If digital is the future for newspapers, I don’t understand the Des Moines Register’s approach
If digital is the future for newspapers, I don’t understand the Des Moines Register’s approach
Where's the news?
Gannett, the company that owns the Des Moines Register, reported last week that it lost $27 million in 2023. The Poynter Institute reports that’s an improvement over the 2022 loss of $78 million. It’s a tough business.
Executives struck an optimistic tone on the corporate earnings call, pointing out that digital revenue grew in 2023. Looking ahead to 2024, CEO Mike Reed says, “We expect digital revenues to grow approximately 10% versus 2023 and importantly, begin to outpace the declines we see in our legacy revenue streams.”
If so, I don’t understand the digital strategy at The Des Moines Register.
We can’t depend on the print edition
I’ve written previously about how if readers depend on the print edition of the Register, they will be woefully behind the latest news because print deadlines are so early now that many stories don’t make the print edition until a couple of days after the event.
A recent example is the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally that left one dead and 22 injured. The shooting happened at 2:00 pm in Kansas City. It was a big story that was the lead on all three network newscasts that night. Yet, the next day’s Register print edition had not one mention of it.
It’s worse in Kansas City
If you think that’s bad, the Kansas City Star’s print edition the next day had a front-page story on the shooting in its own town, but reported only “several” people injured and did not include the fact that one person had died. (A reminder that the Star is printed at the Register’s printing plant in Des Moines and must be trucked three hours down the road to Kansas City.)
None of this is the fault of anyone at the Register or the Star. They’ve been handed a tough job and are dealing with corporate dictates and smaller staffs in the best way they know how.
But readers who want to stay up to date realize they can no longer depend on the print edition, so they’re forced to rely on the Register’s digital app and online website. And that’s where I scratch my head.
On the past two Sunday mornings, the front of the Register’s app has been completely dominated by sports stories, with very little visibility for actual news.
On Sunday morning, February 18th, 22 of the 27 stories on the “front” page of the app were sports stories. And of the five non-sports stories, one was a “Did You Know” column re-printed from a small-town newspaper. Another was a photo gallery of people attending a Lego festival. There were only two real news stories, one about the legislative funnel and another about a fatal vehicle accident.
On that Sunday, there were interesting stories in the print edition that needed to be visible on the app. One covered a part of southeast Des Moines that was forced into annexation years ago but still doesn’t have water service. There was also an excellent editorial urging the legislature to keep its hands off the AEA’s. But no link to those stories appears on the digital front page.
Granted, February 18th was the day after the state wrestling tournament, so I can understand having more sports stories than usual. But 22 sports stories out of 27? That’s out of balance.
It happened again this weekend
This past Sunday, February 25th, was not much better. I counted 32 front page stories on the app, with 25 of them being sports related. The story at the very top of the news app had a headline “Five Leap Day Deals”. I clicked on it and learned how to “get a free side of guacamole at Chipotle.”
There were no links to print edition front page stories such as the former Iowan suing the Boy Scouts for allegations of sexual abuse, or about how poor Iowans end up paying high legal fees.
Now this is happening on a Sunday morning – a time when many readers have the time to sit down and read the newspaper. Call me crazy, but I think they want news, not to be overwhelmed with sports stories.
Do readers want that much sports coverage?
Every research project at the television station where I worked asked viewers what they’re interested in. Without fail, emergency weather coverage was at the top of the list. Then came issues such as crime, education, transportation – and at the bottom of the list – always – was sports. Sports fans are avid but far fewer in number than people who want news and weather coverage.
It’s possible the Register’s research shows different priorities for its readers but what appears to be happening on Sunday mornings is that the most recently filed story automatically goes on the front page of the app, and nobody at the paper is curating the page to determine the most important stories, where stories should be placed, what readers might be most interested in.
If the Register and its owner Gannett hope to grow digital revenue in 2024, somebody must keep a close eye on the digital product and stop offering a front page that’s 75%-80% sports stories.
I like sports. I’m a fan. I watch Iowa and Iowa State. But sports are not as important to me as the news is, and when I open a news app, I expect to read news! Am I alone in this?
Julia Gammack, founder of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, sends out the weekly round up on Sunday mornings, thinking that’s when people have time and the desire to read what’s happening in the state. You can see the most recent round up of excellent work by IWC members by clicking here.
I grew up during the Big Peach era of the Register where sports has always had its own section. Personally find it hard to read digital newspapers due to the time it takes to load pages and all the pop-up ads and videos. Tried to subscribe to the Press-Citizen/Des Moines Register but delivery was so sporadic (non-existent) and we could never reach anyone on the phone about it. Then when we did finally reach someone they would say the problem would be fixed but it never was, so it got to be too frustrating and we went back to digital. I miss reading an actual newspaper.
I skip the sports section, always. I do appreciate the digital version of the paper that I can read on my App. The one that's laid out exactly like the paper. Yes, it's a day behind in breaking news, and that can be sad, but there are always some good stories that are more "evergreen." I especially appreciate Lee Rood's "Watchdog" column and (of course!) the dining coverage. Agree that it's all a shadow of what it was, but I guess I'll take what I can get. And gosh, I sure do miss the Datebook!