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Surprise: Union-Tribune Solicits Employee Suggestions
Response to posts #12 and others: It's been my experience that labor unions often discourage bottom-up communication like you're describing between employees and management. My recollection is that it was in the late 90's(?) that the U-T got rid of some of their unions. Perhaps Gene Bell's attempt at that time was a response to finally being allowed to do so by newly non-represented workers? As to whether that worked, or the new one there will, I dunno.— February 10, 2010 3:02 p.m.
Teamsters Write U-T Advertisers Seeking Support
Response to post #26: A circulation decline like that is indeed not a pretty picture. But I didn't take from your first point in post #6 that by being "low" you were comparing the U-T to its former self, but rather to other newspapers' current penetrations. Maybe I read that wrong. In any case, my hunch is that if we set aside "rankings," and looked specifically at a newspaper's circulation (or readership) as a percentage of their market's population (total or adults only) we'd find that the U-T's penetration either way is actually still a bit better than that of most other newspapers' currently, even if they are all way off from their former circulation peaks.— October 6, 2009 2:44 p.m.
Teamsters Write U-T Advertisers Seeking Support
Response to post #23: Interestingly, the ABC themselves cite Scarborough 2008 (Release 2) as their own source for their "audited" Readership data on their latest ABC Publishers Statement Report (March 2009). So they too must see Scarborough as quite reliable, and in fact, in this case, the data are one in the same. Also, we want to be careful not to mix other disparate data either. San Diego is only the 17th largest market (in population), when you use a very refined measurement such as the CBSA (Core-Based Statistical Area). This source also defines Los Angeles as 3 different smaller markets, and not just one larger one, so San Diego will naturally appear relatively larger in that data. We are actually only the 23rd largest DMA, the most commonly used market definition, when looking at population. The Los Angeles “DMA” is also just one large market as well, thus we look relatively smaller using that definition, which Scarborough also uses, by the way. And… if you want to look at “households” instead of population, which is what circulation really is, according to Claritas, we are only the 25th largest DMA. All of a sudden that circulation-to-market size ratio begins to fall right in line.— October 6, 2009 12:11 p.m.
Teamsters Write U-T Advertisers Seeking Support
Response to post #12: While it's certainly true that the "U-T circulation numbers are poor [smaller] by comparison with other metro areas," there is no disconnect to say that they may also have strong market "penetration." You compared 1.15-million readers with a total population of 3.1-million population and called that penetration "low." In fact, Scarborough consistently places the U-T among the top 5 newspapers in the country for daily and Sunday readership, when looking at each one's market penetration, and not just at raw circulation numbers. I think you may be giving other newspapers around the country more credit than they deserve, as many are well below 25% pentration.— October 5, 2009 3:18 p.m.
Teamsters Write U-T Advertisers Seeking Support
Response to post #8: "JustWondering," I bow to your superior poetic capabilities! And I do agree many times with what's said here about the content of the U-T. There's a lot that Platinum needs to fix. But I don't always agree with the opinions expressed here about the business side of things re: newspapers or the media at large. I probably do come off sometimes as a big U-T apologist, but that may only because of the contrast to the 95% of the post-ers here who really seem to dislike that paper for who-really-knows what reasons. As for the original "union" issue here- I'm curious how this tactic will play with Platinum. I thought I'd read somewhere that they were significantly backed by union money.— October 2, 2009 1:09 p.m.
Teamsters Write U-T Advertisers Seeking Support
Response to post #6: In his interview with KUSI this past Sunday, Ed Moss cited our old friend Scarborough as the source for the readership number of 1.15-million weekly (not daily or monthly, Just Wondering). If that's so, then their penetration actually isn't bad at all. Scarborough surveys only adults 18+ (a common practice among media measurement companies). Since there are only about 2.3-million adults in San Diego county, penetration among those actually surveyed would actually be a lot closer to 50%, which puts the U-T among the highest in the nation among major metro dailies. We can't compare 1-million readers to 3.1-million in population, since about 800,000 of our population is under 18, and not included in the survey sample at all.— October 2, 2009 10:42 a.m.
U-T to Stay in Mission Valley for Now; Vows Return to Profitability
Response to post #27: I suppose one explanation might be that the E&P numbers may not be TOTAL visitors or hits, but only from those who also reside in that media market. I'm sure the U-T (and other San Diego) sites get a lot of traffic from persons outside of San Diego; potential tourists, people looking to move here, or even just needing more information about news stories breaking here (think wildfires). Detroit's 1.6-million might just be local Detroit residents, if E&P looks at it by "local market" like Scarborough sometimes does, while the U-T's numbers could be San Diego PLUS everyone else too, since this data appears to be from different sources. Would also love to hear other possible explanations.— August 17, 2009 5:21 p.m.
U-T to Stay in Mission Valley for Now; Vows Return to Profitability
Response to post #17: Don, we both know the U-T isn't unique here. All newspapers do "report" both numbers-- they have to-- but they always also have to emphasize the readership, because their broadcast competitors out there are consistently misleading their customers by comparing their broadcast audience (people) with circulation (number of newspapers sold). I see it from broadcast sales people all the time. They either don't understand the difference or don't care as long as they make a sale. THAT's a story I'd like to see told here. It would help the "The Reader's" case too.— August 17, 2009 1:03 p.m.
U-T to Stay in Mission Valley for Now; Vows Return to Profitability
Response to post #13. Actually, I believe the ABC began also including Paid "Readership" in their audits, as well as "circulation," a few years back. I believe too the ABC data for this very closely reflects the Scarborough numbers, which the "old" management" had used for years as well. Remember, Readership and Circulation are two very different things. What Scarborough (and now the ABC too) tracks exactly mirrors how Nielson measures TV audience and how Arbitron does so for Radio. The total audience reached for all of these media is very different from the physical number of newspapers sold (circulation) or ratings (households). Scarborough is also very well respected for what they do, and they are in fact owned by the very same parent company (VNU) that also owns Nielson and Arbitron.— August 17, 2009 12:01 p.m.
Two Top U-T Officials Get the Axe
Response to post #41: Don, as of last weekend, it was still available. Will let you know if I don't see a new edition this weekend (I think it comes out Fridays or Saturdays).— June 5, 2009 5:19 p.m.