Age Before Beauty

By: When Randy Hammer became president and publisher of the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times last October, the first sounds he heard from readers were not words of welcome. They demanded to know why the paper had moved local news up front, national and international news far back, and why the editorial pages had been relocated from the A section to the back of business. "It came across loud and clear that they did not like an all-local A section," he says of the changes implemented six months before he arrived. "People hated it."

Within three months, those changes flew out the window. "I was nervous about moving the paper back to the way it was, but it was the greatest day of my journalistic career," he notes. "It was incredibly positive."

Hammer is not alone. Some papers are finding that recent efforts to overhaul their daily print product with full redesigns, more "lite" news, cutbacks in story length, pages, and newshole, and even changes to the size or design of the paper's flag often elicit a backlash. With the mad rush to stem sliding print circulation and to take advantage of the Web's potential ? often with the hope of drawing in younger readers and non-subscribers ? newspapers are making some of the most dramatic alterations ever to their print editions. Some dailies look more like their Web counterparts than the print versions of just a few years ago.

But are papers overdoing it with reinvention and content tweaks, to the point where they are driving away their largest base of loyal readers ? baby boomers? While editors and publishers caught up in the redesign craze claim that changes are needed to attract new subscribers, they may be losing their best customers by chasing non-readers ? and chasing away confirmed readers. Statistics show that baby boomers (those between 44 and 62), are the largest demographic of loyal print readers in the U.S. The only group that boasts a higher percentage in readership is people over the age of 62.

Are newspapers, in fact, taking a possibly fatal turn? Instead of coping with steady but single-digit circ losses every year as they transition to the Web over the next decade, will they suddenly suffer much steeper declines as older readers flee, before they are able to monetize the Web?

"Rather than chasing very occasional readers, we ought to be making newspapers serve the people who want them," says Tim McGuire, former editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and currently Frank Russell Chair for the business of journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "Make sure newspapers serve the attached reader. They are trying to get people who aren't reading the paper. There is a lot of abandonment of the core reader."

Karen Magnuson, editor and vice president of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle and former president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, agrees. She says her paper has not had a redesign in her nine years at the helm, and none is planned: "We serve baby boomers very well through the newspaper, and by not trying to be all things to all people."

Gannett is making a strong effort to retain graying readers. Much of the company's guidance comes from a report produced last year by a 14-person company task force created to study boomer needs and readership. Publisher Ellen Leifeld of The Tennessean in Nashville chaired the group, which found most older readers like the traditional approach of the paper. "The top findings were to not cut local ? and to find ways to keep watchdog reporting," she says. "There are about 78 million baby boomers in the U.S., with a net worth of $7.6 trillion. That is a lot of purchasing power."

Respect your 'elders'
According to an August report from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, the percentage of those who say they had read a newspaper on a given day has dropped from 50% in 1998 to 34% in 2008. At the same time, those who have gone to the Web for news at least three days per week jumped from 13% to 37%. But the boomers and older readers still dominate that newspaper audience, with 31% of those between 35 and 49 reading the paper daily, 40% of those between 50 and 64, and 55% of those 65 and older. Only 15% of respondents under 25 were among the daily newspaper readers.

The Pew survey also shows that more younger people are opting out of a daily news fix, with 34% of those under 25 saying they sought no news on a given day, up from 25% in 1998. Older readership, however, remains fairly solid, with only 14% of those between 50 and 64 saying they sought no news on a given day, the same as 10 years ago.

"The daily newspaper is primarily a boomer product," says Kate Marymont, vice president for Information Center content at Gannett, which has spent much of the past year advising its newspapers via an internal Web site how to attract various readers ? among those, boomers to print. "The push is to say to all of our newspapers: As you shape it, bear in mind the special interests of our boomer readers, they still like newspapers." The internal site states that "these are traditionally our most loyal print newspaper readers, with a high interest in local, national and international news," adding that they view online news "more as a supplement to the print newspaper than a substitute."

The Gannett guide also suggests boomer-targeted coverage on issues including local schools, college funding, leisure, travel, and gardening. It notes that "boomers have active lifestyles with interest in fitness and recreation. Our coverage needs to reflect that younger boomers and older boomers need different information, though."

Leifeld at the Tennessean pointed to her own experience with cutting longtime favorites in the paper, and experiencing backlash from older readers. "We cut some TV listings about a year ago. The boomers went nuts, so we put them back," she says. "They don't like change; it needs to remain essentially in its original format." She points to her paper's new shopping page (skewed toward women 40 and older), which includes book club recommendations and health tips for older women.

At The Bakersfield Californian, which redesigned in 2006, Executive Editor Mike Jenner says the paper livened up its look and added shorter, tighter content ? but kept the older readers in mind. "We have a health package on Page 2 that is very boomer- oriented, and we look for stories that are hitting them, empty-nest issues or caring for parents," he says. "We look at the special interests these groups have." Jenner says even the larger type size has drawn positive reaction from older readers.

"The redesign made the paper more exciting visually, eye-catching and over the top with photos," he adds, noting the effort to draw in new readers. In either case, "We have held that we have to make smart choices," he says. "Go deep to tell a story when we can. But I think the era of these long, deep stories we used to run are over. You can't give them everything."

Bold, or desperate?
But many of those directing redesigns and style changes in their daily print products say that falling circ and lack of younger readers require some kind of move to stem the losses. Others point to market research in which many readers say they don't have time to read a newspaper. They want a quicker, shorter, smaller version.

"Our redesign started with a philosophy of broadening our audience and attracting somewhat younger readers," says Charlotte Hall, senior vice president and editor of The Orlando Sentinel, which launched a major redesign this summer with quicker stories and a more colorful front page. "Research showed that people are pressed for time, and younger people are not necessarily coming to us for local news. We are in a time when we need to take smart risks."

Another advocate of the "bold and innovative step" is Earl Maucker, editor of the South Florida Sun Sentinel, which in August launched a redesign that reduced the size of its name on Page One and stuck a large "S" on top of it. That followed an earlier cutback in stock listings, two feature sections, and about 26 pages per week of space. Says Maucker, "We have a chance to reinvent ourselves."

Orlando and Fort Lauderdale are among numerous Tribune dailies undergoing redesigns this year, including The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa., and The Baltimore Sun (no longer The Sun of Baltimore), both of which made substantial content and design changes in recent months. Allentown's redesign included cuts in the number of editorials, while Baltimore added summaries and briefs to Page One. "We wanted to rewrite the playbook with a more visual and relevant newspaper for the Internet age," Sun Editor and Senior Vice President Tim Franklin said in a statement. "The Baltimore Sun aimed to appeal to our busy readers."

Mary Nesbitt, managing director of The Readership Institute and an associate dean at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, agrees that readers are increasingly in need of a quick, concise news read. "One of the things to remember about baby boomers is that they don't think of themselves as being as old as they are, and resist getting, feeling, and acting 'old.' They have grown up in a visual world and appreciate refreshed, contemporary design," she tells E&P. "They are the sandwiched generation and are time-pressed, and appreciate being able to get salient information quickly."

Susan Goldberg, editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, had to trim some 32 pages per week this year as part of a cost-cutting move. But she says other changes, such as adding an A-2 summary page, were meant to serve the busy reader. "Even though they are baby boomer readers, they still have the limited-time issue," she says. "We need to make it modern and accessible, and useful for busy people who like to read in print."

But is the "time-stressed" angle overstated? Pew indicates that newspaper readers still average 39 minutes with the daily product ? a slight increase over 1998, when the average time spent was 38 minutes. Pew also found that 76% of those 50 and older say it is "pretty easy" to find time for news, followed by 64% of those between 35 and 49.

"I think the primary question about baby boomers is whether the newspaper is providing enough unique news and information they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere in their media day, that is relevant to them and their interests, and that touches the 'experience' hot buttons we have identified in previous studies," Nesbitt adds. "And whether it's delivering news and information in a way that's easy to read ? not dumbed down, but clearly stated and presented in a way that doesn't toy with them or waste their time."

Editor Jim Willse of The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., says his paper has done no major redesigns in his 13 years at the helm, and that tweaks here and there are the key to updating carefully. He points to the paper being the first major daily to drop complete stock listings years ago, adding that he recently cut back the print-edition weather page. "I think some newspapers redesign themselves just to redesign themselves," he says. "There are little things you can do all the time." Willse says television listings may be the next major issue for some longtime readers, as newspapers need to save space and more information is available on the lnternet and on the TV itself. "Something has to give," he adds.

Alan Jacobson, president of Brass Tacks Design in Norfolk, Va., was involved in the Bakersfield redesign. He says the key to any paper is relevant information, often over style: "It is not that younger people aren't reading, we are not giving them what they want to read. Most newspaper editors will not put American Idol on the front page, but that is relevant to younger readers. If we gave content that would save your life, save you money, or improve your sex life, you would read it."

Don't you go
Then there are those who claim the older reader is so loyal, they will never leave. "They are very loyal readers, and we are not likely to lose them even if we curtail some things," claims Rex Smith, editor of the Times Union in Albany, N.Y. The paper is pondering a cutback of about 28 pages each week, in addition to some section cuts and an elimination of the printed weather map. "We have to make cuts somewhere, and pay attention to how sharply our profit margin has deteriorated," he adds. "It is better to make cuts to nonessential content."

Mike Fannin, editor and vice president at the Kansas City Star, which redesigned in 2006, agrees: "I think newspaper readers are newspaper readers, you have to do a lot to lose them. You can't assume all of your readers are 60 years old, you have to have smart judgment."

But Smith stresses the need to keep boomers in mind during the cuts: "You are a boomer product, and you are serving the paper up to the boomer. So what if you take out the advice column for teenagers? That is a holdover from when we panicked that we weren't reaching young [print] readers."

Still, the Albany editor is not alone in thinking that boomer readers will remain through most changes. Randy Bennett, senior vice president of business and development for the Newspaper Association of America, claims many older readers have stayed through recent changes. "I don't think the changes we have seen are dramatic enough to drive them away," he says. "It is a relationship with the product; they have used it a long time."

But for those who believe loyal older readers will not leave, another Pew statistic should serve as a warning. Those 65 and older who read a newspaper on a given day dropped from 58% in 2006 to 55% in 2008. For readers between 50 and 64, the change went from 47% in 2006 to just 40% this year, while those between 35 and 49 (which include the youngest boomers) declined from 39% in 2006 to 31% this year. In each case, those only reading the print edition in each category also dropped with comparable increases in Web news-paper readership.

Are some redesigns and changes a waste of time, given that many readers are loyal and non-readers are hard to attract? That becomes a key question. "Any time you do a dramatic transformation of the appearance of a newspaper, you risk losing or alienating some of your traditional audience," says newspaper analyst John Morton. "News-paper readers are creatures of habit. It is the established readers who, so far, are still paying the bills."

Adds Willse of the Star-Ledger, "there is very little research that says changing your design or content will turn non-readers into readers. It is more about making the paper more functional and useful for the occasional reader." For Alan Mutter, a former San Francisco Chronicle managing editor and current industry blogger at Reflections of a Newsosaur, many redesigns are just going through the motions. "Who are you changing it for?" he asks. "There has to be a rational marketing justification. Sometimes it is a size change to cut costs, but a lot of design changes are going beyond that. When you radically change it, that can be upsetting."

Know your strengths
Bennett and many others say the best approach is for newspaper editors and publishers to use the core print edition for the older reader, and focus on the Web and niche products for other readers, especially younger ones. "If newspapers really look to radically redesign for a much younger audience, the baby boomer would find less value to them," he says. "I don't know that most are looking at the print product as the core vehicle to reach younger readers."

Newspaper analyst Morton agrees. "The loss of younger readers has been going on since the late '80s. Where they should try to get them is on the Web," he offers. "I don't know where you are ever going to convince younger readers to read the paper. You need to maintain what you do in print to hang on to the dwindling audience you've got." (See Shoptalk, p. 62.)

At The Oregonian in Portland, Executive Editor Peter Bhatia makes clear the print content is more focused on boomer needs, while the Web skews broader: "We know the demographcis of our print audience," he says. "Clearly, breaking news is more and more the province of the Web. We have to be much wiser and thoughtful about how to use newshole. We are trying to position the paper around its traditional strengths that readers appreciate."

For Phil Bronstein, former editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner and now a blogging editor-at-large for the Chronicle, newspapers should stop trying to be all things to all readers, especially the younger, Web-based types: "At some point, you have to make a decision. How much do you go after those readers ? and when do you stop because you are not getting them?"