Digital progress stalls at Gannett
For years now, the big strategic objective at Gannett has been to transition from a legacy print company to a digital one. Still is. But 2023 has mostly been a bump in the road, and Gannett was candid in saying so while releasing third-quarter financial results Thursday.
“As you may expect,” CEO Mike Reed said in a prepared statement, “no evolution from an analog business to a digital business is a straight line. We are making substantive progress on our evolution in key areas."
In a conference call with analysts, he elaborated, “We have reframed our customer acquisition strategy (for) profitability and lower churn” as trial subscribers leave. The company has stepped back from a tight paywall and high digital subscription price, now also emphasizing the more traditional measure of pageviews.
“Only some of them will pay,” Reed told the analysts. So Gannett is adding products and partnerships for audiences who won’t, most recently an app that facilitates buying lottery tickets by phone.
With the changes, revenue per paid digital customer has increased and digital now accounts for more than 40% of total revenues. On the other hand, the number of paid digital subscribers was down during the first two quarters and grew just 1% year over year in the third quarter to 1.96 million.
That is minimal progress toward another of Reed’s announced goals — 5 million paid digital subscribers by the end of 2025.
Reed said that the company would “continue to exercise prudent cost management” but was not more specific. That hints that further layoffs or reduction in head count may not be coming soon.
The company, the nation’s largest newspaper chain, publishes more than 200 regional dailies and USA Today. In its most recent public report at the end of 2022, it had 11,200 employees, 3,300 of them journalists. Spokesperson Lark-Marie Anton said there have been net additions in 2023.
Gannett stock has been slumping lately and shares were down another 24% in midday trading.
By Rick Edmonds, media business analyst
Press Forward: Time for communities to step up to support local news
Press Forward, a consortium of 22 funders, has committed more than $500 million to address the local news crisis in America over the next five years.
“But that $500 million will not be enough, as many have been quick to point out,” writes MacArthur Foundation president John Palfrey in an article for The Atlantic. “America is a big country. Divide that amount by 50 states and spread it over five years, and even half a billion dollars starts to look grossly inadequate.”
Palfrey urges communities to “stand up and support their local news providers — whoever that may be in any given area. … They will need to add it to their list of philanthropic commitments—or at least to their list of subscriptions, alongside Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix.”
American democracy is in crisis, Palfrey writes, and the growth of news deserts is a major part of it.
“We can come out the other side of this crisis with a more robust, sustainable, and equitable local-news system than we have ever had in this country,” he writes. “But to get there, we will need to invest broadly, deeply, and intentionally in the most promising work being done by local journalists.”
By Ren LaForme, managing editor
Katie Sanders is PolitiFact’s new editor
Katie Sanders has been named editor-in-chief of PolitiFact, the top post at Poynter’s Pulitzer-winning fact-checking site.
Sanders served as PolitiFact’s managing editor for the past five years. She has also held positions at PunditFact and PolitiFact Florida, and in the statehouse bureau of the Tampa Bay Times. She is the current president of the Florida Society of News Editors.
"Our work is urgent and needed," Sanders said in an announcement. "When you come to work for PolitiFact, you are almost overcome by this sense of mission to help voters make sense of confusing issues in their lives. That’s what kept me here, and why I’m so excited to lead such a dedicated team of journalists."
Sanders becomes PolitiFact’s third editor in its 16-year history, following Bill Adair, now the Knight Professor of the Practice of Journalism & Public Policy at Duke University; and Angie Drobnic Holan, now the director of the International Fact-Checking Network.
Next week, she will co-host PolitiFact’s United Facts of America online fact-checking festival, and lead the team in fact-checking the third GOP presidential debate in partnership with ABC News.
Staff report
Media tidbits and notable links for your weekend review
- To provide news and information in Gaza, where phone and internet connectivity keeps going dark, the BBC has launched an emergency radio service. The emergency station is produced out of London and Cairo and, according to the BBC, will “provide listeners in Gaza with the latest information and developments as well as safety advice on where to access shelter, food and water supplies.” The BBC has a history of providing news services to conflict zones, most recently in Ukraine and Sudan.
- Kara Swisher has joined CNN as an on-air contributor. The podcaster and journalist will be a regular panelist on “The Chris Wallace Show,” which debuts this Saturday, Nov. 4, on CNN and CNN Max. She will also appear during breaking news coverage of stories related to technology, culture and media. Swisher is the host of the podcast “On with Kara Swisher,” co-host of the “Pivot” podcast and editor-at-large at New York Magazine.
- Stand-up comic Taylor Tomlinson will host “After Midnight,” which will take over “The Late Late Show’s” former time slot following “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS. “The list of women getting such opportunities on network television is extremely limited,” The New York Times’ Jason Zinoman notes. “Joan Rivers was the first in the modern era, becoming host of a short-lived Fox series in 1986. In 2019, Lilly Singh replaced Carson Daly in the late-late slot on NBC. But when that show went off the air in 2021, network television became an all-male club.”
- John Branch, who worked in The New York Times sports department and is known for his outstanding features, many about outdoor and extreme sports, will now be a domestic correspondent. Times editors Claire Gutierrez and Mike Wilson write, “Now he will seek out big themes beyond the arena of sports, applying his great talents and broad interests to a wide range of subjects.” Branch has been with the Times for 18 years. His feature “Snow Fall” about a deadly avalanche in Washington state won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.
- Nieman Lab’s Sarah Scire with “Can reporters make bets on sports they cover? We asked a dozen newsrooms.”
- Vanity Fair’s Charlotte Klein with “‘What Do We Want to Be?’: The Washington Post at a Crossroads.”
- The New York Times’ John Koblin “HBO Chief Calls His Effort to Attack Critics a ‘Very, Very Dumb Idea.’”
- Futurism’s Victor Tangermann with “Adobe Caught Selling AI-Generated Images of Israel-Palestine Violence.”
- The Washington Post’s Chico Harlan with “Years into a climate disaster, these people are eating the unthinkable.”
- Towson University professor Richard E. Vatz with a commentary in the Baltimore Post-Examiner calling Fox News’ Trey Yingst the “Current Generation’s Top War Correspondent.”
- In an opinion piece for The New York Times, Wilco singer and guitarist Jeff Tweedy writes, “I Thought I Hated Pop Music. ‘Dancing Queen’ Changed My Mind.”
- Retired New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks, who won two Super Bowls with the team, had been doing a regular guest appearance on New York’s WFAN sports-talk radio station. But he has resigned after an on-air verbal dustup with co-hosts Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata. Banks was calling in remotely and, after arguing over a Giants player, Licata said he had “heard enough” and Banks’ feed was cut off. So Banks has said he is done doing the show. Tierney and Licata both said they regret what happened, and the station tried to smooth things over, but it appears Banks won’t return. The New York Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel has more, including video of Banks’ last segment.
- Finally, a musical artist you might have heard of released a new single on Thursday. NPR’s Miguel Perez with “How producers used AI to finish The Beatles' 'last' song, 'Now And Then.'”
More resources for journalists
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].
