Yesterday I got yet another call from the subscription sales people at the Chicago Tribune.

Since I cancelled my subscription over a year ago, the calls have come fairly steadily; about once a month at least. At first they were simple pleas to come back, often accompanied by offers of Target gift cards or other such inducements. Does this really work by the way? I'd love to have a circulation person enlighten me. It has to have some degree of success, otherwise why would they be doing it, right? Then again, I know all too well the unfortunate reality that many newspaper companies do lots of things without any measurement of success so why would this be any different?

Back to my phone call. Incidentally, I answered it because it came from some mysterious-sounding city in Illinois and I was curious. Previous calls have also come from other faraway cities whose names I don't recall. So the people trying to sell me on getting the CHICAGO Tribune don't even live in the metropolitan area. But I digress.

This call was similar to the two or three others I've recently received. The latest schtick is apparently to try to get people to sign up for the Sunday paper. But wait!!! THERE'S MORE! For the low, low price of $1.50 per week, you'll get not only the Sunday edition, but also Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's paper too!!! What a deal!!! This leaves me wondering why the Monday, Tuesday and Saturday papers aren't getting the same hard sell, but I'm getting off topic again.

This $1.50/week rate is only good for 6 months by the way. What does it go up to after that? The woman that called me didn't know; she had just started working there. My guess is that no one knows. They'll see how many people they can sign up for 6 months and figure it out then. Not that I am quibbling with the cost mind you. According to my calculations, 6 months of all that paper would run me just $36, a bargain indeed at 37.5 cents per paper (though not as good a bargain as this).

So the money isn't my problem and in fact, I think it would be smart if the callers mentioned how much you'll be paying per paper. 37.5 cents after all sounds a whole lot lower than $1.50 per week.

No, my problem is the way the paper is being sold here and I imagine, in many other markets as well. First off, they only mention the Sunday edition and all the wonderful coupons and savings I'll find inside. This naturally leaves a person wondering whether there's anything else of value in there other than coupons. I guess I can just toss all that stuff wrapped around the coupons, right?

Also, I know times are tough and half-price deal sites like Groupon seem to be taking over the world, but isn't it possible that not everyone's lives revolve around coupons? Even if coupons were what I lived and breathed for, there's no mention of what I'm going to find in the other three days of the paper that I'll be getting. They're just throwing those in "for free" like when you get a toaster for opening up a checking account. Has anyone ever gotten the impression that that toaster that the bank is giving you is really great? Exactly. The difference is that the bank doesn't make the toaster so they don't really care what you think of its quality. But the Tribune is making all those papers and there's absolutely no indication from the call that they think very much of them.

Does everyone see the problem here? In trying to sell me your product, dear newspaper, you are actively devaluing it in my eyes. You're not telling me anything about the actual news content for instance or how this paper will actually benefit my life other than saving me 50 cents on soap. I guess you don't believe that news is what you're selling anymore. Now you're just selling coupons. Which, psssst, can be acquired for free online without all that pesky journalism getting in the way.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

Yesterday I got yet another call from the subscription sales people at the Chicago Tribune.

Since I cancelled my subscription over a year ago, the calls have come fairly steadily; about once a month at least. At first they were simple pleas to come back, often accompanied by offers of Target gift cards or other such inducements. Does this really work by the way? I'd love to have a circulation person enlighten me. It has to have some degree of success, otherwise why would they be doing it, right? Then again, I know all too well the unfortunate reality that many newspaper companies do lots of things without any measurement of success so why would this be any different?

Back to my phone call. Incidentally, I answered it because it came from some mysterious-sounding city in Illinois and I was curious. Previous calls have also come from other faraway cities whose names I don't recall. So the people trying to sell me on getting the CHICAGO Tribune don't even live in the metropolitan area. But I digress.

This call was similar to the two or three others I've recently received. The latest schtick is apparently to try to get people to sign up for the Sunday paper. But wait!!! THERE'S MORE! For the low, low price of $1.50 per week, you'll get not only the Sunday edition, but also Wednesday, Thursday and Friday's paper too!!! What a deal!!! This leaves me wondering why the Monday, Tuesday and Saturday papers aren't getting the same hard sell, but I'm getting off topic again.

This $1.50/week rate is only good for 6 months by the way. What does it go up to after that? The woman that called me didn't know; she had just started working there. My guess is that no one knows. They'll see how many people they can sign up for 6 months and figure it out then. Not that I am quibbling with the cost mind you. According to my calculations, 6 months of all that paper would run me just $36, a bargain indeed at 37.5 cents per paper (though not as good a bargain as this).

So the money isn't my problem and in fact, I think it would be smart if the callers mentioned how much you'll be paying per paper. 37.5 cents after all sounds a whole lot lower than $1.50 per week.

No, my problem is the way the paper is being sold here and I imagine, in many other markets as well. First off, they only mention the Sunday edition and all the wonderful coupons and savings I'll find inside. This naturally leaves a person wondering whether there's anything else of value in there other than coupons. I guess I can just toss all that stuff wrapped around the coupons, right?

Also, I know times are tough and half-price deal sites like Groupon seem to be taking over the world, but isn't it possible that not everyone's lives revolve around coupons? Even if coupons were what I lived and breathed for, there's no mention of what I'm going to find in the other three days of the paper that I'll be getting. They're just throwing those in "for free" like when you get a toaster for opening up a checking account. Has anyone ever gotten the impression that that toaster that the bank is giving you is really great? Exactly. The difference is that the bank doesn't make the toaster so they don't really care what you think of its quality. But the Tribune is making all those papers and there's absolutely no indication from the call that they think very much of them.

Does everyone see the problem here? In trying to sell me your product, dear newspaper, you are actively devaluing it in my eyes. You're not telling me anything about the actual news content for instance or how this paper will actually benefit my life other than saving me 50 cents on soap. I guess you don't believe that news is what you're selling anymore. Now you're just selling coupons. Which, psssst, can be acquired for free online without all that pesky journalism getting in the way.

View "Is journalism about the story while blogging is about the blogger?" on Storify

I hope to see absolutely everyone invested in Chicagoland media, good government and government transparency at this event! I can't stress enough how important this is. Please spread this far and wide, because we want to have as large a crowd as possible.

This message is from the Chicago Headline Club president, Stephen Franklin. As you can see at the end, he's happy to take your questions. I'm happy to take them as well. Find me at tooter2 (at) gmail (dot) com or 773-844-6302.

PUBLIC ACCESS IN CHICAGO

You know what happens when reporters can’t get information they need. Their stories are incomplete, delayed or worse yet, they die. That is one of the reasons the Chicago Headline Club undertook a sweeping survey of the state of journalists’ freedom of information and access rights. 

I’m writing to you because I hope you will join us on Sept. 17 when we discuss the findings and results of conversations we have had since with public officials. We will report on some improvements on the situation as a result of our talks. But as you will learn from the report, serious obstacles exist across a wide range of agencies.

Officials from several of the agencies highlighted in the report will discuss the findings along with journalists.

We will meet from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 17 at the Lewis Towers at Loyola University’s Water Tower campus, 820 N. Michigan Ave. Our meeting is in the Regents Ballroom on the 16th floor and the entrance is on Pearson at Rush Street. A continental breakfast will also be provided.

The McCormick Foundation supported our work on the survey, which was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

This is one of the most important events that the Headline Club has undertaken in the last few years. And so, I hope you will take part as well pass the word along about this event.

We hope to hold a follow-up workshop soon on how to use your Freedom of Information rights and officials from the state Attorney General’s office will help conduct the workshop.

If you have any questions, suggestions, stories to tell, whatever, please let me know.

Stephen Franklin, President of the Chicago Headline Club
steve (at) chicagoistheworld (dot) org

I got into a convo on Twitter the other day, as I am wont to do. This time it was with Craig Pittman. I quipped that a story about metal scavengers was the real-life Bubs in action. He proceeded to tell me about this story and I, being a Wire fanatic, asked him to send it to me. Here's how it kicks off:

Kenny wipes his mouth, passes the wine and stares into the shopping cart, his mind managing a quick calculation. Five or six lengths of good No.1 copper. Those cast-iron security bars. A window grate.

 

"Enough for a run," he tells his brother.

"I want to finish this length of pipe," Tyrone says.

"Man, we can come back on that."

But Tyrone is already shaking his head, tossing the bottle, stepping back through the rear door with his hacksaw. Get the metal now or someone else comes behind you to grab it. He disappears into the wreckage of the broken Fulton Avenue rowhouse, emerging minutes later with pieces of a light-steel gas line. By then, his brother has the cart balanced for the run.

"Let's get paid."

They shoot down Fulton and cross Fayette where the corner boys are touting a fresh heroin package. The two shout to each other above the rattling wheels, talking about dope and coke and a couple of radiators that Kenny has his eye on. There's no way to sense the speed involved unless you're with them, cantering beside a full shopping cart, making for the scales in absolute earnest. The scrap yards close at 5; wasted time means one less run at the end of a day.

"With the copper," says Kenny, guessing at the weight, "I'd say $ 20."

" 'bout that," agrees Tyrone.

Want to read the rest? Email me at tooter2 (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send it to you. I'd post it all here, but ya know, it's copywrited and even though I'm sure they have bigger fish to fry, I don't want the Baltimore Sun pissed at me. 

Speaking of the Sun, this story appeared in the Sunday final edition on September 3, 1995. Further fodder for the journo nerds: Simon once recounted editors fighting over publishing it. In fact, the top editor initially spiked it because Simon witnessed illegal behavior and didn't report it. Luckily, more sensible heads eventually prevailed and the new features editor revived it because he felt it was a great story, unreported criminal behavior notwithstanding. Naturally, I agree.