["Absurdity, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion." - Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914), The Devil's Dictionary ]
BoSacks Readers Speak Out: On the MPA, Revenue, Time Mag, NYT and more.
Re: Why Magazines Deserve More Ad Revenue Than They?re Getting
What an odd article by Marc Brownstein! I?m as happy as the next publisher when advertisers use magazines, but I?d like to think that marketers buy ad space for logical reasons. As near as I can tell, Brownstein?s point is that companies should advertise in magazines because? well, because they aren?t newspapers. I was under the impression that advertising professionals used real data to make placement decisions? circulation, demographics, research, that sort of thing.
I?ll admit that I?ve had my doubts about the competence of some media buyers I?ve called on, but I didn?t know the incompetents were writing Ad Age articles. Brownstein said, ?I believe agencies should look more objectively at what kind of content consumers are consuming and how they are consuming it. If we do, we?ll discover a different reality.? Isn?t that a straightforward acknowledgment that he and his colleagues haven?t been looking at media objectively?
He might want to have a word with his co-workers before starts serving up self-help platitudes to the poor magazine publishers.
(Submitted by a Publisher and an Official BoSacks Cub Reporter)
RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: The Ugly Truth About the Meltdown at The NY Times
Oof. And they continue to blame cheap readers and opportunistic aggregators? I?d say unbelievable but, after all, we are talking about a) the culture of U.S. corporate management, b) an organization that has always been grandiose and smug, and c) and industry that has assumed it could pick itself up by running ad campaigns in its own properties.
(Submitted by a writer and an official BoSacks Cub Reporter)
Re: TIME Magazine?s Last Chapter
Bo: I see this more and more?.writers don?t understand rudimentary math and write articles stating percentage increases/decreases that don?t stand up to basic scrutiny and as a result greatly skew the facts either negatively or positively. This article is a prime example. The math in this paragraph is wrong:
?They are TIME?s most serious problem, given their contribution to revenue. Ad pages were 2,162.2 in 2007, according to industry news operations MIN. The figure dropped
63% to 1,370.3 in 2011. The slide has quickened considerably since then. Ad pages fell 21.6% to 433.4 for the 2012 period that ended on May 21, and 48.1% to 18 pages for the latest issue according to MIN. This apparently irreversible long-term decline has, much more than anything else, ruined TIME?s future.?
If ad pages were 2162.2 and they dropped to 1370.3 that is a decline of 791.9 pages
(36.62% NOT 63%). In the remainder of the paragraph I am not sure what he is comparing the ad page count to (what year??). Very poorly done by the writer. Also, just noticed he works for 24/7 Wall Street. Yikes! ?ould it get any scarier?
I also see examples where writers have absolutely NO CLUE regarding the meaning of percentages. Example: ?CPI increase for ?x? period was 2.0% which was down 1% from the previous period (3%).? Ahhh, no. That would mean that CPI was down 33% from the previous period.
Since math is the driving factor behind just about everything we do and interact with on a daily basis, and apparently we as a people don?t understand basic math, I am very concerned for the future of this country and its ability to compete in a global marketplace.
(Submitted by a VP Senior Director of Mfg & Dst.)
Re: Declines Slow. Largest Titles Suffer Most. Positive Sales for Many
Did it ever occur to these geniuses to perhaps start their reports with: ?Strong Numbers for Many?? or ?Growing From Strengths?? Is there some obscure reason why these geniuses who run our industry do not realize that their endless, breathless reporting will do nothing but accelerate the endless, breathless reporting about the demise of the industry in which they have invested so much of their careers and their own money?
No one is asking for Poilyana style news here. But really. ABC reports single copy sales numbers. Everyone and their uncle has been dissecting that since the dawn of time. But seriously, stop feeding the beast. I don?t recall any huge demand for total industry data. Hell, if they make publishers pay through the nose for their data, why are they giving the raw data away for free?
(Submitted by a senior newsstand consultant)
Re: Newspapers Cut Days from Publishing Week
I certainly understand the pressures and dynamics of this sad phenomenon. However, based on our local ?metro? paper, I would say the cuts to the newsroom are what will be the demise of the newspaper.
If news is immediate and digital is the way to transmit news, then the excuse for failing to post online articles of interest to readers at least within 12-18 hours after the newsworthy events pretty much an admission that it?s not news that motivates the newspaper.. Example: crematorium approved on Main Street in downtown small outlying community of 30,000.
In the old days even small dailies had local sports in the next day?s paper. Today we can?t cover truly important local news as though it is important? It?s the mega-giant?s disdain for the reader that will be their death, more so that the loss of advertising dollars. Loyalty from readers comes from accurate local reporting in a world where that?s not available elsewhere.
( Submitted by a sad journalist)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
Bob, what a terrific idea-you at the helm of MPA. I think that you just might have made the search committee?s task very, very easy.
But, if you need letters of recommendation or endorsements of any other kind, I hope that I?ll be among the first you call upon.
(Submitted by a long time industry participant, publisher, journalist, current professor and more)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
Bob, good luck to you. In my opinion you are the best prepared individual to take the leadership position at MPA. No one else I can think of has articulated the many challenges that currently affect the industry and we are only at the beginning! Your vision is clearly needed.
(Submitted by an senior industry supplier)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business good luck in the best sense and also in the most cynical sense knowing that they wouldn?t dare do it
trade associations don?t like dishing out the facts, and members don?t like it either. everything has to end up as a rosy picture where everything is pretty. just read the promo stuff from mpa about how great magazines are. then read the actual industry data. after a while people realize that it?s just a hollywood soundstage and there are no buildings, just the same old facades shot from different angles. sure, we hit an iceberg, but it was the best iceberg one could ever hit, and it was the iceberg that we actually wanted to hit. in fact, the board voted that we should do a confidential search to identify the best icebergs that we should consider hitting. the board was in complete agreement on that.
help us captain bo, you?re our only hope 
(Submitted by a seasoned and notable industry advisor)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
Well! Some might say, ?Be careful what you wish for.? But not me. Good luck!
(Submitted by a Publisher and an Official BoSacks Cub Reporter)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
I couldn?t think of a better person to lead the antiquated industry association ?. someone needs to start focusing on the future of magazine publishing and bring the organization into the 21st century.
(Submitted by a senior circulator at a large multi-title publisher)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
Fantastic! You would be superb in that position. No one understands the entire media better than you. Plus, you are a New Yorker which I would think helps. This is exciting, I only wish I had a vote.
(Submitted by a VP senior print sales director now retired)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
I?d be quite surprised of Conde Nast supported the idea. But, who knows ? if you make a good case for how you?ll grow MPA membership and protect the mag industry?s interests (re: postal rates), maybe they?ll bite. Good luck.
(Submitted by a major director)
Re: BoSacks Speaks Out: On the MPA and the Future of the Magazine Business
Bo, I am afraid the ?players? of the industry would not have the vision, nor the courage to make the appointment as you suggest. It makes every sense imaginable, but that of static corporate sense. They will reward one of their own who has contributed to the many problems in the first place. You know well enough that I was a member a decade ago. Your appointment would be the correct maverick move that the industry so desperately needs for authenticity but will not tolerate.
(Submitted by a retired publisher)
RE: BoSacks Speaks Out: Green Groups and Publishing Sustainability
Bo, you are absolutely right: it is generally very inefficient (or ?wrong?) to inject recycled fiber into a virgin paper production process. That said, it can be even more efficient to make new paper from old paper than from trees if that recycled paper is made at a mill purpose-built for recycled paper.
There are many paths to green, and there are ecological benefits to both recycled and virgin papers. Regardless of whether you?re talking about a recycled or virgin mill, they can only achieve maximum production efficiency ? and thus optimal resource conservation ? only if the mill adheres to the type of production it was designed to accommodate. Injecting recycled pulp into an integrated virgin mill makes no sense, but that doesn?t mean that recycled fiber is bad. Quite the opposite: it simply takes far less energy, water and chemicals to make new paper from old paper than to make new paper from trees, especially in the printing & writing grades.
An integrated virgin pulp mill can be extremely efficient from a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standpoint, but the reason for that is because methodologies for calculating carbon footprint do not measure all GHG inputs. Some of the most respected NGOs would even say current methodologies are faulty. For instance, most calculations of carbon footprint do not factor in the burning of biomass at virgin mills. The burning of wood waste for fuel is treated as carbon-neutral. This is considered by most NGOs to be an unintended loophole in the Kyoto Protocol, because burning biofuel definitely does generate GHG emissions?lots of airborne emissions in particular. The commensurate GHG impact is not measured, however, because Kyoto says it does not need to be. If virgin paper producers did count the impact of their biomass practices, however, they would probably find that the GHG generated per ton of paper produced would be higher on an absolute basis at a virgin mill than at a purpose-
built recycled mill.
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