a free publication

For an outline of the business model for a free newspaper, I turned to my dad, David Whitford, who is a career-long journalist. He currently works for Fortune Magazine, but has also done work as a freelance journalist and contributed to such publications as Esquire, Inc. Magazine, and Fortune Small Business Magazine. In explaining the business model for free print publications, he compared it to the model used for free television and websites: the goal of all these media is to accumulate as many eyeballs as possible. Newspapers, like television and internet, accumulate eyeballs by providing their audiences with interesting and appealing content. They then use these eyeballs like currency, in effect "selling" them to advertisers. The more eyeballs the medium has--especially in a particular demographic-- the more it can charge for advertising. One advantage of the Phoenix, my dad speculates, is that it maintains a desirable demographic for advertisers: one that encompasses the young, literate, socially-and-materially-conscious consumers. Another advantage is the relatively small consumer radius. The Phoenix does not have to put too many funds towards shipping. Because the paper is distributed to newsstands rather than mail boxes, there is no mailing cost.

It is a fact that the majority of magazines and newspapers today are not free. However, it is also a fact that the majority of magazines and newspapers today are losing money on circulation. This is because more money is spent on printing and distribution than the publication can possibly collect in subscription fees and advertising. The question is now raised whether free publications may be the print form of the future. Ian Donnis suggests that the answer is not black and white, and that both free and non-free publications will exist into the future. However, both will be altered to accommodate the audience's shift towards the internet as a reliable and immediate source of information.

The Providence Journal: News format of the past?

"What they're doing is taking steps to reduce their expenses, but whether that is going to be a successful strategy in remaining competitive and providing quality product going forward remains to be seen." -- Guild administrator Tim Schick

The Providence Journal, Providence's daily newspaper, is not a free publication. In the October 3 - 9 issue of the Phoenix, an article by content editor Ian Donnis asks: "Journal job cuts: Practical or self-destructive?" The article responds to 30 recent job cuts at the Journal, revealed on September 24th and implemented on October 10th, that that initially went unreported in the Journal itself. These cuts are the first ever economic-layoffs in the newspaper's history, and raise the question whether the current economic situation is becoming too dire for the Providence Journal to flourish. Donnis notes that it seems suspiciously non-coincidental that all of the job cuts were made in the news department rather than in advertising. Based on seniority, the cuts were also in a 3:1 ratio women to men. While junior staff members were cut, the newspaper has been making every effort to hold on to senior writers who have prospects at larger, better-paying publications. However, although the Journal is down 30 staff members, among them online and print reporters, a news librarian, and members of the managerial staff, Donnis allows that all is not lost -- yet. The Sunday Journal still boasts strong local reporting by reporters Mike Stanton and Jennifer Jordan, on topics such as tuition hikes in Rhode Island's state college system. But, "like other newspapers... the Journal faces an existential question: by reducing the number and breadth of people who produce the paper, is Rhode Island's statewide daily being smart or planting the seeds of its continued decline?" The fact that the Journal was delayed in reporting on its cuts suggests that the publication is none too proud of them. The Phoenix, which has not made any job cuts recently, seems to have come out on top for the time being.

Related: advertising

Back to History: From Penny Press to Providence Phoenix, So where is the Phoenix headed?