OPUBCO / Oklahoman Business Practices

[Laramie]

Pete, how far away are we from a Dallas Morning News with an Oklahoma edition?

[CCOKC]

I used to subscribe to the DMN years ago when they delivered to the OKC Metro area. As I get older my time perception is faultier but it was at least 10 years ago when that stopped.

[okatty]

We subscribe to the NYT Digital and also get the weekend hard copy delivery (Fri-Sun). I can read the Oklahoman in about 10 minutes. You can spend some time getting through the full version of the NYT. The Sunday NYT next to the Sunday Oklahoman is quite a contrast.

[Rover]

We subscribe to the NYT Digital and also get the weekend hard copy delivery (Fri-Sun). I can read the Oklahoman in about 10 minutes. You can spend some time getting through the full version of the NYT. The Sunday NYT next to the Sunday Oklahoman is quite a contrast.

Lol. New York City is quite a contrast to OKC. 20 million people vs 1.4 million people .... their paper should be bigger and better..... a LOT better.

[okatty]

^It should, but the Oklahoman shouldn’t be as pitiful as it is.

[Bellaboo]

After 40 years of continual service from the Oklahoman, we finally decided to discontinue. Yes, just about everything is online or on the air so no issue, but I quit because of the price. They were wanting $ 299.00 for an annual subscription. My brother in law said he pays $ 80.00 for his annual. My mother pays $12.00 for Wednesday/Sunday only. I see the adds for $1.54 per week.
I was told to wait 3 months and then subscribe for the lower rate ? Anyone else have these same issues with the paper ?

[stile99]

Well that's a very dangerous game for them to play. That gives people three months to come to the conclusion they never really needed the paper in the first place.

[Zuplar]

I just pay the $9.99 for online only.

[okatty]

After 40 years of continual service from the Oklahoman, we finally decided to discontinue. Yes, just about everything is online or on the air so no issue, but I quit because of the price. They were wanting $ 299.00 for an annual subscription. My brother in law said he pays $ 80.00 for his annual. My mother pays $12.00 for Wednesday/Sunday only. I see the adds for $1.54 per week.
I was told to wait 3 months and then subscribe for the lower rate ? Anyone else have these same issues with the paper ?

We pay about $160 a year, so better than you had but twice what your brother is paying.

[Rover]

I pay $50 every six months for Wed and Sun paper. It gives me access to the electronic.

[citywokchinesefood]

The online version of the Oklahoman to me is worth between $2-5/month depending on the content they put out. Currently I put its value a lot closer to $2 than $5. They just do not offer a good product. I can not justify spending $10 a month for online due to the atrocious quality of the paper.

[dankrutka]

I'd pay $5 a month just for Ben Felder's work. He's a very skilled journalist.

[TheTravellers]

I'd pay $5 a month just for Ben Felder's work. He's a very skilled journalist.

He's really good, it was such a shame when he left the Gazette for the Joklahoman.

[Pete]

He's really good, it was such a shame when he left the Gazette for the Joklahoman.

He took a job in between with the Foundation for OKC Public Schools.

But yes, Ben is outstanding.

[DoctorTaco]

He took a job in between with the Foundation for OKC Public Schools.

But yes, Ben is outstanding.

Ben Felder, Richard Mize, and Jack Money are the only voices I make a point of reading in there. Jaclyn Cosgrove was great but now she has moved on to bigger and better things at the LA Times.

Who else am I missing?

[TheTravellers]

Ben Felder, Richard Mize, and Jack Money are the only voices I make a point of reading in there. Jaclyn Cosgrove was great but now she has moved on to bigger and better things at the LA Times.

Who else am I missing?

Even though he's kind of a [insert unkindly euphemism of your choice here], Lackmeyer does have good info in his Friday online chats, but I don't read many of his actual articles.

[DoctorTaco]

Even though he's kind of a [insert unkindly euphemism of your choice here], Lackmeyer does have good info in his Friday online chats, but I don't read many of his actual articles.

I appreciate having Lackmeyer in our community, even if his reporting can be lazy (at best). He is a good presence on twitter and occasionally raises the awareness of certain issues.

[Pete]

I appreciate having Lackmeyer in our community, even if his reporting can be lazy (at best). He is a good presence on twitter and occasionally raises the awareness of certain issues.

Such as fighting with a hotdog vendor? Countless other unhinged screeds.

I stopped following him on social media a long time ago.

Frankly, his behavior there is frequently an embarrassment to not only himself and his employer, but since he is a prominent business reporter (his Twitter handle is that of his branded work on the Oklahoman) it also reflects badly on our entire community.

[DoctorTaco]

But to my original point: Richard Mize is underappreciated. He doesn't do a ton in terms of reporting, but he at least can write well.

Jack Money write well and can report a story in a comprehensible way, even techniical matter such as induced seismicity article from last week.

Ben Felder, as discussed, is wonderful.

But beyond that...William Crumm has upped his game, but he has upped it from such a low floor that it is still nothing to brag about. Willert feels like he's phoning it in. The business desk mostly reprints PR (as discussed elsewhere). Dear god don't get me started on Tramel.

I can't even seem to think of anyone else who works there.

[5alive]

From Sunday's Business Insider...
Local newspaper giant GateHouse Media has quietly been laying off reporters and photographers across its publications, according to reports, journalists' testimony online, and sources close to the layoffs.

GateHouse, which says it owns 145 daily newspapers, 325 community publications, and over than 555 local websites in 37 US states, seemingly focused cuts on photo departments and local sports coverage.

[Pete]

^

I believe there was another recent round of layoffs at the Oklahoman, including graphics personnel and some admin functions.

I'm not even sure how many people are left there now.


As an aside, what GateHouse does is basically centralizes a ton of functions, like layout, copy editing, digital platforms, etc. It seems all that is left locally are the remaining reporters.

What that means is that there is virtually no way someone else could buy them in the future because all you would have is a bunch of reporters with no infrastructure. There has been conjecture that once the hedge fund wrings out the last bit of profit, they will discard the husk but by then it would be almost impossible for a local group to buy the remains because there is no real operation.

I contrast that with what I bought at the Gazette. We do everything in house other than printing the weekly paper, so there was a lot to work with from Day 1. We have also made the decision not to outsource functions because you lose a tremendous amount of creative control.

[dankrutka]

Dear god don't get me started on Tramel.

I can't even seem to think of anyone else who works there.

I haven't read Tramel much lately, but I always appreciated his work in the past. He's more of an independent thinker than others, IMHO. But all the recent Thunder beat writers work hard. Currently, I think Erik Horne and Maddie Lee work hard at their beat.

[Quicker]

I’m an unapologetic subscriber to newsok. I really enjoy reading their sports writers, have always been a fan of Steves and enjoy all the local coverage... No, it’s never gonna be what it once was but there would be a huge void in OKC without it that would be very difficult to replace...

[Richard at Remax]

I can appreciate Mize writing. However he writes too many generalized fluff pieces on the real estate industry. I am here to tell you that it is not all gravy in the metro. Many areas are struggling to sell homes. People are losing a lot of money on selling homes that are only a few years old.

[Pete]

BTW, even though I am a frequent critic, I would never try to dissuade anyone from reading it.

However, they are not some sort of public trust. They are a flawed business with their own agendas and have been taking advantage of the community for decades.

Now, they want to play the 'greater good' card which is ironic and transparent, especially given the way they have worked against OKCTalk and other local news outlets. They are far more interested in protecting their own jobs than having legitimate concern for good local journalism. I'd have much more respect for them if they were just honest.