The demand is still strong for Wednesday’s newspapers
Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher marvels over the mania for Wednesday’s newspapers proclaiming Barack Obama the next president.
For one day, it was nice to know that the power of the printed word, if not the historic overtones and rich design, is not completely dead. For many of us, it never will be. And it never will be replaced by the Internet. No matter how high Web traffic goes, or how low print circulation declines.
No Web report can have the same intimacy, flair or old-fashioned style of a real hold-in-your hands, leaf-through-page-by-page, print newspaper.
Joe gives kudos to not only souvenir hunters, but also the news design community:
Part of the draw also had to be the great Page One designs that many of the Wednesday editions had. The Chicago Sun-Times stood out for its elegant portrait of Obama with the small “Mr. President” headline, while others used large type and moving photos to bring home the historic and poignant elements of this moment.
Richard Perez-Pina of the New York Times reports:
On an average weekday, The Washington Post has single-copy sales — newsstand and store sales, as opposed to subscriptions — of about 100,000. It printed 30,000 extra on Tuesday night.
“It sold out almost instantly,†said Steve Hills, president and general manager of Washington Post Media.
On Wednesday morning, The Post ordered up 150,000 copies of a special edition of the day’s paper, charging $1.50, not the usual 50 cents. As the day wore on, it raised that to 250,000, then 350,000. “I’ve been here for 21 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,†Mr. Hills said.
The Virginian-Pilot announced today it was cranking up its presses yet again to produce another 40,000 copies of Wednesday’s paper. This is after it bumped up its original run by 20,000, printed 15,000 more Wednesday and then ran off another 15,000 this morning.
The Pilot’s Cindy Clayton and Phil Walzer report:
“The switchboard is just being bombarded,” said Mark Quan, Pilot circulation director. “Farm Fresh [the local grocery store chain] is limiting people to one copy. One woman bought 60.”By this evening, the 40,000 additional copies should be in the nearest grocery, convenience or drug store, Quan said. The first 30,000 extra copies were distributed to 7-Eleven, Wawa [convenience stores] and Farm Fresh stores only. This time, the copies will be spread out.
The Pilot is also selling poster reprints of Wednesday’s Page One for $10. The proceeds will go to the Joy Fund, the Pilot’s annual fund-raiser to buy Christmas gifts for poor kids.
Poynter’s Jim Romenesko linked to a story in the Bellingham, Washington, Herald about a 67-year-old local man who requested 10,000 copies of its Wednesday edition.
The Herald’s Sam Taylor quotes Thomas Baldwin, a retired customs agent who normally votes for Nader:
“I sat there thinking about that and I thought, ‘You know, what the heck, maybe there’s a market for it.’”
So the Bellingham Herald slapped the plates back on for a special press run, just for Baldwin.
That would be $5,000 worth of papers, at 50 cents a pop. But the Herald gave Mr. Baldwin a volume discount: 17 cents per copy, or a total of $1,700.
That’s still a lot to pay for a big stack of Sudoku puzzles, though.The New York Times ran an ad today, advertising copies of Wednesday’s edition for $14.95. No word on whether or not that includes a Class B share of NYT stock.
Newspaper consultant Juan Antonio Giner has been posting like crazy about the rush for newspapers. His blog contains photos of people standing in long lines for newspapers, empty racks and and so on…
Standing in line for Tribunes in front of Trib Tower on Michigan Avenue (photo by Leigh Hanlon):
A Barnes & Noble in San Diego (photo by Kevin Baird):
Tourists pose for photos in front of Wednesday’s front pages at the Newseum building in Washington (photo by Adam Fage):
A simple search for “Obama + newspaper” on eBay brought back 4,197 hits. There are “buy it now” deals for a copy of Wednesday’s Chicago Tribune for $95.50. The New York Times is offered for $75.
USA Today is available for a mere $19.99, but that doesn’t include the $6.05 shipping fee. The seller — “Newsworthy215″ — is offering 58 copies at that price.
Famed newspaper design consultant Mario Garcia, on vacation in the Canary Islands, happened to jog past an impromptu stone tribute to Obama set in the sand:
Hey, Mario! While you’re at it, can you please fix the kerning between the first three letters? It’s really bugging us!
Find Joe’s E&P column here and his news story here. Find Juan Antonio’s blog here. Play “Where’s Mario” here. Find the NYT story here. Find the Bellingham, Wash., story here. Find the Pilot report here.
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