A couple of weeks ago, kudos and gripes about recent Isthmus schools coverage were examined here, in a prelude to a look at the growing interest in and influence of School Information System, a group blog about MMSD policies and politics. The reporting of the primary Isthmus schools journalist, Jason Shepard, has attracted significant interest as measured by letters to the editor, receiving both praise and criticism from interested readers

However readers of Isthmus schools reporting feel, they will have time for a breather, because Shepard has been redirected onto the media beat, at least over the summer break. His opening article, which is not online, was published yesterday in tandem with a cover story about local radio news (see below). It is an introductory look at ongoing handwringing at newspapers about the state of their industry. The article discussed declining circulation at the State Journal and Cap Times (as well as the Journal-Sentinel circ scandal), and the related issues of new Capital Newspapers niche products coreweekly and the Capital Region Business Journal, the claims of accessibility from State Journal editor Ellen Foley, and the efforts by the Cap Times to bolster its subscriber base, through sit-down sessions in central Madison neighborhoods.

This article was accompanied by a sidebar about the recent acquisition by Lee Enterprises (owner of the State Journal) of Pulitzer, which created the fourth biggest newspaper chain in the nation in terms of numbers of dailies owned, and the seventh largest in terms of circulation. The sidebar mentioned a feature article in the American Journalism Review (via Jim Zellmer) about the rise of Lee, repeating anecdotes about the experiences of a few State Journal reporters. The AJR piece, while quite lengthy, is an essential read for anybody wanting to get a handle on the current media landscape in Madison.

However, the perspective of Isthmus was not addressed in the summary of newspaper industry woes. Of course, column-inches are scarce and navel-gazing should be limited in supply, but alternative weeklies are certainly a part of this dynamic.

"The State of the News Media," a report published by the Project for Excellence in Journalism at Columbia University includes a look at the ethnic and alternative press, describing their changing business environment in the face of growing competition. The report notes;

Describing this changing environment, the report concludes that these changes are potentially threatening to their business model, they have "not yet dented in any real way the bottom line of the alternative weeklies." The report goes on to describe the problems posted by daily chain weeklies and especially free online classifieds, but also notes the strength of alt-weeklies, particularly their content model of "a pugnacious counterpoint in news and arts coverage."

The report also focuses on the rise of papers like coreweekly;

The report subsequently discusses efforts in the alt-weekly industry to cope with these changes, quoting several industry leaders about their new competitors, including the publisher of Isthmus.

More significant is the rise of free online classifieds. This challenge is typified by the spread of Craigslist in the last two years to nearly every urban center in the United States. Touching down in Milwaukee only last summer, Craigslist came to Madison earlier this year, soft-launching in mid-March. These online classifieds may pose the most significant business problem for daily and weekly newspapers alike.

coreweekly is emblematic of this is. While the paper struggles for readers and advertisers, it is offering free print classifieds in their pages through the end of this month. Meanwhile, job opportunities at the paper are posted on various Craigslist sites, highlighting the attraction of the online freebies.

This shift isn't limited to the Craigslist brand. Anybody in town who has watched adult swim or Comedy Central lately has likely seen spots for CarSoup.com. This is another free online classifieds provider (combining new and used car listings), which has been blasting television ads announcing its impending arrival in Madison.

This upheaval in the classifieds market is a significant challenge to newspaper businesses, one likely to increase with more time, bandwidth, and access.

Meanwhile, the cover story for this week's Isthmus, likewise not online, is about the decimation of local radio news reporting in Madison. Despite the size of the Madison market and its news importance due to Capitol activities, the number of local radio news reporters has dropped precipitously in recent decades.

The first strike in this culling was Reagan's rescinding of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which enabled the rise of talk radio, sans original reporting. More significantly, they are casualties of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which removed significant ownership regulations on radio chains, allowing for the rise of chains like Clear Channel Communications. The transformation of the radio industry into market oligopolies, reliant upon automated playlists, nationally-syndicated talkers, and quarterly cost cutting, has put local radio news on life support.

This story, as reported by Tom Laskin, is framed through the experiences and perspective of Gordon Govier, formerly the news director for WNWC, a regional evangelical FM station, who has recently started blogging at Queuevee.

Govier was quoted about the former level of news radio coverage in Madison;

The current news radio corps in Madison now consists of nine total news radio staff. There are four full time reporters at WIBA (Clear Channel), two (with another soon to be added) at WTDY (Mid-West Family), and one at the Entercom (Viacom) oldies station.

Laskin also reported on the "liberal interpretation of what it means to serve the public's need to know' at the vestigal local radio news outfits, focusing on infotainment, particularly the "flip and usually spotty" reporting at WTDY. He wrote;

Despite WIBA's larger staff and more serious commitment to hard news, it too is hobbled by the effects of infotainment. Most recently, its reputation was damaged during the campaign over the three MMSD referenda, in which WIBA talker Vicki McKenna was one of their most strident opponents. By the time it was reported in the State Journal that vote no signs were being distributed from the station's front offices, "the damage had been done," Laskin wrote.

Another major source for the piece was Mike McCabe of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, who discussed the abandonment of state legislature and other Capitol beats, as well as the disappearance of competition in reporting on these topics.

Govier and McCabe both praised WIBA's reporting, and the former also had praise for public and community radio, including WORT's "laudable effort to bring a variety of perspectives on the news with a largely volunteer staff."

A type of radio news reporting not mentioned in the feature was local radio networks, including the Wisconsin Radio Network and Workers Independent News, both of which are based in Madison and serve state and national affiliates, respectively. Neither are locally focused, however.

The feature was accompanied by a sidebar listing tallying local radio news reporters. It noted;

At the close of the piece, Govier opines that local news reporting will only be supported by broadcasters if and when they realize providing this content in their financial interest. Laskin wrote that Govier "thinks change may be on the horizon thanks, in large part, to competition from new media like MP3 files and satellite subscription radio capturing more listeners." This remains to be seen, but Govier's blogging is certainly a sign of change.

McCabe discussed the ramifications of less reporting, saying "I think we're creating a situation where citizens are at a loss for good sources of information about their local communities. It's getting closer and closer to the point where newspapers are the only source you can turn to. And a lot of people aren't reading newspapers."

Which brings us back to the newspapers and the article discussed at top.

In his article about newspaper woes, Shepard quoted the director of the UW School of Journalism, James Baughman, who said;

There's a growing army of blog hypesters convinced that the medium you are currently reading this essay on is the answer to these problems. This concept is already touching Madison's daily newspapers, with their participation in the upcoming launch of the Madison Commons Project, an online citizen journalism platform launching soon. As anybody who has ever volunteered for a community radio news program or tried their hand at online citizen journalism knows, though, these endeavors consume significant time and energy. Both are necessary for serious online news reporting. Moreover, blogs are simply a communications tool, akin to a radio transmitter or printing press, though with its own unique set of attributes. Though this tool might become a significant device for journalism, it remains in early infancy due to time and resource constraints for would-be reporting.

Madison hasn't seen much reporting on the media beat, at least not in the last decade. This is to be expected, of course, considering the size of the market, the hesitancy of popular media to cover their own industry, and the general trend of reduced reporting budgets. It's good that Isthmus is taking this on, but there's a lot of catch-up that needs doing; neither story reported in this week's edition is particularly fresh. Hopefully, though, the media beat at Isthmus will draw as much interest and discussion as its schools coverage did.