John Puterbaugh, editor of the Pioneer Press chain of weekly newspapers, addresses 30 attendees at the April meeting of the PR Council of Lake County.
It’s no secret that the journalism profession continues to change, as media companies work through shrinking demand for print publications and the growing popularity of mobile/online news outlets. What CAN be somewhat mysterious, or at least challenging, is how public relations professionals can stay abreast of changing roles and editorial focus within newsrooms.
John Puterbaugh, editor of the Pioneer Press chain of weekly newspapers, chats with Carolyn (Waller) Gordon, president of the PR Council of Lake County, prior to a PRCLC meeting.
When 30 public relations professionals gathered this morning to hear a presentation from the editor of a local newspaper chain, I was reminded how beneficial those kind of sessions can be, both for the PR pros and journalists.
John Puterbaugh, editor of Chicago Tribune Media Group’s network of 32 Pioneer Press suburban Chicago weekly print and daily online publications, met today (April 2, 2015) with members of the PR Council of Lake County. In a lively discussion, Puterbaugh outlined how Tribune Publishing’s purchase of the Pioneer Press chain and six suburban daily newspapers has impacted local journalists and the PR professionals who engage with them.
In October, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune newspaper completed a purchase agreement that brought six daily and 32 weekly suburban newspapers into the Tribune fold. The six dailies included the SouthtownStar, Merrillville Post-Tribune, Aurora Beacon-News, Elgin Courier-News, Naperville Sun, Lake County News-Sun and the weekly Pioneer Press newspapers.
Puterbaugh told the attendees at today’s PR Council of Lake County Meeting that Tribune bosses said they don’t intend for the acquired newspapers “to become mini Tribs.” He said the value of the acquired properties is that they extend Tribune Publishing’s coverage, and provide a new source of news for the Chicago newspaper.
This meeting helped the PR professionals in attendance get up-to-date information regarding the editorial contacts they need, and how to submit news ideas and content to increase the chance that it will be published.
One insight that Puterbaugh shared is that Chicago Tribune editors and the editors at the suburban news properties are still sorting out how best to coordinate suburban assignments to their full-time reporters and freelance journalists.
“They told us that we are communicators, and it’s been left up to us to communicate with each other,” he said. “We obviously don’t want to send two reporters to the same event.”
One tip that Puterbaugh offered was for the PR professionals, when contacted by a freelancer, to confirm whether the story has been assigned by an editor. That way, the source avoids having to provide similar information to a freelancer, and then to a different reporter assigned to the story by an editor. Two of the attendees at the PR Council meeting had that situation arise recently.
Other tidbits from the discussion:
- Almost all of the content that appears in the print editions is published first online. “The site comes first,” Puterbaugh said.
- One attendee inquired whether the Pioneer Press or Chicago Tribune had considered offering “red-eye” editions at suburban commuter train and bus stations. Puterbaugh said he liked the idea of reaching a “captive audience,” but that the cost of staffing sales teams at the stations would be prohibitive, compared to the potential return.
- The best quote from the meeting was, “If you mess with the crossword puzzles, you will hear about it.” Puterbaugh said that was a lesson learned when Pioneer Press editors experimented with adding and removing content.
This was a productive meeting and an excellent re-cap. It will be interesting to see how the three products (Trib, Pioneer and News-Sun)continue to evolve, converge and differentiate themselves. Unless there is that distinct product for the later two, the Trib trumps them and therefore, can potentially hurt subscriptions. I’m sure it is a delicate balance as John indicated at the PR Council of Lake County meeting.
Yes, Anne, even a couple of our attendees said they currently subscribe to at least two of the publications, and have noticed the same content in both. At some point, they will need to decide whether they can get the news from just one of the newspapers, and then it will be a decision as to which one wins!