A gander on the future of south suburban Dallas media

A week or so ago, I took an in-depth look at the likelihood of survival of the Suburban, the attempt to restart a pseudo-edgy version of Today. (Tabloid-size format doesn’t make you “edgy”; ax-grinding just to grind axes makes you sound like a former Ellis County Press reporter.)

Now, I’m looking at the likely future success, or lack thereof, of other print media in south suburban Dallas.

That includes Focus Daily News, the Neighbors section of the Dallas Morning News, the News itself, and other venues.

First, this “against the wall” observation.

In newspaper job interviews I’ve had so far, plus talks with others who know the biz, the verdict is unanimous — even if you know how to run a newspaper, a suburban weekly is tougher than an exurban or rural community paper. And, folks at the Suburban don’t know how to run a newspaper, while part of the “competition” isn’t really a newspaper, part of it isn’t fully suburban, part of it, you have to question how it’s being run, and part of it isn’t a newspaper at all.

Details on all below the jump.


Marlon Hanson’s Focus? He claims his 33,000 circulation is audited, but didn’t tell me by whom. If it hasn’t been audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it ain’t that real. (And, I’ve looked for an ABC logo in the paper, from time to time.) And, I can do long division; at 33K circ, that’s better market penetration than the Dallas Morning News.

That said, in one recent interview at another newspaper company, started by the former top editor at the Dallas Times-Herald, with its executive editor being a former DTH higher-level editor, when I mentioned Mr. Hanson, formerly a national ad account manager at the DTH, they basically rolled their eyes. And once of them said the Focus was essentially a wrapper for inserts.

Yes, Hanson’s still making money. Mainly because Brett Shipp at WFAA has yet to do the story on it. (Or a lottery winner with a personal interest has yet to hire a lawyer.)

A decade ago, Hanson did have at least a bit of local news more than

The “Neighbors” Friday tab of the Dallas Morning News? Half the ads in its Best Southwest version aren’t even from the Best Southwest suburbs. In essence, other editions of “Neighbors” are subsidizing the BSW one. Maybe it still makes a profit. But, with an editor AND assistant editor both making more money than I did at Today, I doubt it. I really doubt it.

Plus, I’ve heard rumor that Belo is looking at yet more cuts. If you’ve seen the ads in a recent issue, or lack thereof, that shouldn’t surprise you.

So, how long will Belo continue to subsidize it from other regional versions?

And, even if that many people in the Best Southwest read “Neighbors” itself, do they actually read its staff’s blogs?

I doubt it. (No offense to my friend Loyd Brumfield.) Blogging by newspaper staff, like op-ed pages, as a prime source of advertising revenue, online circulation focus, or whatever, is a no-go. The New York Times found that out several years back when Times Select folded like a cheap tent.

And, beyond that, unless Loyd has more pressure than so far to increase news content in the tab, it’s largely reader-submitted feature stories.

Ellis County Press? It may do OK covering the white-flight folks in Ellis County.

But, by definition, those folks don’t live in southern Dallas County. The folks that do, whether white, black, or Hispanic, don’t want to read what ECP offers.

ECP is thin on coverage as is, and thin on real news at times instead of ax-grinding. (See top.)

So, it’s an exurban, not a suburban, paper, with no angle on suburbia.

The main pages of the Dallas Morning News? See “cuts” above, and note thinness of current staff. Note also the decade-old “Collin County plan.”

In short, the occasional world-class feature (the August home-rebuild story should take care of the next three months), and the more than occasional bad news story of hard news, and that’s it.

Now magazine? A monthly features magazine. No news.

Now, the circulation side.

In one interview I’ve had since Today closed, I told the people who headed that newspaper group, those two former Dallas Times-Herald editorial staffers, what the circ numbers were at Today’s individual papers before they consolidated into one, then closed and they rolled their eyes, but in a different way than over Marlon’s claims with the Focus.

Beyond that, as shown by “Neighbors,” south Suburban Dallas businesses simply aren’t buying that many ads. Yes, they bought more in Today, but that was with three ad salespeople, not one.

The best odds? Minority-oriented newspapers, perhaps.