food, local community politics, calendars, local feel-good stories, births, deaths, marriages and so on will always be important to a community. The News should have good local investigative reporting, but not just to sell papers. The recent “expose” on academics and athletics seemed mean-spirited and not reflective of what the citizens really care about. Not only that, but it turns out that that was essentially yellow journalism, done to increase circulation, not because there was a huge scandal. National news and classifieds are not very important to a local paper anymore because of constantly updated, searchable, and free online sites so papers need to be able to publish without them. Comics on the other hand are not well-served online (not in one place anyway) so keep a page or two of comics (how about sponsoring a contest to include some local ones). The national filler is just that: filler, and few people have interest in it. For example, I’m a Mark Bittman fan, but I read his column in the NYT online a week or more before articles show up in the News. I would much rather see local food articles. It is also very important that a paper reflects the community it serves. The Ann Arbor News has fallen down on that for years. The two endorsements of Bush and then the non-endorsement this year might not seem like a big deal, but it shows essentially a newspaper that not only doesn’t reflect the community’s beliefs, but actively spurns them. The newspaper’s editors and management don’t seem to like Ann Arbor or the people who live here. They attempt to cater to those people outside of Ann Arbor, while trying to solicit advertising and circulation within Ann Arbor. We stopped subscribing after the second Bush endorsement and are drifting away from caring about the paper. Even though we didn’t subscribe, I used to buy it daily, but now I don’t really care as much, which is sad. I know that I miss important local items when I don’t read the paper, but the News has done nothing to make a connection with me (they have actively turned me away) so I have turned to other media.

Ann Arbor needs a “real” newspaper, or multiple newspapers. The Observer, the Chronicle, ArborUpdate, and other blogs are part of the media mix, but we still need a real community newspaper with full-time, round-the-clock reporters and professional staff. It would be great if the Ann Arbor News was a real community paper and the Michigan Daily was a real reflection of the University community (in the Daily’s defense, they had good writers and articles this past year so I have hope that trend will continue). I really would like to see the Ann Arbor News remain, but to be relevant, huge changes in ownership and management need to be made. Hopefully that will happen.

This is a market where it should be easier for a newspaper to succeed than almost anywhere else in Michigan, but the News seems unable or unwilling to see that their current and past approaches were not working.

When I traveled throughout the Big Ten covering Michigan football, it was impossible not to notice that every other Big Ten town had a Saturday and Sunday newspaper filled with twice as many ads as the News. Why was that, I asked? Not only was there never an answer, people seemed to get annoyed at me for asking the question.

Cuts, especially of content producers, will only fuel what’s become a self-fulfilling shrinkage in size and relevance. It’s a shame. Just a shame. And I feel for both the people who are being hurt, and the community that deserves the paper the News once was and probably won’t ever be again.