[Imc] Re: did anyone hear the octopus report on WILL today?

[Mike Lehman]

Greg,
I think you hit the nail on the head here as far as the competition
goes. The N-G has a dominate place among the local media and that has no
doubt had an impact on what ad $$$s that the Octopus has been able to
attract in all in various guises.

I would like to note that the Bloomington, IN version of Yesse' paper
always seems to have a particularly good package of articles, not the
often recycled out of town stuff that we often get as filler in the
Octopus. This is not to say that the local folks who are regulars here
are lower caliber. It just seems that maybe they are paying folks enough
in Bloomington to get a good group of articles in each issue there. Or
maybe writers in Bloomington are just that much more desperate for the
same low pay...

In any case, I've noticed that there does seem to be a lot less emphasis
on local articles here and that both reflects local tastes and
resources.
Mike Lehman

editor at 8am.com wrote:
> 
> As someone who has had more than a little involvement with the paper -- and
> its several predecessors over the last 20+ years, I wouldn't be too quick
> to blame corporate mismanagement for the problems.  I wouldn't blame the
> community (entirely) either.  The community has wanted an alternative to
> the News-Gazette ever since the Courier folded in the late
> 1970s.   Curiously, both The Weekly and The Octopus tried to get Indiana
> investors to make themselves a bigger enterprise -- and both stumbled
> fatally in the process.
> 
> If I had to lay primary blame, I'd most likely cast my eyes in the
> direction of the only daily newspaper in the area.  When the Courier
> folded, the competition wrote an editorial claiming that "the best paper
> won."  A real newspaper would have lamented the loss of multiple voices in
> the area and the subsequent lessening of perspectives.  As everyone knows,
> the Gazette is not entirely tolerant of differing opinions.
> 
> The Gazette is very competitive.  When the Weekly began, the Gazette
> quickly came out with their own weekly "magazine" style arts paper which
> has evolved into the current "etc." section on Friday.  I think Paul Wood's
> article about the Gazette's problems (and I have known Paul for many years
> and worked with him at the D.I. back in college days) contributed to the
> diminishing morale at the Octopus and will further encourage its demise.