Paper or Plastic?

A Technophile Learns to Return to his No. 2 Roots

FOR THE PAST SEVERAL years I've been a PDA kind of guy. My first purchase was a Handspring Visor, and more recently I invested in a Palm Tungsten E2. Contacts, task lists, calendaring, and more -- without these machines, my life would be a complete mess. The Visor treated me extraordinarily well, giving me years of digital organization with rarely a hiccup. Unfortunately, its newer, more colorful cousin hasn't been as kind.

The Tungsten is a beautiful machine, and even more functional than the Visor. But I've run into an enormous problem transferring data between my handheld and my desktop iMac at the office. It's the desktop organizer software I use during the day; at 5 o'clock, I transfer everything to the handheld and then work off of that when I'm at home. Upon my return to work, I do another transfer, and I'm all set. Of late, that transference -- known as a HotSync -- simply hasn't been happening. I've traded about 10 e-mails with Palm tech support, and each time someone (it's been Ian and Mariano working on my case; tell them I said hi if you have to ping them) has sent along multiple steps for me to try to set things right, and nothing has worked thus far.

And so while I try to figure this out, and to avoid paying the extortive fares that a phone conversation with Palm would entail, I've returned to pencil and paper to keep my life in order. And it's been kind of ... cool. Not cool in a tech-hip kind of way, or even in a retro way; there's just something warmly familiar and comforting about setting things down on paper, the soothing scratch of my writing strokes offering emotional sustenance in a way that keyboard clacking simply can't approach. Don't get me wrong -- I want my problem fixed, and now. I rely on my technology too much -- I enjoy it too much -- to give it up. But that hardcover, spiral-bound notebook I've been carrying around won't be going anywhere anytime soon; I've gotten rather attached to it.

Comments

[Jer]

Dude, the dead tree industry rules. LONG LIVE PAPER!

[Tom G]

A couple of years ago, I traded a Palm to my father for a Scotty Cameron putter. Since then, my father has not used the Palm at all [can't figure it out to save his soul], while I have drained putts all over the eastern seaboard with the putter.

By the way, I just bought a new cell phone/mp3 player/camera/video recorder.

[Tom Durso]

Jer -- Tell that to the Inquirer and Daily News staffers who are losing their jobs ...

TG -- Is your dad Ed Wade?

[Tom G]

His first name is Wade. Seriously.

[Jer]

I know, tell me about the job cuts. I'm surrounded by empty desks here. More than 13 percent of our newsroom took the golden handshake last week.

Happily, I just got a cell phone/mp3 player/camera/video recorder/lob wedge/George Foreman grill that gives shiatsu.

[Tom Goodman]

There have been a number of interesting articles lately on newspaper subscriptions, the internet web sites of newspapers, and the state of newspapers in general. With the exception of a very few papers (NY Times and Newark Star Ledger) almost all big city circulation figures are down. Conversely, web visits to newspaper sites are up. As many of you know, the Times is now charging a few for access to much of its editorial content and articles older than a specific period except to those subscribers already taking home delivery. If one wishes access without taking home delivery, there is a new, online subscription charge.

Meanwhile, the Inquirer and others have laid off a lot of people and offered early retirement to others (probably just a step before laying them off, too) and the once-venerated Baltimore Sun, a mere tabloid shadow of its former self, has even mentioned shutting down altogether.

As I have said often before, I like holding a paper in my hands and nothing else will do. I, too, read articles online, but when I want to read the newspaper I prefer holding one in my hands.

The newspaper industry has to adjust better than it has. Even depending on internet viewers and subscriptions there isn't going to be the only answer.

I suggested the best place to start would be to put kiosks with electronic versions of the paper at principal spots in the center of cities. Get young people used to walking by, stopping and reading and believing in the value of a newspaper and get them to do it in a form they prefer. It would be akin to the European, Soviet and other nations who regularly placed paper copies of the paper in displays on the public exterior walls of, presumably, the newspaper offices themselves.

[Jer]

This is a tumultuous time for my industry, no doubt, but there is reason for optimism. For one thing, papers still make a crapload of money. Most people don't realize this because of all of the lousy news this year. Profit margins on newspaper companies are huge, much higher than in other industries. Knight Ridder has maintained a profit margin of an astonishing 25 percent for the past 14 years.

For another, most newspapers, by virtue of their huge news staffs, are firmly in control of online news in their communities. If you want to find out what's happening in St. Louis today, you don't go to a TV station website, you go to www.stltoday.com, the online home of the Post-Dispatch. We employ the best writers, and we have more than anyone else. The site traffic doesn't lie. We win by a huge margin.

Newspapers are starting to figure out how to make money online that they used to make through print. You mentioned New York Times' recent "premium content." That's one way. Another way is through free classifieds like Craigslist does it. Free classifieds means more traffic. More traffic means higher rates for online display ads. The thing is, we still make a ton of money on newsprint classified ads. Maybe not as much as we did, but this is still a going concern.

We need to do a much better job of controlling piracy of our exclusive content. For one thing, I'm tired of having TV and especially radio reporters repeat, practically word for word, what I put in the morning paper. More recently, bloggers are repeating news and views on their sites as if they went out and did some reporting.

But really, they're just copying us, me, usually without giving credit, and adding their two cents to make it original content. This is called plagiarism. (Tom, you're not included, as you always cite your sources.)

One nother thing: the Sun cease publication? Not in a million, million, alagazillion years. It is not a tabloid shadow of itself. It's not a tabloid. It is still a great paper. Did you read the recent series "On Their Own?" Have you noticed the three or four Pulitzers it has won in recent years? The Shipbuilders series? Diana Sugg's medical coverage? The paper remains not only top-notch, but very profitable, and despite the most recent round of Tribune-ordered layoffs and buyouts, will be around until the end of time. Despite the recent closure of two foreign bureaus, it still has more staff overseas than all but the elite papers.

[Tom Goodman]

Jer: I wish I had your email address to respond in a more personal way. I am 57 years old and if you had read the Sun in my youth (I began to seriously read the paper in junior high school) you would not find my labeling it a shadow of its former self as far-fetched as you do. "Tabloid" might be too strong, but "shadow" is not. When I visit my mother in Baltimore I always reach for the Sun but find it hardly worth the effort. While not familiar with the pieces you cite, and no doubt believing there remains some good work, the overall paper is of very low quality. There was a time when its Washington bureau, overseas bureaus and columnists were among the best in the country including the elite papers. On those occasions when I have read it (probably on the order of ten or so times a year now) I didn't find quality.

[Jer]

Sorry, Tom Goodman, didn't mean to get edgy. I was just representing my team. I think the Sun still kicks ass, especially for its city coverage, foreign reporting and special projects, but I'll admit that my reading of it, being 800 miles away, is sporadic, and that I probably don't look for it to do the same things that you do. I certainly wasn't looking at it until the mid-90s, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I think almost everyone feels their hometown paper ain't what she used to be, but I think that, in some other ways, papers are more than they used to be. I think reporters are putting a lot more craft into their writing and taking more risks than ever before.

[Tom Durso]

Great exchange, Jeremy and Tom G., and I'm behind both of you -- I love newspapers, and want them to thrive. The industry has been way too slow to respond to external threats -- if it can figure out a way to leverage the kind of electronic advantages that you mention, Jer, then it might be on to something.

Today's the deadline day for the Inky and DN staffers to accept the buyout, I think. I'm hoping to post some thoughts next week on what PNI can do to make their papers better given the new realities. Not that anyone asked me, but, hey, what are bloggers for?

[Jer]

I'll have a few ideas to add to that discussion.

Here is the breakdown on newspaper job losses in 2005, according to E&P. I was surprised to see the Post-Dispatch had more this year than both PNI papers combined.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001524144