Today Newspapers, RIP 1 year ago

To some of my friends back in Dallas, it's time to, belatedly by a day or two, mourn the one-year anniversary of the demise of Today Newspapers. That said, more than just ownership issues were involved with its end, though of course, that was a problem. But, a market that just wasn't ready to support journalism gets the lack of a newspaper it deserves. And, the lack of circulation numbers (along with the inflated ones at Focus Daily News) show south suburban Dallas just didn't want to support much in the way of a newspaper.

My, what a formerly unmotivated Today Newspapers employee can do

If Today Newspapers had had as many ads on its website as The Suburban now does, it never would have folded.

On the other hand, since it has no real, and definitely no really fresh, news on the site, those ads may be selling at bargain basement rates.

South suburban Dallas newspaper follies

First, the quasi-newspaper that’s attempting to replace Today? Well, the graphic artist/pagebuilder got a real job, and I don’t think he’s been replaced. And, I don’t think they’ve found someone to fill the very part-time editor’s slot that’s been open since I moved on. (I would have taken a real job soon enough, had the Suburban not gotten huffy about my “three months’ viability” and decided to move on.

As it is, we’re not quite to the three-month mark, and my prediction looks pretty much in the ballpark.

But, that’s not the real folly.

Ellis County’s “favorite” nuttbar/“journalist,” who later decided to inflict himself on southern Dallas County, one Joey Dauben, is in jail in New Hampshire, awaiting extradition to Texas on a variety of felony charges, related, as one would suspect, to his more edgy blogging.

Of course, per his blog, you get the usual, namely, when other people are apparently doing wrong, they’re crooked/chiseling/Communist or some combination of the above.

But, (scare quotes), “When I, Joey Dauben, appear to have done wrong, I actually haven’t. It’s all part of a conspiracy to take me down. Besides, the rules only apply to those other people anyway, not me.”

I’ve actually seen this type of attitude before, in folks like active alcoholics in denial. And, “denial” is probably a polite word for young Mr. Dauben.

A felony criminal record, and the loser, at the federal district court level, of at least one cybersquatting lawsuit and counting, he’s definitely on the less grounded fringes of “libertarianism.”

Assuming he’s tried and convicted (no, he won’t plea to anything, you can bet on that), will he learn from this?

No.

Per his blog, he appears to have fallen close to the family tree, and that’s where he’ll remain, as long as he’s in denial.

Q: How is shooting Joey Dauben different from shooting fish in a barrel?

A: The fish are smart enough to recognize they’ve been shot.

Say good night, Joey.

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Update, Aug. 22, 2021: Besides "Sunflower" and his other groupies who trailed him, at the Ellis County Observer, Dauben had as one of his flunkies a guy named Ali Akbar, who also allegedly was working on the Texas effort for John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Today, you know him as "Stop the Steal" thief Ali Alexander. Dauben, per this piece, back then thought Akbar (already then a convicted felon) was shady as shit, claiming that Akbar/Alexander had talked back then of ways to rig an election. And, if Joey Dauben thought that ...

 

Update, April 17, 2023: Akbar/Alexander now accused of soliciting "dick pics" from followers of Nick Fuentes. Says he's been "battling" same-sex attraction. Uses "so gay" as a slur. Statement, via Twitter, claims he's done nothing illegal. Other than possibly breaking the law if any of these were of minors (and hence highly illegal), sounds like he needs to stop battling and start accepting being bisexual. Plus, it's all about the money. Milo Yiannopoulos (THAT Milo) ratted on him after he and Fuentes cut him out of a "potentially lucrative" position with Kanye West's presidential run. (Was this 2020, or is he looking at another in 2024? YE gads.) And, rats like Marjorie Taylor Greene are trying to dissociate from both. 

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Akbar/Alexander new update, Feb. 16, 2025: More on the Alexander is allegedly gay. Gives a whole new angle to his connection to Dauben. 

Goodbye, Best Southwest

This is along the lines of the farewell column I would have written at Today Newspapers, had we had more than one day’s notice of closing.

Since I have been offered, and accepted, a copy editor’s job with the Odessa American, I will be leaving this area shortly. I will miss some things about the Best Southwest in particular. I will miss more things about Dallas in general, above all, the arts and cultural life. And, I will miss some friends both in the BSW and elsewhere in Dallas.

Right now, though, I will focus on the Best Southwest.

Goodbye, especially political leaders. And, a few parting thoughts.

While Cedar Hill is doing well with attracting retail, and Duncanville is adding a few new stores, retail alone is not the answer for continued economic growth. Nor is a mix of retail plus “traditional” light industrial and offices. Cedar Hill is fortunate enough to have a couple of more upscale office sites, but even that’s not enough.

Think and dream bigger. Medical technology. Anything related to the computer industry. Think outside boxes. Don’t believe you always have to settle for scraps, compared to the rest of Dallas.

That’s what’s happened for too long, as is, whether from daily newspaper coverage, or regional economic development, or other things.

Second, insist on better residential development standards. Too many new houses all around the Metroplex, but especially down here, are energy-leaking big boxes that don’t even look that good. Toughen your building codes to insist on higher minimum insulation standards, thermal windows and other green features. Insist new developments use a minimum percentage of recycled materials. Other cites, suburbs on the other side of the Metroplex do this; why won’t you?

You’ll get quality residents moving into quality homes, because they’re quality homes, not quantity homes. And, if growth slows for a few years, so what? As nature philosopher Ed Abbey said, and has been quoted by me before:

Growth for growth’s sake is the theology of the cancer cell.

Learn to settle political differences both peacefully and honestly, especially in Duncanville. Move beyond the smallness of the bad side of small-town viewpoints.

I’m sorry that Today Newspapers can’t be with you to encourage, push, prod and coax you political and civic leaders toward those goals and ends. I hope, as both a former resident and former Today editor, you move in that direction without needing so much encouraging, pushing, prodding or coaxing, but because you have vision, courage, intuition and a sense of the main chance.

Otherwise, goodbye and good luck.
-END-

Personal thoughts on south suburban Dallas newspapers

First, the good.

Going to a free throw gets rid of the horrible cost of second-class postage and otherwise reduces overhead. The tabloid size sets it apart from the old Today and the Focus.

Now, the not so good. I think trying to cover Grand Prairie, Midlothian and the Best Southwest is just biting off too much. And, I think the paper has its smallest ad sizes set too small. Finally, there’s probably going to be some trust issues, especially related to the publisher.

As for publishing? Well, we had moving-related glitches last week. We’ll have an issue out this week. We may go two weeks before another.

Seriously? I give this about a 50-50 shot of doing anything beyond three months.

Update: Several points.

First, if I am being too pessimistic on the Suburban, great. Obviously, I'd love for it (us?) to fully succeed, even if I am no longer there. But, it's not just me who says it's biting off more than it can chew on territory/coverage; I've heard similar comments from other people with as much or more background in the business as I have. I could maybe see Midlothian plus the three most advertising Best Southwest cities, with getting what we can editorially and adwise out of Lancaster.

But, Grand Prairie? Stupid. First, those car ads will NOT be back at all for 18 months, and only at a diminished rate then, with the possible exception of snagging a "cash for clunkers" ad or two.

Second, GP is as big as, or bigger, than all four BSW cities. It's difficult to do a paper JUST on it.

When Today tried it, it did not try it the way I thought it was going to be tried - no first issue until we had X number of column inches of ads signed up on 13-week contracts, credit card numbers in hand.

There are a couple more lesser issues I may tackle in a future post.

(Update, Aug. 14: Everyone who has given me feedback on my being fired by the Suburban says it's ridiculous.)

Sacked by the Suburban - canned by SoDallas starter paper

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about my estimates of the likelihood of success of the Suburban, a new startup newspaper in south suburban Dallas, making an attempt to replace the recently-closed Today Newspapers.

I updated that post, and then a friend and former Today employee picked it up and linked to it on his blog, which focuses on south suburban Dallas news, especially Duncanville news.

Well, the publisher of The Suburban, Lisa Bradley, got more than a bit bent out of shape, and decided to fire me; Katy and Ann Hubener of Crescent Real Estate, providing seed money for the venture, agreed.

True, it was not the smartest, most aware thing in the world to do, but I said it. And, yes, it surprised other people whom I told that I was getting fired over that. That said, if I had offered the advice in advance, in private, to one of the Suburban financial supporters, it probably would have been dismissed, anyway. So, here goes.

Update, Aug. 13: Everyone who has given me feedback on my being fired by the Suburban says it's ridiculous. If that means negative PR, so be it.

More seriously, 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.

I don’t claim to be irreplaceable; the Suburban may do better without me. But, I do know that a lot of Today readers liked me, even when they didn’t always agree with my editorial columns.

If I’m in for a penny, I’m in for a pound. Let’s look at the background of why I offered my estimates of 50-50 chances of success in three months.

First, a bit of Today background.

Today’s parent, the original Suburban, went bankrupt in 1989, let’s remember. Maybe that’s part of why Duncanville’s Royce Brown sold the old Suburban back in 1985. If anybody from Duncanville who knows more on that has information, fire away.

Dick Collins had subsidized the Today group for years. I don’t know if he officially charged rent, for the right hand to bill the left, at Today’s DeSoto office, when he owned both office building and newspapers. Later, after he sold the papers, I believe the rent was below-market/subsidized in some way, and he continued to invest money in the paper.

He continued to do so even after it moved to Duncanville, after he sold Today’s DeSoto office building, at least at first, I think.

And, it still lost money, even with his investment.



Even with belt-tightening that already began back in 2004, when the old People section was canned and we let an editorial position go, by attrition.

And, beyond losing money, it still has debts in various places, including a certain amount to the federal government.

It was still losing money even after all four Best Southwest papers were consolidated into one, and the final round of editorial staff slashing happened. Part of that was recession-related, but not that much.

I’ll take a venture that, on average, over the last 12-18 months of its life, the paper was losing as much as $2,500 a month, and that’s a conservative guess indeed. I don’t know exactly what Today paid in rent for its Duncanville office, but I’m making a rough internal guess.

Lisa Bradley herself, still having at least one uncashable Today paycheck in hand, probably knows even better than I do, from talking to Today owner Kim Petty, just what the situation was like. Or maybe she didn’t inquire that much.

It’s possible that Katy Hubener’s offering free office space, the paper being a free throw (though mileage costs and driver[s] pay at least partially offset the cost of a second-class postage permit) and having a part-time editorial person, may not be enough to fully cover that difference.

But, what news will you get for that? Let alone what sports, once school starts? (And, I told Katy that I was surely the only Today longer-term editorial staffer of the past five years or more who would have done that myself.)

Next, Today’s presence in the market, or ANY newspaper’s presence in the market.

Let’s be honest. South suburban Dallas simply doesn’t support a newspaper.

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.

The “Neighbors” Friday tab of the Dallas Morning News? Half the ads in its aren’t 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.

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.

Now, the circulation side.

In one interview I’ve had since Today closed, I told the people who headed that newspaper group, 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. At the same time, I’ve seen the pages the papers in their group pushed, with the ads they had, and I roll my eyes at how few ads we had, and pages.

South Suburban Dallas businesses simply aren’t buying that many ads.

The Best Southwest is bad enough. And Grand Prairie is worse. If businesses really bought ads in even close proximity to a good small-town paper, a Best Southwest-only paper should easily have 30 pages a week, and Grand Prairie at least 36. In this economic climate. Eighteen months ago, those numbers could have been 36 and 42 pages. And, I’m being conservative, yet allowing for this being a suburban area, not a free-standing small town.

As for trust issues, there’s first the trust issues of Today closing on one day’s notice. Yes, I could have kept my mouth shut with the Suburban, and told Hubener if she still wanted to keep me on, that I could do so in the future. But, after being, in all likelihood, the biggest Today cheerleader in the last remnants of its editorial department its last few months, I said I couldn’t do that any more.

Anyway, back to The Suburban and what it carries over from Today.

Getting advertisers to pay up-front on credit card? My understanding was that, before Today closed, everybody there was supposed to be getting put on credit cards. Didn’t happen there, probably won’t at the Suburban.

But, if some of Duncanville’s city or economic development corporation issues are that “iffy,” well, find non-nutbar alternatives to run for the Duncanville City Council. If Katy Hubener wants change and is tired of state representative campaigns, she can start smaller and do that herself. It might actually turn out to be less expensive than sinking money into the Suburban.

Oh, and directly contravening my thought that they’re biting off too much, the Suburban has added “Waxahachie” to cities of coverage in its masthead.

Finally, to not be too anti-sentimental, Duncanville existed before the original Suburban did. And it will in the future, whatever happens in the way of a newspaper presence or not.

A good story on my newspaper’s demise

More in-depth, and with more nuance than The (MUST be capitalized) Dallas Morning News story, Brett Shipp of WFAA lets you know just what a community newspaper does and what it means.

Thanks, Brett.

And, he’s right about what a community newspaper does.

The small daily paper in the south Dallas suburbs, Focus Daily News? Doesn’t do obits. Or birth announcements. Or weddings. Or anniversaries. Or engagements.

And, I highly doubt owner Marlon Hanson will change that plan.

His primary purpose for his paper is, as a daily newspaper, to base his revenue on national advertising inserts.

So, if you want any of that “lifestyles” stuff, Best Southwest, and in the old-fashioned way of actually appearing in a newspaper, guess what? You have to pay Dallas Morning News rates for it.

I am now another journalist out of work

Today, with a day’s notice, my newspaper company, Today Newspapers, officially shut its doors. Since The Dallas Morning News is the god of local media, including for people south of the Trinity whoring after recognition, I give you its official version of the story.

I will have a series of blogs on details.

For people in the Dallas Metroplex, who may think the city of Dallas south of the Trinity is the dark side of the moon and the south suburbs are the planet Mars, besides the closed Today, there’s a five-day daily called Focus, while laughably, to be kind, claims a circulation of 33,000, but, to the best of my knowledge, has never been audited by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, will likely continue to print the minimum amount of news possible, even with a now-wide-open playing field.

The Snooze? Since for years, it’s ultimate goal and focus has been Collin County, no chance it expands its coverage down here.

And, so, southsiders, that’s your news coverage situation.

In the days ahead, I’ll have more of the specifics.
D