OK, it was funny that Par Ridder’s staff memo about graphics guru Monica Moses leaving the Star Tribune appeared on Jim Romenesko’s site before it was sent out to the paper’s employees. But hey, maybe we should see that as a concession to harsh reality. In a prolonged information vacuum, Ridder must know that his (new) staff long ago learned to search outside the building for the first and final words about their fate.
But what gets the skeptical dogs’ heads shaking is Ridder, a sales guy, trying to slide the old “readership increase” babble passed a group of professional skeptics, people who really do deserve to be fired if they ever fall for sleight-of-hand jargon as lame as that.
As EVERYONE who works in newspapers today knows, readership has no monetary value. Increased “readership” is impossible to prove. On the other hand, you can prove circulation, which is why the Star Tribune’s advertisers buy based on paid circulation numbers, not some fanciful, in-the-best-of-all-possible-worlds guess-timate.
But there was young Par, still getting his bearings after abandoning the Pioneer Press for a sturdier vessel, trying to impress his ever more skeptical staff that Ms. Moses’ seven-figure, umpteen month redesign of the Star Tribune, which debuted to a shrug, at best, in October of ’05 … increased readership.
For the record, using numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulation and published in the Star Tribune, circulation has DECLINED since the redesign. The Sunday edition is every paper’s cash cow. In 2004 the Sunday Strib had a circulation of 671,275. In 2005 it was 655,198. By 2006 it had dropped to 596,333.
Ridder would have his employees believe that despite selling far fewer papers MORE people were reading them. If you believe that I’ve got an ’83 Yugo with a salvage title that I’m telling you is one hot chick magnet.
I’m not arguing that the fall off that last cliff was Moses’ fault, only that a new boss with shaky credibility — Ridder’s principal claim to competence is his proven ability to supervise downsizing and decontenting — does himself no favors with a restless, anxious staff like the Strib’s by serving up stale, transparent bullshit.
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