By: Randy Dotinga New E&P Survey Reveals Days Of News-less Sites Are Numbered
By this summer, all of the nation's 100 largest newspapers will offer news content online,
according to a new survey by E&P Online. The one straggler, Investor's Business Daily,
plans to launch a new site with daily content by early summer.
Just last summer, four of the top 100 newspapers - Investor's Business Daily of Los
Angeles, The Buffalo (N.Y.) News, The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger and The Honolulu
Advertiser - were news-less on the Internet. Each now offers daily news. (The
Clarion-Ledger, however, no longer ranks among the top 100 newspapers.)
The next tier of newspapers is also largely online. Among papers that ranked from 101st
to 150th in circulation (as reported in the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Year
Book), 10 were without online news last summer. Now just two lack news: The (Mesa,
Ariz.) Tribune, which serves the suburbs of Phoenix, and The Vindicator of Youngstown,
Ohio. Out of the top 150 newspapers, 148 offer all or most of the news stories that
appear in their printed editions.
In Arizona, the 96,991-circulation Tribune is holding off on its Internet efforts until
the fate of the newspaper is decided, says editor Jim Ripley. The Tribune is owned by the
Thomson chain, which has put its 55 daily newspapers in the U.S. and Canada up for sale,
excluding The Globe and Mail.
Before the sale was announced, the Tribune had expected to get money to pay for personnel
to launch a full-service Web site. 'But now everything's on hold,' Ripley says, as
long-term projects have been delayed pending the sale. The Tribune's bare-bones site only
includes classified ads, the weather forecast, and information about subscriptions to the
print edition.
Occasionally, readers will call and ask about the site. 'We just tell them the truth,'
Ripley says. 'We don't have one. It's going to become a major problem. I don't think
there's a person here who doesn't want to get something going. But until we get a new
owner, I don't think that matter's going to be settled.'
Paul Jagnow, the managing editor at the Vindicator in Ohio, did not return a phone call
seeking comment. The paper's Web site only includes information about reaching newspaper
departments and how to buy a historical book published by the newspaper on the history
of the Youngstown region.
La Opini?n, a 99,041-circulation daily newspaper based in Los Angeles, nearly made the
current list of newspapers without news online. But that changed in early April when the
newspaper began offering its daily Spanish-language news stories on laopinion.com. The
rollout of online content had been delayed as the newspaper focused on other projects,
says Mary Zerafa, director of new media. 'Just in the past year, we've launched four
new sections and began home delivery service,' she says.
But the newspaper couldn't ignore the Web. In 1997, only 28% of Hispanics in Southern
California were online, says Zerafa, who claims that number is now closer to 50%. 'The
Internet is an evolutionary process,' she says. 'Our readers are ready, we're ready, and
the time was really right to do this.'
Randy Dotinga (rdotinga@aol.com) is a free-lance writer based in San Diego.
TOP NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT DAILY NEWS ONLINE MAY 2000
111. The Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.) 96,991 (www.tribaz.com)
131. The Vindicator (Youngstown, Ohio) 85,843 (www.vindi.com)
TOP NEWSPAPERS WITHOUT DAILY NEWS ONLINE MAY 1999
45. The Buffalo News (N.Y.) 237,229 (www.buffalonews.com)
98. The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.) 105,382 (www.clarionledger.com)
100. The Honolulu Advertiser (Hawaii) 102,358 (www.honoluluadvertiser.com)
105. La Opini?n (Los Angeles) 99,041 (www.laopinion.com)
111. The Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.) 96,991 (www.tribaz.com)
112. The Greenville News (Greenville, S.C.) 96,747 (www.greenvilleonline.com)
120. North County Times (Escondido, Calif.) 91,180 (www.nctimes.com)
123. Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.) 88,981 (www.floridatoday.com)
131. The Vindicator (Youngstown, Ohio) 85,843 (www.vindi.com)
136. The Oakland Press (Pontiac, Mich.) 80,645 (www.theoaklandpress.com)
137. The Daily Challenge (New York, N.Y.) 79,540 (www.challengegroup.net)
141. The Sun (San Bernardino, Calif.) 77,045 (www.sbcsun.com)
144. The Times (Shreveport, La.) 75,683 (www.shreveporttimes.com)
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