Herald circulation dips below 200,000

Some 11 months ago, I posted an item on this blog about the Herald's declining circulation.

At the time I wrote, "The inescapable truth is that if the Herald continues to lose 10% of its circulation every six months then how long will it be before their circ dips below 200,000?"

(In 1963 Dade County had a population of about 1,050,000. The Herald's daily circulation was about 330,000.

(In 1999 the New York Times reported "The Herald's daily circulation peaked at 442,560 copies in 1985. Last year, [1998] The Herald's circulation was 341,212, and El Neuvo's circulation was 79,738. Since about half of El Nuevo's copies are delivered in tandem with The Herald, the Miami Herald Publishing Company's two newspapers had a combined daily circulation of about 381,000 last year."

("While circulation nationwide slid about 10.5 percent between 1985 and 1998, the Herald newspapers' circulation fell by about 13.8 percent.")

In this morning's story on the shake-up at el Nuevo Herald, writer Andres Viglucci drops this bombshell:

"Its [el Nuevo Herald] circulation has been holding relatively steady as The Miami Herald's -- now at around 190,000 daily and 275,000 Sunday -- has plunged."

The official Audit Bureau of Circulations report will be released sometime next month.

But for the Herald, the writing is already on the wall.

UPDATE: Bob Norman of Broward New Times has more here on today's shake-up at el Nuevo along with an interesting memo from Anders Gyllenhaal.

One Herald Plaza...then and now

from the Miami Daily News, Oct. 16, 1937: Control of Miami Herald Passes to Ohio Publisher

Control of the Miami Herald was transferred at noon yesterday to John S. Knight, widely known Ohio editor, and his associates by Col. Frank B. Shutts.

from the Miami News, Aug. 17, 1958: Miami Herald announces plans to build $20 million plant on Biscayne Bay.

The new building, according to the announcement, will be geared to a projected circulation of more than 1,000,000 copies daily by 1980.

from the Miami News, July 29, 1966: News and Herald sign agreement

The Miami News has concluded an agreement to have its newspaper printed and distributed by the Miami Herald.
[...]
[James M.] Cox, [publisher of the Miami News] said: "To make certain that Miami in the future will not be a city where only one newspaper voice speaks, The News and The Herald have signed an agreement ... The savings from this common arrangement will provide the sound economic base which is essential to free, aggressive, independent newspapers."

from the Miami Herald, May, 27, 2011: Miami Herald parent company McClatchy sells land for $236 million.

Asia’s third largest casino company is paying $236 million for the 14 acres of waterfront land surrounding The Miami Herald, a deal that means a new home for the publishing company and a major new player in downtown Miami’s development boom.
[...]
The Herald’s parent company, McClatchy, announced the sale and said both The Miami Herald and El Neuvo Herald would move to another location within two years. Until then, the papers can operate in the current waterfront building for two years. The building also houses Brown Mackie college, which presumably would relocate as well.

The deal brings an infusion of cash for the Sacramento-based company, which has met declining advertising revenues with staff cuts at its newspapers across the country, including the Herald. McClatchy will use the $163 million from the sale to bolster the company’s pension plan and $65 million to pay down debt. The remaining $2 million will be used to pay for taxes associated with the sale.

Circulation continues to plummet at the Herald

Circulation figures released today for the nation's newspapers are "showing that the largest metros continue to shed daily and Sunday circulation -- now at a record rate."

This also holds true for the Miami Herald. Editor and Publisher magazine reports, "daily circulation at The Miami Herald fell 15.8% to 202,122. Sunday is down 13.1% to 270,166."

However that reported daily number of 202,122 is slightly at odds with a Herald story from a month ago when the Herald's Andres Viglucci reported, "[el Nuevo Herald] circulation has been holding relatively steady as The Miami Herald's -- now at around 190,000 daily and 275,000 Sunday -- has plunged."

Is the Herald "fudging" their numbers?

The Herald, which was once the largest and most influential paper in the state, is now third in circulation behind the St. Petersburg Times and Orlando Sentinel. Yes, the Orlando Sentinel!

To see how the Herald's numbers stack up against other U.S. papers click here.

(Bob Norman of Broward New Times takes a look at the Herald's declining numbers here.)

I'm not sure what the business plan at the Herald is. Their circ numbers continue to decline along with the overall quality of the journalism they're producing.

The only thing I am certain of is that firing experienced journalists won't reverse the decline in circulation.

Memo to Miami Herald executive editor Mindy Marqués Gonzalez

Dear Mindy

I wanted to take this opportunity to offer belated congratulations on your appointment as the Miami Herald's new executive editor.

Your story is truly inspiring. Twenty five short years after starting at the bottom of the ladder at a Northwest Neighbors office, you now run the entire show. Is this a great country, or what?

But I'd be lying if I said better things are ahead. Your challenges are immense.

The Herald is going through the most difficult period in its 100 year plus history.

You're now tasked with putting out a newspaper with a greatly reduced staff and diminished resources. Also in the mix is a shrinking and alienated subscriber base.

Thirty six years ago, The Miami Herald made TIME magazine's list of The Ten Best American Daily Newspapers.

Last year it made another TIME magazine list: The Ten Most Endangered Newspapers in America.

We all know newspapers are in trouble. And we've heard all the reasons why: the Internet, the economy and on and on.

And those of us who keep track of such things know the Herald has been especially hard hit.

In 1976, when it was named to TIME's top ten list, the Herald's daily circulation was almost 405,000 and over half a million on Sunday. There were very few counties in the state where the Herald wasn't available. By 1981, as South Florida was in the midst of a difficult period, the Herald was fat and sassy with a circulation that had jumped to 421,000.

But, in figures released this month, the Herald's daily circulation has fallen to 151,612 daily. And I'm told, it's impossible to find a copy of the Herald north of the Broward county line. The Herald's Sunday circulation now ranks fifth behind other newspapers in a state it once dominated.

But despite that, your predecessor Anders Gyllenhaal, wrote in his in his farewell column Sunday that "the Herald is now emerging from the downturn with strategies that will keep us serving you for many decades to come." He also pointed to the fact that "more than 25 Herald reporters, photographers and videographers traveled [to Haiti]" following January's earthquake.

All that's very nice I suppose and I'm sure the Herald will be a contender for Pulitzer Prize next year.

But what's the point of spending precious resources on a story in a country more than 700 miles from Miami when your paper finds it all but impossible to cover a story that's just across the MacArthur Causeway?

This morning, on the Herald's website, I found the first mention of a hookworm infestation on Miami Beach that was first reported by a TV station on Oct. 21. It wasn't that many years ago that local TV stations got story ideas from the Herald and not the other way around.

It's not the first time the Herald has been late or been lazy in covering a recent story.

I'm sure that you've already had discussions with your top editors on how to improve the paper.

I also realize that you're somewhat limited in what you can do because of budget considerations. But one of the first things you might want to look at is why your paper still has a dance critic on staff when it can't find the resources to cover a neighborhood health issue or flooding problem.

After you've taken care of all that, then perhaps you'll address another problem: the fact - as one long-time staffer puts it - that the Herald "appeals to an audience we don't have anymore. We're not in sync with the community. We cover serious stories in a boring way. We don't cover stories with attitude."

Well, there you have it Mindy. To borrow a phrase from a certain politician: "Let's get to work!" And here, at Random Pixels, we're only too happy to help!

'Where is the bottom?'

In 1981 the Miami Herald's daily circulation was somewhere around 421,000. Sunday circulation was near a half-million copies.

By 2008, the paper's daily circulation had slipped to about 240,000, and Sunday was 311,000.

In 2010 - according a page on the McClatchy Company's website that hasn't been updated in years - the Herald's daily circulation had fallen to 191,873 daily, and 263,612 Sunday....or less according to other numbers. 

In Oct. 2010, Herald veteran Aminda Marques Gonzalez was named the paper's executive editor, succeeding Anders Gyllenhaal.

"I am thrilled to have Mindy take the helm of the newsroom at the Miami Herald, then publisher David Landsberg said. "She is an outstanding journalist with a deep personal connection to South Florida. She is uniquely qualified to lead us into the future." [Source]

However, according to a recently filed publisher's statement, [embedded below] the Herald's daily print circulation is now at about 86,000 copies, and Sunday is 157,000. (Last year's publisher's statement listed the daily circulation at a little more than 94,000 copies daily, and almost 174,000 Sunday.)

Put another way, in the four years since Marques Gonzalez took "the helm" at the paper, the Herald's daily circulation has dropped by more than 105,000 copies, and Sunday's loss is almost the same - about 106,000.

"Where is the bottom?" one former high-ranking Herald staffer asked in an email that's now making the rounds.

Miami Herald, Oct. 9, 2014, page 4A.
Click here to enlarge.

Earlier this year Marques Gonzalez told Ocean Drive Magazine: "A big percentage of our revenue now is digital; I think we’re at 20 percent."

So how is the Herald's website doing?

Quantcast counts 14M impressions per month and 4.7M unique visitors. That doesn't include their blogs.

And for all you data freaks, there's a wealth of information on Quantcast's website.

For instance, 39% of visits to MiamiHerald.com come from people who are just passing through, but who account for almost 75% of the site's visitors on any given day.

So while the website numbers are nothing to sneeze at, Marques Gonzalez and company still have a way to go before the paper's digital revenues catch up with, or surpass print.

Is Marques Gonzalez up to the task? For an answer to that, look at her track record so far.

Or as one Herald insider told me in an email last April:

The executive editor actually boasted recently about 20 percent of the Herald's revenue coming from digital means. Think about that - after all of this time and effort, only 20 percent of our revenue is coming from the newspaper's only hope for the future, digital. And that's 20 percent of an overall revenue base that steadily diminishes as print circulation and advertising evaporate. That's hardly boast-worthy.

Anybody wanna buy some ads?

That sinking feeling

Here's how bad things have become at the Miami Herald.

Posted below is the Herald's "Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation" as it appears on page 4A of today's paper.

According to the statement, the Herald's average paid daily circulation for the preceding 12 months (Sept, 12, 2012 - Aug. 13, 2013) was  84,224 copies.

Add to that number, 14,425 copies that are either given away or sold at a nominal rate, and the paper's daily circulation is now just 98,649. Put another way, even when they give papers away, they can't crack the 100,000 mark.

Or put yet another way, that's a yearly attrition rate of 20,000. The Sunday numbers are worse.

The previous year's paid circulation was 103,608 daily, 172,540 Sunday.

The paper that was once the largest in the state - it's now number five - and had a daily circulation of almost a half-million, now has less than 100,000 print readers daily.

Source: Miami Herald, Oct. 8, 2013, page 4A.

Why the declining numbers? Anyone who's been a regular reader of the paper for the past 5 or 10 years  can answer that question.

The only people who don't seem to know the answer are the people who run the show at 3511 NW 91 Ave.

For instance, since the beginning of the year a half-dozen or more experienced reporters and editors have either quit or retired. They aren't being replaced.

Proof: Today we learn that veteran reporter Curtis Morgan, most recently the paper's environmental reporter, has been promoted to assistant metro editor and will now oversee reporters who cover the courts and education beats.

Who will replace Morgan?

See the last paragraph of managing editor Rick Hirsch's email below.

From: "Hirsch, Rick"
Date: October 7, 2013, 5:27:39 PM EDT
To: MIA Newsroom
Subject: Congratulate Curtis Morgan

Staff:

Twenty-six years ago, Curtis Morgan joined The Herald as a copy editor in our Broward Bureau.

In the years since, Curtis has distinguished himself as a news and feature writer. From advisory-to-advisory coverage of approaching storms to explaining the complexities of sea level rise, Curtis excelled in explanatory storytelling, often on complex environmental issues.

He also has an unmatched record as our hurricane writer-- he's steered every major threat away from South Florida during his tenure on the beat.

Curtis is a reporter whom peers consult when they are stuck on the lede of a story or are seeking a suggestion or a special touch. He's also pitched in from time to time as a hit-and-run editor.

I'm pleased to report that Curtis will be taking on that role full time, overseeing our education team and criminal and federal courts reporters.

Curtis has a deep knowledge of South Florida. He grew up in South Florida, attended Palmetto High and the University of South Florida. He worked for Gannett papers in the Virgin Islands and Cocoa before joining The Herald in 1987.

As an editor, we know Curtis will continue The Herald's storytelling tradition that he's helped shape during his years as a reporter.

Please congratulate him.

Curtis' shift to editing creates the need for a new environmental reporter -- as well as someone who can take the lead in covering hurricanes. If you are interested, please reach out to Amy Driscoll.

Rick and Mindy

When Hirsch announced the retirement last month of 25-year veteran writer Ellie Brecher, the last line of his email was "Ellie's retirement means we are seeking an obituary reporter. [...] We're looking for someone who digs deep, is compassionate, and can write a hell of a story. If you are interested, please contact Rick Hirsch or Jay Ducassi."

At this late stage, there's probably nothing the Herald honchos can do to stop the paper from hemorrhaging subscribers.

But watching people walk out the door without replacing them certainly won't solve the problem.


________


April 2013: Circulation figures released for Florida newspapers

Oct. 2012: Here are the latest circulation figures for major Florida newspapers

Nov. 2011: Miami Herald circulation dips slightly; St. Petersburg Times is still Florida's largest newspaper

Miami Herald alienates loyal reader

In five or ten years, when newspapers have completely disappeared, someone will write a book that will list the reasons for their demise.

Newspaper executives like to blame the Internet and Google for their troubles.

Well, no one forced newspapers to give away their content.

Those same executives have come up with another idea to hasten the death of their industry.

They are now charging readers extra to read ads.

Believe it or not, there are people who still get a newspaper delivered to their homes. Old habits are hard to break.

Look at this email I received last night from a Coral Gables woman who says she's a regular Random Pixels reader and who's also been subscribing to the Miami Herald for 30 years.

In the mail today, I got a colorful oversized postcard from The Miami Herald with a big illustrated turkey and the headline: The Miami Herald has BIG PLANS coming your way this Thanksgiving Day!

The copy goes on to say: As a Miami Herald subscriber, you can look forward to our LARGEST EDITION OF THE YEAR on Thanksgiving Day. You'll get the latest news, sports, business and lifestyle coverage as always. PLUS your paper will be STUFFED full of valuable coupons and sales circulars from all your favorite retailers. With Black Friday deals to kick off the holiday shopping season!

Odd, I think... why promote the obvious, everyone knows the Thanksgiving paper is filled with ads, even in a down economy.

And then at the bottom in small print it says: An additional $1.00 will be assessed to all subscribers for the increased size and value of the Thanksgiving Day Nov 25) edition. If you have any questions, please call us toll-free at 1-800 THE-HERALD.

THEY WANT TO "ASSESS" ME, A LOYAL SUBSCRIBER FOR OVER 30 YEARS, EXTRA $$ FOR ONE PAPER BECAUSE IT'S FILLED WITH ADS????????

I will call them, again, and ask the same question I ask every so often when there's a boneheaded idea: Can you remind me why I should continue subscribing to this lame newspaper?

In a follow-up email she says:

I come from a family who always subscribed to the paper. But my sister said she cancelled six months ago (after 30 yrs) and hasn't missed it. I keep subscribing because their website is worse than bad. And yes, i pay for online subscriptions when they're worth it.

I don't know if this is the first time the Herald has charged extra for the paper on Thanksgiving Day.

But last year, the Kansas City Star - which like the Herald, is a McClatchy paper - tried the same thing.

Note that the wording in the Star's sales pitch is similar to the one received by the Coral Gables Herald reader: "The Kansas City Star has BIG PLANS for your Thanksgiving Day edition and holiday shopping.”

The Herald's print readership continues to decline. Recent figures show "daily circulation dropped 6.9 percent daily [down to 151,612], with Sunday circulation sliding by 9.9 per cent [down to 214,891 copies]."

Geez, I wonder why?

Even most politicians know that it's not wise to alienate your base.

And that makes me wonder if Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Alvarez has taken a part-time job giving advice to the folks in the Herald's circulation department.

Is the Miami Herald 'past the point of no return?'

Miami Herald building demolition, Nov. 2014.

They've been trying to tear down the old Miami Herald building for a year and half now. But it's not going down without a fight.

Some former and current Herald staffers see the slow-motion dismantling of One Herald Plaza as a metaphor for what's taking place at the paper.

On Facebook, one former Herald employee called the demolition of the building "the slowest death I have ever seen," and then added, "apart from the actual decline of the Herald."

The Herald's print circulation continues to plummet as employees with decades of experience head for the exits - either willingly or unwillingly. But Herald executives continue to insist that they're putting out a quality product...all while they work behind the scenes to cut back on content and trim staff. Today's paper was just 34 pages.

Late last month, executive editor Mindy Marqués Gonzalez apologized to the paper's few remaining print subscribers for eliminating the daily TV listings.

"I guess the changes weren’t so 'carefully considered' after all," one retired Herald newsman told me in an email, adding, "They're the gang that couldn’t publish straight."

But one has to wonder, who are the "many" who still rely on a newspaper for TV listings and why is the Herald going out of its way to accommodate them but doing absolutely nothing to appeal to younger readers? When was the last time you saw anyone in their 20s or 30s reading a copy of the Miami Herald?

Or as blogger David Putney wrote over the weekend, "I marvel that newspapers make any money at all. It’s like finding out MySpace is still around or Abe Vigoda is still alive. How is this possible, seriously? I see someone buying a print newspaper and I think 'why would you do that?'"

A few days ago, retired Herald reporter Elinor Brecher ruminated on how the paper - at one time the largest and most powerful in the state - got to where it is today:

The slow, ugly destruction of One Herald Plaza pretty much parallels the slow, ugly destruction of the Herald as a journalistic institution. 

As I've said in other posts, I truly mourn for my friends there who are still trying to do work that matters.  

Miami Herald building, Feb. 1, 2015.

Yes, the Internet is a major factor, but you can't discount terrible decisions made on both the news side and business side under both Knight-Ridder and McClatchy for hastening the Herald's decline. The governing principle was "give the readers less, ask them to pay more, and expect them to believe they're getting a good deal.'' You can't feed people a shit sandwich and call it roast beef.


________

McClatchy exec gets a nice retirement gift from the struggling newspaper chain

________

You can't run a credible news organization with interns, part-timers and absurdly overworked, exhausted, underpaid, demoralized employees expected to work unlimited unpaid OT.

You can't take a newspaper out of an iconic building in the heart of a city's most vibrant business district and exile it to the middle of freaking nowhere, out of sight and out of mind - and too far away from breaking news to actually cover it - and expect it to stay relevant.

You can't get rid of all the quality control (copy editors) so that your newspaper is an embarrassing mess of typos, headlines that make no sense, cringe-worthy mistakes and, on a daily basis, as much wire and TV "news partner'' content as staff content, if not more.

Yes, there are still amazing print and visual journalists working at the Herald and I love them for their dedication, but the decline is past the point of no return. It's a tragedy for them, for Miami, for journalism in general, and for democracy.

Miami Herald plagiarizes itself

Things must be getting really bad at the Herald.

The paper is facing shrinking revenue, circulation, staff and resources. And it now appears that story ideas are also on the endangered list at the Herald.

This Sunday's paper carried a story on FPL's Turkey Point Power Plant and the crocodiles that inhabit the 6800 acres of cooling canals that surround the plant.

It's a great story ... the problem is that the Herald has printed it before. Lots of times.

And Sunday's story offered little new information. The story that crocodiles are drawn to the warm water in the cooling canals is an old and familiar one in the pages of the Herald.

But every few years some writer at the Herald feels compelled to recycle the story.

I did a search and found some 68 references in the Herald archives since 1982 where the phrase "crocodiles" and "Turkey Point" exist in the same story.

Herewith a few excerpts from the Herald's archives:

2007 UP FRONT - THE EVERGLADES: A croc comeback: They're no longer endangered - The rebound of American crocodiles in South Florida will take them off the federal endangered species list.
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Author: CURTIS MORGAN, cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

American crocodiles , once reduced to a few hundred reclusive reptiles hidden among the mangroves of the deep Everglades, are crawling off the endangered species list.
[...]
"Everywhere there is some protected land along the coast, you're going to find a croc there," said private wildlife biologist Joe Wasilewski, who has spent 20 years surveying crocodiles in one of the havens where they've flourished -- the maze of cooling canals around Florida Power & Light's Turkey Point nuclear plant on Biscayne Bay.
___

2004 CROCS GIVEN A FIGHTING CHANCE
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Tuesday, July 6, 2004
Author: NICHOLAS SPANGLER, nspangler@herald.com

The canals next to the Turkey Point nuclear power plant are crawling with crocodiles , and one night the crocs came out.
They fed on snook and ibis and each other. They tended their eggs, laid in holes dug out of the berms above the canals. The eggs shook and rolled. The hatchlings bleated from inside. When they emerged - dozens of them under the moon's dim light - the holes writhed.

This was late, the end of a night that began hours before when Joe Wasilewski and Jon Holderman shoved off from the dock in their airboat.
___

2002 CROC AROUND THE CLOCK
The Miami Herald - Wednesday, July 17, 2002
Author: DANIEL CHANG, dchang@herald.com

The 6-foot-long crocodile does not want to be disturbed.

It hisses and snaps at its handler, who appears calm despite several near misses by the animal's powerful jaws. ``One of the tricks is these things tire out very quickly,'' says Joe Wasilewski, clutching the crocodile by the tail.
___

1993 BUMPER CROP OF RARE BABIES BOOSTS SPECIES
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Saturday, July 17, 1993
Author: JOHN DONNELLY Herald Staff Writer

Joe Wasilewski aims his spotlight up and down the shoreline from his airboat, searching in the night for red light -- the beady eyes of the endangered American crocodile .

In the darkness along the Florida Power & Light canals about 30 miles south of downtown Miami, he suddenly wiggles his light on a clump of mangroves. "Oh, my God in heaven," he says.

There, eyes everywhere. A string of ruby stars.

He finds a couple dozen day-old crocodiles , called hatchlings, 10-inch-long, tender-bellied babies, one of the most startling sights left in the American wild.

Only 400 to 500 of the shy adult reptiles are believed to exist in the United States. Only about 30 crocodile nests are known in the southern reaches of Florida. Only three places in the country are known breeding spots.

Here is one of the three. In the 168 miles of two-decade- old canals south of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant, waterways accessible only to those approved by FPL, a few of the rare Crocodylus acutus dig nests each spring. Each July and August, their babies hatch.
___

1989 CROCODILES FIND IT COMFY IN TURKEY POINT 'S CANALS
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Thursday, May 25, 1989
Author: ANNE-MARIE O'CONNOR Herald Staff Writer

The cooling canals of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant have become a refuge for crocodiles and now host one of their largest U.S. colonies, scientists say.

The American crocodiles , an endangered species, first began to nest at Turkey Point in 1978, six years after the plant was activated. The isolation of the canals -- inaccessible to the public -- the warm water and raised banks make it an ideal place to raise newborn crocodiles , which hatch in July and August, scientists say.

The crocodile population at Turkey Point has grown to between 30 and 40 since then, and the area near the plant now hosts 14 percent of the crocodiles ' U.S. nesting sites, according to Frank Mazzotti, South Florida wildlife specialist for the Cooperative Extension Service. "The population is continuing to increase," he said.

The story of Joe Wasilewski and his work with crocs at Turkey Point is interesting and compelling. I worked on the same story with writer Rick Bragg for the New York Times back in June 1999. We did it once.

I'm at a loss to explain, however, why the editors at the Herald seem to think it's good journalism to print, what is essentially the same story, over and over again.

Maybe they think that most of their readers have short memories. Most...but not all!

Miami Herald editors try to get away with a little journalistic trickery

Click image to enlarge.

So, here's the problem. You're in charge of what used to be the state's largest and most powerful newspaper.

But for the past half-dozen years or so, things haven't been going so well.

Your reporting staff has been slashed to almost nothing and readers and advertisers are leaving in droves.

Then, seven months ago, a relatively tiny paper from the other side of the state sends a reporter to town and kicks your ass - figuratively speaking - on a story your staff should have known about and reported on.

That's exactly what happened last December when the Sarasota Herald-Tribune - a paper with half the circulation of the Miami Herald - discovered that Florida's dirtiest cop, German Bosque, was working in Opa-Locka, a small municipality that's just a dozen miles north of One Herald Plaza.

(Click here to read the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Dec. 4, 2011 story on Opa-Locka police Sgt. German Bosque.)

So, what do you do?

Well, if you're an editor at the Herald, you wait seven months, then run the story this weekend as if it's your own and cross your fingers and hope that none of your few remaining readers remember seeing it elsewhere.

But, on the off-chance that some may remember; you credit the Sarasota paper, slipping in the barest of mentions somewhere around the 46th paragraph of the story.

This is not the first time the Herald has been beaten on a story and then tried to play catch-up months later by acting as if they were first with the information.

In 1996, the Daily Business Review broke one story after another on mismanagement at the Port of Miami.

In May 1997, the Herald finally got around to covering the scandal at the port. None of their stories bothered to mention the groundbreaking work done by the Review. The Review's editor, Edward Wasserman, retaliated by spending $5,000 to rent a billboard directly across the street from the Herald building.

From Miami New Times:

Under the [billboard's] headline "Following the leader" are two opposing images. On the left are three issues of the Miami Herald; on the right is a front page from the Review. Both papers display stories about Lunetta. Publishing dates are included in large type: The Herald editions are from May 1997; the Review copy dates from December 1996. To the right are these words: "Don't wait for the Herald to catch up." The billboard, located on Biscayne Boulevard at Thirteenth Street, is angled so that it points directly at the Miami Herald's headquarters across the street.

If anyone at the Herald is reading this, here are a few thoughts from someone who's been reading Miami newspapers for over a half-century:

Two of the surest ways for a newspaper to squander what little credibility it might still have is to over-promote or under-credit its material. To pretend for 45 paragraphs that you're reporting new material is truly shocking.

But far worse is the absolute black hole of editing here.

In an age when everyone is on the lookout for plagiarism or near-plagiarism or similar behavior, when respectable publications go out of their way to prominently include "...was first reported by...." references high up in their follow-ups (even when you get grotesquely beat on a story, as you were on this story), how is it remotely possible that any high-ranking editor signed off on this obvious deception?

Does anyone there still have even a vestige of professional pride?

How to kill a newspaper

This month's issue of Ocean Drive Magazine features a short profile and a Q and A with the Miami Herald's Executive Editor, Aminda "Mindy" Marqués Gonzalez.

The piece ends with Marqués predicting the future of the Herald: "I can’t tell you exactly how you’ll be getting your news, but I know we’ll be delivering that news. We’ll be here."

What Marqués didn't tell Ocean Drive is that consciously - or subconsciously - she's on a mission to destroy what's left of what was, at one time, Florida's largest, and most-influential newspaper.

When Marqués was named the Herald's executive editor in October 2010, the paper's daily circulation was slightly over 151,000.

Now, three-and-a-half years later, the Herald's circulation is less than 100,000.

The chart below is taken from the print order for an upcoming 8-page special section to be inserted in the Dade and Broward editions of the Herald in May. The total press run for both sections is less than 95,000.

A publisher's statement filed last September listed the daily press run as 103,076.

Marqués told Ocean Drive Magazine that the Herald's daily circulation is 155,113. But she didn't tell Ocean Drive is how it's possible to claim a daily circulation of 155,000 when the daily press run is now less than 100,000.

Why are subscribers leaving in droves, and how did a newspaper that was once Florida's largest in terms of circulation, fall to fifth place?

For some answers, look no further than Marqués leadership - or lack of it.

Some answers:

Despite the recent appointment of Chuck Rabin to the crime and cops beat, under Marqués' leadership - or lack of it - the paper's crime coverage, has for years, consisted of nothing more than stories copied and pasted from TV station websites. 

Under Marqués' leadership - or lack of it - the paper ignored every shooting and homicide in one northwest Miami neighborhood in 2013.

Under Marqués' leadership - or lack of it - what little crime-related news the Herald does cover, is usually relegated to the inside pages of the paper's local section.

Last Wednesday, the Herald's sister publication, el Nuevo Herald, prominently displayed on its front page, the story of an allegedly drunk Miami-Dade cop who ran into a shopping cart containing two kids in a Publix parking lot.

Page 1A of the Herald that same day, featured a silly story about - and I am not making this up - a "national water dance project."

And last February, when staff photographer Al Diaz shot a dramatic set images of a heroic life-saving effort on State Road 836, Marques ordered that the images run inside the paper, far away from the front page where they belonged. This despite the fact that Diaz's photos were featured on virtually every network and cable TV news show within hours of the incident, and for several days after.

A few days ago, I had a brief phone discussion with a Herald insider. We talked about the paper's rapid and steady circulation decline. Later that day in an email, the insider elaborated on some of the things we'd discussed on the phone:

Many factors are involved.

Obviously, the most significant is the technological transformation of the publishing world. The Herald was entrapped by the same forces that diminished most other newspapers -- demographic change, the availability of instant digital information, a significantly dumbed-down, self-absorded citizenry.

But that doesn't explain the Herald's dramatic fall from grace. Every other paper in the state and nation confronted the same issues; our plunge has been far steeper than most.

That's due to a failure of corporate strategy and of local management.

The constant, Chinese-water-torture cuts in staff, space and vision have taken their toll. A struggling enterprise, any struggling enterprise, cannot hope to grow its business or even maintain its business if it continually offers its customers less (and frequently tries to charge more.) That's simply economic reality and it was willfully ignored by McClatchy, where top corporate executives still exhibit greed (protecting their rising salaries and bonuses) and cowardice (an unwillingness to take the chance of investing in the product). Their objective is just to get their next over-sized paycheck, regardless of the long-term consequences.

Locally, the Peter Principle came largely into play. As seasoned, experienced managers were forced out (in some cases by age, but more often by fairly vicious terminations or no longer tolerable aggravation), they were replaced by people of less experience, weaker vision and, in some cases, their own brand of greed -- just keep that paycheck coming. Some survivors just aren't very smart or talented - they had risen to the level of their incompetence. But some are smart or talented  and many of those made small compromises in their professional standards. Then, larger compromises. Then, many standards simply were discarded. Also, when it comes to story assignment and play, especially front-page play, these less seasoned managers tend to be tentative and conservative - their first priority is to not rock the boat. The resulting environment discourages risk taking, encourages dull, "safe" story selection. So you end up with a dull, "safe" front page and newspaper - precisely the opposite of what is required to build or even maintain readership.

If you look around the country at the papers that have most successfully held off the rising tide of failure, you see the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and, in Florida, the Tampa Bay Times. Even most of those are in varying degrees of trouble now, but they held on the longest. What do they have in common and what do they have that the Herald squandered? A core magnitude of coverage and quality. It's as simple as that.

The remaining cohort of newspaper readers are fairly smart and engaged people. You can't fool them for long. By now, at a quickening pace, they have received the message about the Herald: This thing just isn't worth the walk out to the driveway or the website click and the leap over the digital paywall. (The executive editor actually boasted recently about 20 percent of the Herald's revenue coming from digital means. Think about that - after all of this time and effort, only 20 percent of our revenue is coming from the newspaper's only hope for the future, digital. And that's 20 percent of an overall revenue base that steadily diminishes as print circulation and advertising evaporate. That's hardly boast-worthy.)

Pretty soon, the diminishing readership in print and the slow growth, if that's what it really is, in digital readership will reach the economic point of inflection. Remaining advertisers will realize that they're not getting any bang for their bucks. They will bow out. And when the ad managers at BrandsMart, Rooms to Go, and South Motors finally figure it out, it will be all over for us.

One other thing: McClatchy proved in Alaska this past week that it feels no loyalty to its component newspapers or the people who work there or read them. That day also may be coming to Miami. If that happens, and it could be any day of any week, it also will be all over for us.

Will the Herald be around a year from now? Probably.

Two years from now? I'm not so sure.

What I do know is that when someone finally gets around to writing the Herald's obituary, Marqués will be named as the person who, in the paper's final days, administered the coup de grâce.

Buying some time for The Herald

There's probably nothing more pathetic than a once great prize fighter, past his prime, who keeps climbing into the ring, but then simply refuses to fight.

The Miami Herald is, right now, in a fight for its life.

The Herald is THE largest and most influential information provider in South Florida.

The Herald's power and weight cuts a wide swath across all segments of daily life in South Florida. It alone decides what is news, not only by what stories they choose to cover, but also by what they choose not to cover.

The influence the Herald wields has an effect on every other media outlet in South Florida. Pop in on a morning news meeting at any Miami TV station and you'll find a copy of the Herald on the conference table. A good portion of the stories that show up on the six o'clock news are driven by what was in the Herald that morning.

The Herald also tackles stories that TV stations can't or won't do.

A prime example is the Herald's 2006 "House of Lies" investigation of the Dade County Housing Agency. Within days of the first story six county officials were fired or resigned. Those firings and resignations happened even before all of the stories in the series were published.

But at times the Herald gets it wrong and compounds the problem by bullying.

In its coverage of Herald reporters found to be on the payroll of Radio and TV Marti, the Herald smeared and bullied those same reporters. But the icing on the cake was when Herald publisher Jesus Diaz tried to bully editors into killing a Carl Hiaasen column that was critical of his handling of the ensuing brouhaha.

Cooler heads prevailed and Hiaasen's column ran and Diaz was forced to resign.

So now, in spite of its past excellence and when it's more important than ever for the Herald to keep fighting, it appears that it's throwing in the towel.

You don't have to look very far to find proof the Herald just doesn't care any longer.

And that's a shame.

Like it or not, the Herald has long been an influence for good in South Florida. Its reporters have won 19 Pulitzer Prizes. At one time it had the largest circulation of any paper in the state. No longer. The St Petersburg Times now has a larger circulation.

But what's happening now at the Herald is all the more tragic because, after all, we're not talking about some weekly paper in Pahrump, Nevada. The Herald is a paper that was once on the list of the top 20 newspapers in the country.

There may come a day in the not too distant future when the Herald ceases publication. That's completely contrary to Herald publisher David Landsberg's recent remark that "the newspaper industry has a great future." But I expect him to say that even if he's not being realistic.

What's really puzzling is why the Herald is allowing the quality of its paper to deteriorate so rapidly.

I mean if you're coming to the end of the road, why not go out kicking and screaming and clawing? Put up a fight! At least hold your head up and look like you're trying.

Maybe the end is inevitable.

Or maybe, just maybe, they can do something to reverse those circulation losses and increase ad revenue a bit.

Herewith are my humble suggestions:

SUGGESTION: The Herald's circulation is going south faster than an out of control roller coaster.

Why? The Herald updates the website on a continuous basis all day. And then they take all that news and print it and deliver it to subscribers' homes every morning.

If I'm one of the thousands of paying subscribers who has Internet access during the day and can read the Herald for free, then at some point I'm wondering why I'm paying to have the same news I read yesterday delivered to me the following day in print form. There are, apparently, tens of thousands of subscribers who've figured this out. And they've cancelled the paper.

Why not use miamiherald.com to provide breaking news but hold back posting non-breaking news and longer feature stories on the site? Print them in the morning paper instead. Once they've been published then they can be posted on the site.

The way they're doing it now would be like Publix giving away fresh-baked bread everyday and then charging for the leftover stale loaves the next day.

SUGGESTION: Lose the boring broadsheet format and go ....(GASP!!) tabloid! Yes, tabloid!

They have the subscribers by the short ones. They're going to read the paper no matter what format it's in.

But if I'm out on the street and pass by a news rack and I see thisI keep moving. There's nothing there to grab me and pull me in.

But if I see this I might stop and buy the paper. I'm certainly not going to ignore it!

They have nothing to lose. The way they're doing it now isn't cutting the mustard.

NOTE TO HERALD: If you go this route start off slowly at first. These guys in NY are pros and have been writing ass-kicking heds like this for years. Take baby steps and work up to stuff like this. It's not for the faint of heart.

SUGGESTION: FIX THE DAMN WEBSITE!! It's a mess! 'Nuff said!
EDIT: Back in Dec. of last year editor Rick Hirsch sent me this...

From: Hirsch, Rick - Miami (RHirsch@miamiherald.com)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafe
Sent: Wed 12/19/07 6:08 PM
To: newshawk@gmail.com

Again, Bill, thanks for the feedback. Some good points, some I would quarrel with. On our site usability, you are painfully correct. We've begun a process of redesigning the site with cleaner, simpler navigation. It isn't an overnight fix -- far from it -- but it will make a big difference.

I guess they're still tweaking.

SUGGESTION: Sell ads on page one. Other papers, including el Nuevo, are doing it.What advertiser wouldn't want to be seen on some prime front page real estate? Do it before your page one property values become worthless.

SUGGESTION: Change the editorial focus of the paper. Right now much of it reads like a boring Sunday school sermon. It's really not all that different from what it was 40 years ago. Not to mention that it's oh so politically correct.

Look around. Things are changing. Get feisty, fight dirty, kick ass and go after sacred cows! Get competitive. Be outrageous!

A side note: Magazine pioneer Clay Felker died today. I was intrigued by these two paragraphs in his NY Times obit:

"Mr. Felker’s magazine (New York) was hip and ardent, civic-minded and skeptical. It was preoccupied with the foibles of the rich and powerful, the fecklessness of government and the hijinks of wiseguys. But it never lost sight of the complicated business and cultural life of the city. Articles were often gossipy, even vicious, and some took liberties with sources and journalistic techniques.....Meanwhile, what he called its “secret weapon,” its service coverage — on where to eat, shop, drink and live — kept many readers coming back."

Not to mention those great covers week after week.

Can the Herald say that? I think not. New York magazine today is everything the Herald is NOT!

But there's no reason why the Herald can't take some of the things that made New York magazine a success and apply them locally.

SUGGESTION: A word about service coverage. They took a step forward a few months ago when they launched miami.com. It was supposed to be a portal site but they have a long way to go.

Right now when I need to look for a restaurant I go here: The New Times website. It's the gold standard for all things Miami.

SUGGESTION: Hire or assign a blogger to do nothing but blog full-time for the website.

Get someone who has the ability to go for the jugular like a Jim Defede and with the sources of a Joan Fleischman and then turn them loose. Guaranteed to make those page views go up if it's done right. Right now the Herald blogs are about as exciting as vanilla ice cream and as compelling as the phone book.
...

So if you're at the Herald you're asking yourself "who is this guy and what makes him so smart?" I'm no one really, just someone who's been reading the the Herald since 1960.

And if you're at the Herald and reading these suggestions you might be saying "it's no use, nothing's going to help us now."

To that I say: Your way isn't working so what do you have to lose?

It's up to you. Like the champion fighter you can keep fighting or you can take a dive and throw in the towel.

Will The Herald survive in 2009?

A day after The Herald quietly raised the single copy price of the paper, I found myself in downtown Miami near the Miami-Dade Government Center.

Directly in front of the Metro Rail entrance and a block away on Flagler street were two Miami Herald promotional kiosks loaded with stacks of the Herald and el Nuevo Herald. The kiosks were also brimming with Miami Hurricane and Miami Dolphin t-shirts.

The men at the kiosks were buttonholing passersby, handing out free copies of the paper and at the same time trying to sell subscriptions to the paper. I guess if you bought a subscription to the paper you got a free t-shirt.

I didn't hang around long enough to find out.

I'm not sure a hundred kiosks at every corner along Flagler Street from Miami Avenue to Sweetwater could sell enough subscriptions to salvage what's left of the Herald. It's hard to imagine anyone in South Florida slapping themselves in the forehead and saying "Yeah, today's a good subscribe to the Herald," no matter how many free t-shirts are offered as a premium.

The Herald's circulation is steadily declining. To be fair, the price increase is the first in 18 years. But you don't need a PhD in economics to figure out what a price increase now is going to do to already sagging circulation numbers.

All three South Florida papers are going through hard times but things are especially bad at the Herald.

Massive staff reductions, declining circulation and ad revenue have taken a toll on what was once the largest and most influential paper in the state.

The Herald's parent company McClatchy is saddled with massive debt and its stock is selling for somewhere in the buck-a-share range. And reports say McClatchy wants to unload the Herald

One financial writer predicts that won't happen.

"The Herald won't be sold. There is too much risk here for a buyer. The most likely fate of the paper is that it will be merged with the Ft. Lauderdale paper or some other media in south Florida."

Expect big changes on the South Florida media horizon in the next 12 months.

el Nuevo Herald executive editor Manny Garcia to join Naples Daily News

Left to right, Miami Herald publisher David Landsberg,
Miami Herald executive editor Aminda Marqués Gonzalez,
and el Nuevo Herald executive editor and general manager Manny Garcia. 

________

UPDATED at 8:30pm: Garcia is telling newsroom colleagues that he's "headed to Naples to become editor of the Naples Daily News."

________

Wednesday afternoon, Miami Herald publisher David Landsberg sent an email to the newsroom announcing that Manny Garcia, executive editor of el Nuevo Herald, "has accepted an Editor opportunity at an organization soon to be announced."

However, a story on el Nuevo Herald's website says that Garcia "will accept an executive position with another Florida newspaper company."

From: Landsberg, David
Date: Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 3:05 PM
Subject: Manny Garcia 
To: Newsroom

After 23 years at the Miami Herald Media Company, Manny Garcia has accepted an Editor opportunity at an organization soon to be announced. 

It is going to be difficult to say goodbye to Manny after all his good work at MHMC. Manny's stories over the years have helped change Florida law, led to the arrest of public officials and helped free a wrongfully convicted man serving a life sentence for a murder he did not commit. Manny’s work has led to Pulitzer Prizes and other national distinctions.

Manny’s career began as a clerk/reporter where he got paid $35 for his first byline. He worked as a Neighbors writer, moved on to the City Desk, where he covered courts, cops, Miami City Hall and worked on the Investigative Team. As a manager, he was Metro Editor and then Senior News Editor - his last post before joining El Nuevo Herald. 

In ENH, under his leadership, ENH’s reporting team, along with the Miami Herald, was named a Pulitzer finalist in breaking news. ENH was the first ever Spanish language newspaper to receive this honor. Manny’s cross-divisional work has helped boost circulation, generate incremental revenue and exponentially grow digital traffic. ENH just launched Caliente which has had a solid premier and is growing.

Manny has been friend, mentor and champion to many. Please join me in wishing him well. Manny’s last day will be 10/18.

With Manny’s departure, we are looking to fill the position of Editor of El Nuevo Herald. The editor is responsible for establishing direction and goals for El Nuevo Herald and is an ambassador in our community. Posting to follow.

Miami Herald circulation director working overtime to piss off paper's few remaining subscribers [UPDATED x1]

UPDATED x1 below.
........

Here's the deal: You're the circulation director at the Miami Herald.

So, what's Job #1? Trying to get more people to subscribe to the paper and, retaining the loyal subscribers you already have...right?

And the best way to keep those paying subscribers fat and happy would be to treat them special and not send them annoying emails...right?

Well, check out this email forwarded to me today by a loyal, long-time Miami Herald subscriber.

Click to enlarge.

And here's a note the Herald subscriber sent to me explaining her reaction to the email:

I replied to email asking to receive the paper without the special section, and not to be charged the $1.25. We'll see what they say. Sure smacks of desperation, doesn't it? Charging for those ads in that Thanksgiving edition was madness (if I were a paying advertiser, I'd want to reach the largest possible audience, not a subset), and they didn't repeat it.

Now, charging for editorial coverage that would be the very reason you subscribe is more madness. To assume the whole readership is interested in football in exhaustive detail is some big assumption, isn't it? Can't wait for the Herald's online paywall sales pitch. By the way, I do pay for NYTimes online and it's well worth it.

Related post at JimRomenesko.com: We have your credit card number and we’ll charge you for whatever we want (and good luck trying to opt out!)
__________
UPDATE: Retired Miami Herald staff writer Marty Merzer has left this comment on Jim Romenesko's post:

"I spent 30 years as a proud employe of the Miami Herald, but the entity currently carrying that name is a different thing entirely. I know that some other papers have tried this scam recently, but it's difficult to see how it can be legal. At the very least, it unilaterally changes the nature of the contract between buyer and seller."

Pretty words won't save The Herald

"We have met the enemy and he is us." -Pogo


The Miami Herald's Leonard Pitts has apparently been burning the midnight oil much like a college freshman studying for a big exam. Or has he?

Back on May 7, I asked him a question via his online chat about the newspaper business. I wanted his opinion on the Herald's declining circulation and asked if he had an opinion as to why the Herald was doing so poorly.

He responded that he "didn't have a head for business" and he "wasn't aware of The Herald 'leading the pack' in circulation loss and have no idea why this would be so."

You can read the full text of my question and his answer here.

That exchange occurred about 6 weeks ago.

Today in his column addressing Monday's job cuts at the Herald, Leonard weighs in with loads of opinions on how the newspaper business can extricate itself from the quagmire it now finds itself mired in. Maybe he's been studying. Or maybe not.

Let me stop here and say that Leonard Pitts is one of the better columnists the Herald has.

It goes without saying that he's a whole lot smarter than I am.

He probably lives in a big fine house on a hill up there in the Washington suburbs and watches all his favorite shows on a large flat screen TV as he munches on lobster newburgh or whatever they eat up there in the Washington suburbs.

He's got himself a Pulitzer Prize too.

I'm sure his salary makes a large dent in the six figure range, as it should, because Leonard does his job very well.

He's a columnist and he gets paid to write his opinions. The way he does that is no different than a lot of other fine columnists.

Leonard strings pretty words together that turn into beautiful sentences. And once he has enough sentences strung together he's got himself a damn fine column. And he gets to keep his job for another week.

The Herald is so proud of Leonard that they have these large billboards on their delivery trucks that say something like: "Leonard Pitts drops pearls of wisdom on your doorstep twice a week." I wonder who came up with that? Anyway, I digress.

Leonard's columns are printed in all the McClatchy papers around the country and posted on the Internet. And then all his loyal readers post comments like: "Oh, Leonard, you're so perspicacious and eloquent. I agree with everything you say."

But in spite of all the money Leonard makes and the praises his employer and readers heap upon him, no one should confuse anything Leonard says with reality. They're just pretty words.

Today's column, is a fine example. Leonard tackles the problems of the newspaper business in general and the Herald in particular.

Of the cuts announced last Monday he writes: "...that means 190 jobs throughout the [Herald's] various departments," will be lost.

I guess he doesn't read his own paper because the Herald's John Dorschner said in a story last Tuesday: "The Miami Herald Media Co. announced plans to reduce its workforce by 250 employees -- 17 percent of its staff."

Ok, so Leonard is only off by 60.

Next Leonard tackles the newspaper and the Internet by saying:

"Maybe we should make our websites not simply online recreations of our papers, but entities in their own right, destination portals for those who want news and views from and about a given city, but also for those who want to find a good doctor in that city, or apply for a job in that city or reach the leaders of that city or research the history of that city. Maybe the goal should be to make ourselves the one indispensable guide to that city."

Well, I guess Leonard doesn't look at his paper's own website.

The Herald launched such a site months ago; www.miami.com . It's a portal to all things Miami. It's not very good compared to other portal site for large cities but at least someone at the Herald saw the need for a site like this and got the ball rolling.

You also need people to maintain a newspaper website and right now the Herald has a grand total of two people doing updates on their site during the day. And a promised redesign of miamiherald.com has yet to happen despite a top level editor's assurances to me 6 months ago that it was in the works.

Next Leonard advises newspapers to "hire away the bright people who figured out how to make Yahoo and Google profitable and ask them to make our sites profitable."

Well, Alex at Miami and Beyond laughs at that and says:

"This one made me laugh. Leonard, you can't afford them. They can buy and sell you between two sips of their lattes, if they were in the habit of throwing money away."

Leonard also says newspapers should require "online readers to pay for the product, just as our other readers do." Rick at South Florida Daily Blog had a answer for Leonard Thursday on his blog:

"How out of touch are old-school journalists with the Internet and the people who use it? Well, I think Leonard Pitts pretty much showed us with that last sentence."

Indeed, Rick.

Had Leonard burned a little more midnight oil he would have learned that one of the most successful and widely read newspaper websites, nytimes.com, scrapped the pay model last year after they decided shutting out millions of readers and putting content behind a pay wall wasn't worth the 225,000 readers and $10 million in revenue. They opted for millions more eyeballs. The LA Times also tried charging readers for its Calendar section online and scrapped it as well.

So what Leonard offered his loyal readers today was 679 very pretty words but a close reading revealed that once again, beauty is only skin deep.

There really wasn't anything that showed me that Leonard, in the six weeks since he dodged my question about the circulation numbers, has paid much attention to the predicament the newspaper business finds itself in.

What the newspaper business really needs Leonard, are fewer pearls of wisdom and more solutions.

Anxiety filled weekend

UPDATED Sunday morning
This weekend, while tens of thousands of South Floridians are out enjoying the beautiful weather, there’s a group of people who are slowly coming to grips with the depressing reality that by this time next week they might be unemployed.

Rumors of impending layoffs at the Miami Herald have been circulating for weeks producing much the same effect on the psyche of those who work there as an approaching category 5 storm in the Caribbean; anxiety, fear, apprehension and in some cases panic.

Those in the know say that the word of firings could come as early as the first part of the week.

Chuck Strouse of Miami New Times wrote yesterday that McClatchy wants a reduction of 10 to 15% of the Herald’s workforce. How many newsroom employees will be affected remains to be seen.

My sources tell me that McClatchy is seeking a 10 to 15% reduction at all of their papers.

As I’ve written before, this is the stark reality for the foreseeable future of newspapers.

Shrinking revenues and declining circulation bases are just two of the reasons for newspapers’ woes.

How long will the Herald, and newspapers in general, be able to survive under these conditions? Experts disagree.

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer gives all print media 10 years.

Russ Stanton, editor of the LA Times is more optimistic and says the print edition of his paper will be around for another 35 years.

As far as the Herald’s concerned, I’m no expert, but with their circulation declining in the range of 10% every six months, I’d be very surprised if the print edition will still be viable in five years.

Other papers are losing circulation but not nearly as drastic as those numbers. Yet.

Who’s to blame for the predicament that newspapers are in?

The Internet is one reason. It’s just quicker and more practical to get news online these days.

And news consumers' needs and tastes have changed. However, except for updated graphics and snappier layouts, the content newspapers offer today is essentially the same as it was almost 45 years ago when this copy of the Herald was printed.
The Internet is also partly responsible for newspapers’ loss of advertising revenue.

Want to place a classified ad in the paper? It’ll cost you. Want to place an ad on a site like Craigslist? No problem and no charge!

Veteran Miami journalist Michael Putney tried to wrap his brain around the problem this week in his Herald column.

Michael’s main point was that we can’t afford to lose newspapers; we need newspapers to keep an eye on politicians and report on government waste and misdeeds.

(This morning's report on waste and mismangement within Miami-Dade's Transit System is an example of what happens when the Herald gets it right.)

He also pointed out that newspapers have shot themselves in the foot by giving away content online which he says is “one reason why Herald and Sun-Sentinel circulation are down. Why pay for something you can get free?”

Excellent points to be sure, but he didn’t address why the Herald in particular is losing subscribers in numbers far higher than other newspapers. I have my own thoughts on this that I’ll share at another time.

In an e-mail to me Michael expanded a bit on some of his points:

“Hey [Bill]- Yes, you're right that newspapers have largely done themselves in by failing to understand the zeitgeist of the digital revolution. They made so much money for so long doing it the same way they just couldn't shake themselves out of their old habits. Now, the marketplace and the Internet have done it for them. Okay, dawg, that's it. MP"

So perhaps with the news that’s sure to come next week, many at the Herald will finally begin to "shake themselves out of their old habits."

But for others, sadly, it’s going to be too late.

Miami Herald 1991 intern recruiting poster

Click here to enlarge.

__________

Almost 25 years ago, the Miami Herald tried to lure interns to South Florida with this slick poster, complete with a pitch from star columnist Carl Hiaasen.

Twenty-five years later, some things remain unchanged at the paper: advertising revenues are still declining and circulation still sucks.

On the plus side, Miami is still a great news town and the Herald now asks prospective interns to email their resumes instead of using snail mail.

__________

Postcards from the edge

By Carl Hiaasen
Herald Columnist

We know what you're thinking.

Any newspaper that can afford to hire a bunch of big-name artists to create original big-time artwork for a crummy intern recruiting poster - well that's a newspaper that must be wallowing in surplus revenue and spending money that grows on palm trees.

Dream on. The Herald is just as stingy and gloomy as any paper in the country these days. You know the story - declining advertising revenues, flat circulation, budget freezes, blah-blah-blah.

So don't even bring up the subject of money, OK? Don't even think about it. In fact, the only reason we bother to pay our interns anything is because it's the law. Or original plan was to give out citrus - big bags of fresh oranges and grapefruits, in lieu of a salary - but our whiny pinhead accountants said no way, it's gotta be cash. Fine, but it doesn't have to be very much.

You're probably asking yourself: So why do people work down there?

Well, just look at this colorful (and expensive) poster. We've got your year-round sunshine, your beaches, your tropical beaches, your Biscayne Bay, your giant mutant lizards, your exploding fire hydrants.

But most of all, what we've got down here is news - news that won't find anywhere else in the hemisphere, news that is so weird, wild and warped that you've got to be here to believe it.

There's drug-running, gun-running, alien-running, cultists who slice off the ears of dead men, anti-Castro warriors who train in the Everglades for the next invasion of Cuba, judges who stuff (marked) $100 bills under their robes, and one ex-general on trial, Manuel Noriega. He resides in his very own jailhouse Dictator's Suite, complete with Xerox machine and a law library. Only in South Florida could this happen.

Sure, there are plenty of other big city newspapers from which a bright young journalist can choose. Try Pittsburgh, for example, or Des Moines or Salt Lake City, and you could stack up perfectly respectable clips on clubby Moose, Elks and Lions, and be bored to a coma. Here you get sharks - and goats and chickens for animal sacrifices.

So, for the adventure of a lifetime, try Miami.

Mail a resume, a few clips and an extraordinarily articulate letter - or if you're an artist, designer or a photographer, some slides or prints - to:

     Maria C. Garcia
     Associate Editor/Personnel
     The Miami Herald
     One Herald Plaza
     Miami, FL 33132

The deadline: Nov. 1, 1991. Don't blow it.

Soon thereafter Herald henchpersons will tour academia.

The program runs year-round, $485 a week for 12 weeks, and all the mangos and malangas you can eat.