In the time since I wrote that post, the Globe's managing editor, who lived in Kansas City anyway, left the newspaper, as did a number of other editors, including Joe Hadsall and Kevin McClintock.
The Globe appears to be down to three hard news reporters- Debby Woodin, Jeff Lehr and John Hacker.
Over the past few years, the Globe's coverage area has continued to shrink. It's essentially Joplin, Webb City, Carl Junction and Carthage, with sprinklings of news from other Jasper County towns and adjacent counties.
Rumors continue to circulate that the Globe's classified advertising section has been declared an endangered species.
Only a small percentage of the deaths in this community are recorded in the Globe these days because the cost is too much for grieving families. The same mindset that decided obituaries were no longer news but a cash cow, has also drastically curtailed the number of wedding, engagement and anniversary announcements. In other words, your news is no longer important, but we will happily take your money.
With every one of the Globe's changes decreasing the amount of local news that is carried in its pages, the powers that be at the area's "newspaper of record" have still seen fit to double the price of subscriptions.
You have to sympathize with the people who make the decisions at the Globe, wherever they are. Paper and supplies cost more and how in the world are you going to replace the money that used to come from all of the newspaper's fleeing subscribers unless you jack up the prices for the loyal subscribers who remain.
This is not just a Joplin Globe problem. It is a basic problem that has infected the entire newspaper industry. Out-of-town owners with no feel for the community cut jobs, reduce frequency of publication and eliminate jobs.
It would not surprise me if the next step will be for the Globe to follow the example of so many other chain-owned newspapers and sell its building and move to some storefront to save money.
Let me make one thing clear- I am a Joplin Globe subscriber and will continue to subscribe. I don't subscribe to the print edition; I have a digital subscription. I read the e-edition every morning, sometimes to see stories I did not have on the Turner Report and more often than you would think to see how many days (or weeks) it takes for the Globe to cover something that was featured on this blog.
I also read the comics, letters to the editor, Wally Kennedy's column and the page one stories (most of the time). I check out the Saturday opinion page every week to see if the Globe's editors will ever come to their senses and stop publishing Geoff Caldwell's column.
The Globe has value and I might be willing to overlook the problems that have been caused by today's newspaper economics if the powers that be at the Globe would ever simply level with us, which is after all the job of a newspaper.
When the decision was made to eliminate the Sunday edition, we were told that surveys indicated more people wanted to receive all of the extra features that were in that edition on Saturday.
Show me the surveys and what questions were asked to reach that conclusion.
Why couldn't the Globe simply say it was eliminating the Sunday edition because it was getting rid of its carriers and only delivering the newspaper by mail?
There's no mail on Sunday, hence there's no way to put out a Sunday edition.
We may not have liked it, but we would have understood it.
The same type of thinking is on display in the letter the Globe sent to subscribers, which a subscriber to the print and digital editions was kind enough to give to me.
Thank you for being a Joplin Globe subscriber and supporting local journalism.
Your Total Access subscription continues to include at no additional charge the E-paper published five days a week available online at 5 a.m. as well as unlimited access to our Joplin Globe website and mobile apps.
The value of this service alone is $239.88 per year.
Besides the E-paper, on our website or in the mobile app's live news mode, you'll find individual news articles published online all throughout the day, including additional regional and national news that won't all fit in our print or E-paper editions. If you have not yet set up your Globe Total Access account online, please call our Subscriber Services Department at 417-782-2626 and we will help you set this up. You may also e-mail us at circ@joplinglobe.com for help.
This points out one of the biggest problems facing the Globe. The newspaper is doing its best to push its online edition and mobile app when many of its remaining subscribers only read the print edition. Worse, judging by the subscription information offered on the Globe website, they do not offer a print-only subscription (or they keep it well hidden or because it's online, maybe they don't feel it's necessary to mention a print-only option).
In other words, if you are an 80-year-old person who has been a loyal subscriber to the Joplin Globe for 60 years, you are not only paying for the print edition, but for Globe products you will never use.
At that point in the letter, the Globe finally get around to telling the subscriber what he or she already should have known was coming.
Starting March 1, the price for your Total Access subscription including Tuesday through Saturday by mail will be $32.99 per four weeks with your discount for Easy Pay automatic renewal. You don't need to do anything to keep on receiving the best rate in our Easy Pay program. You can continue to enjoy the best local news and sports coverage available.
Thank you for being a valued Joplin Globe Easy Pay customer, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us in Subscriber Services at 417-782-2626 Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The letter is signed by Daniel Kuhns, Director of Circulation, The Joplin Globe
$32.99 every four weeks adds up to $428.87 a year.
$428.87 a year. You don't see that figure mentioned in Daniel Kuhns' letter.
To readers who are on fixed income, that is a lot of money.
To readers who aren't on fixed income, that's a lot of money.
And nowhere does the letter include any mention of the reason or reasons why the subscription increase was necessary. Sure, we have a good idea, but it would have been nice if the Globe had been more transparent with its readers.
***
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The Turner Report features coverage of news, courts, crime and politics for this corner of southwest Missouri, as well as commentary.
Inside Joplin covers breaking news and the type of records page material that used to be in newspapers- marriage licenses, dissolutions, bankruptcies, as well as community news.
Inside Joplin Obituaries has featured more than 21,000 free obituaries in the past 10 years and carries more than three times the number of obituaries that are published in the Joplin Globe.
Inside the Ozarks- features news from the counties between this area and Springfield.
The Turner Report Newsletter, published Monday through Saturday nights, includes links to all posts from the blogs mentioned above, as well as the following:
-My daily column
-Links of interest to articles about Missouri and this area, the Cardinals, Chiefs and Royals, and state political coverage, plus daily Joplin Police Department incident and dispatch reports, a link to Carthage News Online, Associated Press's Today in History feature, and weekly roundups of world photographs from AP and political cartoons from Politico.
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You decide.
You can contribute any amount big or small through the PayPal and Venmo links below, send your contribution to Randy Turner, 2306 E. 8th, Apt. A, Joplin, MO 64801 or you don't have to pay anything at all.
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10 comments:
A lot of money for minimal information, that being said I love reading a newspaper even if it’s not accurate.History can easily be changed with in this electronic world.
Many of the people I talk to say they mainly only like Wally Kennedy's column. Occasionally, someone will mention Bill Caldwell's local history column, but he often frays too far from Joplin. The new publisher has such a low profile, although I did hear that he was at the Joplin Business Expo peddling subscriptions.
I know the world of newspapers has changed drastically, but I still love reading a physical newspaper. I remember as a kid growing up my parents subscribed to the Globe. We got it every day. I remember countless Sunday afternoons reading the entire paper that took me a couple hours at least to read. Whether the sports page, the editorials, the ads, Parade, the comics I enjoyed it all and looked forward to it every week. Growing up in a small town like Liberal you always looked for stories about your hometown or the scores from Friday night's football game or the coverage of the local high school basketball tournament. You really thought you had made it when you saw your name in the honor roll section or listed in the box score under the Scoreboard section. I have long since stopped subscribing to the Globe when they dropped Monday and Sunday editions and their home delivery. Now, I can't even imagine subscribing with what is left in the paper which is not much. My employer still subscribes so I do look at it every day, but what used to take 30 - 40 minutes to read during a weekday now takes less than 15 minutes(on most days). The best Sports coverage in the area?? I beg to differ on that. There is very little in the weekday editions and absolutely no scoreboard or box scores or All Conference team listings. I miss the old Globe and hate to see its demise. This may be generous, but I bet the paper edition--if not the entire operation--will be gone in the next 5 years.
Calli it a newspaper is an insult to those who worked there for years to make it a successful publication.
The sports section is an absolute joke. Wendell Redden has rolled over in his grave repeatedly after what has become of his section. Ever since Anvil Welch retired the sports pages have not been worth reading and the current sports writers have absolutely no sense of history or sports background.
The news department is a joke. Never thought I’d see the day when local TV media would scoop the Globe, yet it happens daily and the local TV media has been historically bad for decades.
The quality of the media coverage in this area has been nosediving for years, it appears to be closing in on the death spiral.
I heard an interesting name for the smaller content of potato chips, crackers, etc. as well as smaller newspaper content:
SHRINKFLATION...we are all getting screwed!
You are spot on, Randy. The Globe used to be a good regional newspaper. Every community needs a watchdog, but the Globe gave that up role years ago; the Bruce Speck era being a prime example of its failure.
To anyone reading this, please consider donating to the Turner Report. Randy is a one man operation running circles around the Globe. I worry about what will happen when he is no longer here to bridge the gap.
I had been a loyal Joplin Globe customer for years, and cancelled my subscription about 6 years ago. I was in a waiting room recently, and saw the Globe, thought I would look at it. What a travesty. Nothing of real interest, and not much of a paper. So sad! The links to your articles from the Globe are great, except I can not read them, unless I sign up for the Globe. Your links to Joplin Health Department’s restaurant inspections and Wally Kennedy’s watching Range Line are never available, when I click on your link, just a subscription to the Globe, if I want to read it.
With Newspapers Advertising Revenue Down - they definitely try to make up a Portion of that with the Cost they Charge for Obituary Listings - - then when you try to look at or review them Online - they want to Charge You - Again to see them.
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Geoff Caldwell is a clown.
That is correct
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