OPUBCO / Oklahoman Business Practices

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[chuck5815]

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.

Yep. Plenty of folks who bought new construction in Edmond at or around $300K in 2014-15 are now trying to sell into a market that supports pricing closer to $250-260K.

[Rover]

Yep. Plenty of folks who bought new construction in Edmond at or around $300K in 2014-15 are now trying to sell into a market that supports pricing closer to $250-260K.

What zip codes are you speaking of because many of the Edmond areas are among the highest listing, sales price, and average $/ft of the metro. I know it is fashionable to bash Edmond, but it has been comparatively strong, especially given all the new inventory there.

[chuck5815]

What zip codes are you speaking of because many of the Edmond areas are among the highest listing, sales price, and average $/ft of the metro. I know it is fashionable to bash Edmond, but it has been comparatively strong, especially given all the new inventory there.

Here's a few examples:

https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=329580
https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=333832
https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=333814

[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.

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ I’m curious about this as well. I’m in Edmond right now as all my family lives here and Nichols hills and both of those places seem to have had home prices steadily increase.

[Rover]

Here's a few examples:

https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=329580
https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=333832
https://ariisp1.oklahomacounty.org/A...pertyID=333814

And I can find many more that sold for more. Every area everywhere will have some houses that sell for less for lots of reasons. It doesn’t define a market or sub-market.

[TheTravellers]

Just read this today in the print Gazette, did not know how low the Joklahoman has gone...

https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/c...ry?oid=2872480

[Rover]

So, I hope the Gazette steps up and becomes the great local newspaper we demand, with hard hitting investigative reporting, sports reporting, business reporting, legal notices, social activities and entertainment, and other localized reporting.

I don't blame the newspapers that are failing all over the place. I blame a public which wants information for free and then can't understand why it isn't in depth, unbiased and relevant. The more we expect our news from Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and propaganda outlets, the less we should expect to have a real press. We have demonized any true journalist whose stories don't fit our prejudiced beliefs. We put gun ownership as a constitutional right on a pedestal, but attack free press daily. As they say, we will reap what we sow.

[OKCretro]

I don't blame the newspapers that are failing all over the place.

Do you blame Blockbuster for failing? or Sears ?

Are those failings the publics fault as well?

[Rover]

This shouldn't surprise anyone. USA Today outsells the NY Times. This has been a trend for a long time. People don't want to pay for a large daily paper and certainly aren't willing to pay for well researched extensive and expensive articles. And, if the articles don't prove their already existing notions, they will just find an online alternative that gives them the "truth" they want.

Face it, as a society now we favor an inch deep and a mile wide over an inch wide and a mile deep. Now we may even be favoring and inch wide and an inch deep.

And, for anything that is over 15 minutes old, it is old news. Our attention span is short, short, short. We post short notes on sites. We don't even email anymore...we text. We take our "news" from tweets where we allow anyone to claim "truth" .... the writer is the fact checker and the accused gets to write their own "news".

Do you blame Blockbuster for failing? or Sears ?

Are those failings the publics fault as well?

So totally apples to oranges. If Blockbuster failed because people started watching only free 5 minute porn clips online, then yeah. People still buy, rent, and watch full feature films but the delivery system changed. The real apples to apples would be if no real quality films can be profitably made because watching free you-tube home videos became cultural equivalents.

[Dob Hooligan]

Although I think the Oklahoman has declined terribly and dislike it as much as the next guy, I don't feel that the "Brand Insight" features are very misleading. Or maybe I've become super sensitive to all content in the paper so I assume they're advertorials from the start. I'm guessing anything that says "For the Oklahoman by...' or "Special to the Oklahoman" is provided content?

One thing Mr. Lang mentioned in the last couple paragraphs was a headline from April 2018. I read it to mean that the GateHouse Media editors in Austin, Texas wrote it. Were the GateHouse people providing that service to the Oklahoman while Mr. Anschutz owned it?

[TheTravellers]

Although I think the Oklahoman has declined terribly and dislike it as much as the next guy, I don't feel that the "Brand Insight" features are very misleading. Or maybe I've become super sensitive to all content in the paper so I assume they're advertorials from the start. I'm guessing anything that says "For the Oklahoman by...' or "Special to the Oklahoman" is provided content?

One thing Mr. Lang mentioned in the last couple paragraphs was a headline from April 2018. I read it to mean that the GateHouse Media editors in Austin, Texas wrote it. Were the GateHouse people providing that service to the Oklahoman while Mr. Anschutz owned it?

Yes, they were (wife used to work there long ago, so we keep up with their nefarious doings).

https://www.thelostogle.com/2016/06/...s-own-layoffs/

[Pete]

Although I think the Oklahoman has declined terribly and dislike it as much as the next guy, I don't feel that the "Brand Insight" features are very misleading. Or maybe I've become super sensitive to all content in the paper so I assume they're advertorials from the start. I'm guessing anything that says "For the Oklahoman by...' or "Special to the Oklahoman" is provided content?

You are more or less proving the point that it's hard to distiguish which content is paid for and which isn't.

Once a publication goes down that path (something OKCTalk and Gazette has never, ever done nor will we do as long as I am the owner and publisher) it calls into question every single thing they write.

Also, why paying for editorial content is a growing practice, it is no less unethical. Financial distress is not an excuse to dispense with principles, especially while appealing for people to subsidize your work as if its a public trust.