How long will the Observer last?

[User Name]

The thing is with e-paper what we are talking about is a different media for print, it isn't interactive content, I'd compare it closer to an etch a sketch than a web surfing device. It will likely be adopted by the current print media as a delivery method, so yeah the paper goes away, but the content provider stays, so which are we talking about the media or provider?

[mush]

Fact of the matter is that between the Observer's print edition and their online hits, that still reaches far more people than any one news station, radio station, or other paper in the market and the same can be said for most other markets as well.

The Observer still has prolly 15X more news gathering staff than any one station. For instance, most local news TV stations have at most 2 at the most 3 sports reporters covering ALL local sports. The Observer alone has 3 guys covering the Panthers and could get 4 or 5 guys there in a day if needed.

Don't even get me started on radio, hell they maybe have one guy who reads the news on the air from the Observer.

[Upper Deck West End Zone]

So how much longer will the Observer be around in print form?

I would wager another 2 years maybe. I doubt they make it out of the recession.

I used to work there and I keep up with what's going on because I'm sort of still in the business. I've always said this about the paper: "The Charlotte Observer is an organization that strives for the most tepid form of mediocrity and routinely fails to achieve even that."

Someone who works there told me that the paper still makes a profit. I can believe that but I've also heard that it's very much month-to-month and, of course, the parent company has massive debt and has massive problems.

There are two problems with paper here: content and the model. Their site is OK but they are giving away their content when the model is still based on subscriptions. That's a problem and they are working through that and that's why the fourth or fifth round of layoffs is just around the corner. The other major problem is content. Not only is the content late, it's weak. People have an incredible thirst for information and the paper is well-poised to provide it. However, they routinely get the allocation of their journalistic resources totally wrong. For example: the series about chicken processing factories; OK - there's a problem there but it's not really salient to Charlotte and our daily lives. They are afraid to take on local and state politicians because they might change laws that currently help the industry; that's partly why they missed the boat on the Jim Black thing even though they knew what was going on.

The content is off primarily because the people who organize the content have no talent and are too concerned with their own agendas. They have no talent because newspapers always pay poorly. Will they survive? Possibly. But the fact that we're even talking about it should worry the powers-that-be at 600 South Tryon Street.