

Papers Facing Worst Year for Ad Revenue  - prakash
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23paper.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=login

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wensing
I am one of two web developers hired into The Palm Beach Post newsroom since
August 2007. Since then, the paper has also procured (received?) a new
Publisher (think President/CEO) and a new Internet General Manager (think
CIO). I can't really say much more than that, but I can say that it's been a
really great learning experience as I watch the company go through this
'change'.

The upside for myself and my colleague professionally is that we are in fact
the _only_ two web developers here at this point, and we've been given
incredible liberty to develop new products (we're using Python/GeoDjango to do
so). Traditionally, all web products have been created by a sister company,
but the tendency now is for newspapers to take matters into their own hands,
as the corporate mothership's Java engineers fail to keep up with the demands
being placed upon them (and really, is it any wonder?).

In short: want a lot of freedom and opportunity? Consider a declining
newspaper.

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stcredzero
Newspapers could have a significant competitive advantage over Craigslist. For
one thing, since they charge, they are more spam-proof. If I were a paper, I
would develop a web app that would easily and painlessly post an ad in both
the newspaper, the newspaper's online site, and on Craigslist simultaneously.

