Some thoughts on newspaper space cutbacks

While I was reading a story on the latest big newspaper to announce it was cutting sections, the Boston Globe, one line stood out to me. The Globe is dropping two sections (actually combining their content with existing sections, while adding a new entertainment-themed tabloid. But the phrase that stood out to me was this: "Martin Baron, editor of the Globe, said while some newshole will be lost, the pages lost include house ads and event listings."

The key part of that was the "event listings" portion. It's long been an axiom in print journalism (back when the competition was seen as broadcast) that newspapers owned "anything in agate type," that is all of the box scores, event listings, calendars, stock tables, etc. that ran in the smallest type. This was because this detail was impractical for broadcast.  

But, frankly, its better on the Internet since it can run in larger fonts and more detail. If I were seeking an online audience, I'd have the most complete listings, calendars, box scores, etc on my site.  Then I'd aggressively promote it on the print pages. Anyway, it's just one more indication of how the media landscape has dramatically changed.