What Will Replace the Local Newspaper as a Source?

One of the best sources for information has been local newspapers and their business reporters. Now with the economic downturn racheting up the financial pressure on declining newspapers, some of our best sources are cutting back coverage, going web-only, or closing. I always include local newspapers on a secondary search and look for the names of business reporters.

We once had a project with a company so secretive that the Girl Scouts participating in the opening ceremony at a plant expansion had to sign non-disclosures. The local business reporter turned out to be a wonderful source. He was eager to learn what we had gleamed from other sources so he was happy to trade all he knew about the company.

My local paper the Boston Globe has laid off a number of reporters and I notice the missing columns. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer switched to web-only on March 17, 2009, according to an Associated Press release, “Seattle Post-Intelligencer to go Web only,” 16 March 2009. The company had 181 employees, but the web-only organization will have 20 selling ads and only 20 working on content. The site will rely more on links to other sites and blogs.

The Rocky Mountain News ceased operations entirely on 27 Feb 2009 and several other newspapers are in bankruptcy.

A 2 April 2009 article on www.newsweek.com took a different view of the future of newspapers. Daniel Gross stated in “Newspapers aren’t assets to be flipped, leveraged, and stripped,” that many of the newspapers that have gone bankrupt were owned by investors who bought them with loads of debt and stripped them of cash. This is a recipe for disaster for any industry in a serious recession. The downturn is forcing many firms to slim down and industries to consolidate.

Whether or not you believe the newspaper industry will survive at all, it is clear that we will see fewer and smaller newspaper organizations. So a smaller number of sources to tap for primary research will be available.

Some CI researchers are using LinkedIn or other networking sites to find sources. What sources will you try to replace the local newspaper?

Comments

[aion kinah]

Whether or not you believe the newspaper industry will survive at all, it is clear that we will see fewer and smaller newspaper organizations. So a smaller number of sources to tap for primary research will be available.

[Bald Head Shaving]

Obviously: internet!

[Malignant Melanoma]

I think the secret is to implement new marketing techniques.