By Joe Boomgaard and
Nathan Peck | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

WEST MICHIGAN — While specific details remain elusive, the media landscape in many Michigan cities will be changing dramatically in 2012.

Starting in 2012, the newly formed MLive Media Group will only deliver printed editions of its West Michigan newspapers three days per week as it shifts to a digital delivery model. PHOTO:  JOE BOOMGAARD

Booth Newspapers — owner of daily newspapers including The Grand Rapids Press, Muskegon Chronicle, Kalamazoo Gazette, Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Flint Journal, Bay City Times and Saginaw News, as well as news websites AnnArbor.com and MLive.com and the printed Advance Weeklies publications — announced on Nov. 2 that it was scaling back daily home delivery of all of its newspapers to three days a week in favor of a more digital delivery model.

Starting on Feb. 2, daily electronic editions of the newspapers will be available to subscribers. The newspapers will be printed on a daily basis, but they will only be available at a limited number of newsstands.

The weekly West Michigan Business Review will no longer be printed as of Jan. 1.

A new company, MLive Media Group, controls the assets of each of the publications and will oversee content, sales, marketing and operations. Another new entity, Advance Central Services Michigan, will handle production, distribution and other back office functions.

A report on MLive.com stated that current newspaper offices in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Kalamazoo and Flint could be sold as the local operations look for smaller new hub offices.

In the wake of the restructuring announcement, sources tell MiBiz that MLive Media Group issued a significant number of layoff notices to newsroom employees — most of them with many years of experience and holding senior positions. Sources said that some employees were terminated, while others would be given the opportunity to apply for positions in the new company.

When asked about the status of employee layoffs — including his position — and the potential sale of the Kalamazoo Gazette’s building, Gazette Publisher Jim Stephanak referred all inquiries to Dan Gaydou, president of MLive Media Group and publisher of The Grand Rapids Press. Repeated calls to Gaydou were not returned as of press time.

Jobs postings for MLive Media Group include positions for more traditional reporters versed in multimedia reporting and for content engagement specialists, who “will manage and maintain (the) news hub’s presence in social media and emerging platforms,” among other duties.

Local business owners and communications professionals who work regularly with the Booth papers are girding for new challenges in the wake of newsroom personnel changes and the move to digital delivery.

Mary Ann Sabo, owner of Sabo Public Relations LLC and a former Grand Rapids Press business reporter, expressed concern that a revolving door of journalists in and out of news organizations in the region will impact her ability to get her clients’ stories told fairly and accurately in both good times and bad.

“I make it a point to develop relationships with the reporters covering my clients so when a tough time comes along, I know who I’m working with,” Sabo said. “There has been a lot of turnover in the broadcast news recently; print has been much more stable. I want all media outlets to be strong. All of them serve different, but vital purposes.”

The changes at Booth Newspapers are a reflection of a tumultuous time for many media companies nationwide. Printed daily newspaper circulation has been in a slow decline for years, and advertising revenues have been negatively affected by the recession, in particular by decreases in spending from automotive and real estate companies.

“These are changing times, but from the numbers we’ve seen, the audiences are bigger than they’ve ever been; it just might not be traditional hold-it-in-your-hand newspapers, per se,” said Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager at Michigan Press Association. “People rely on newspapers as a source of news, and they can even deliver it faster (online).”

Advertising in online platforms still trails the spending in the printed product. The landscape also has many more options in both traditional and new media. Still, many media companies remained profitable, but not at levels shareholders demanded, causing many organizations to restructure as they pursued higher returns.

Jeff Lambert, president and managing partner of public relations and investor relations firm Lambert Edwards & Associates Inc., said the overall media market is struggling with online versus “offline” platforms, each of which has strengths that need to be accounted for to deliver effective communications for clients.

“The announcement doesn’t provide a lot of clarity as to their strategy going forward,” Lambert said. “We’re supportive of innovation, but (we’re left with questions).”

The changes to the daily media landscape mean businesses could have to rethink how they disseminate their messages and advertise to the public. Mike Lloyd, executive director of Broadway Grand Rapids and former managing editor of The Grand Rapids Press, said the “explosion” of options means that many companies don’t have to take a shotgun approach of just reaching the widest audience. Instead, they can target their messages to outlets that reach an intended audience.

“I am a media buyer in my new job. Having come from the Press, I have a loyalty to the product, but I have a business and fiduciary responsibility to the product I’m trying to sell,” Lloyd said. “It is much more challenging for any retail operation today to find where its audience goes for information. There are so many more channels or arteries — there’s been an explosion of opportunities for audiences to get information. It’s not a backhand to the Press, but I look at it and say, ‘If I put an ad in, will it get people to buy tickets?’ Or, am I better off somewhere else? The challenge is: where?”

As news holes shrink and fewer people are involved in the act of traditional news-gathering as a result of layoffs, companies have fewer consistent options to reach their intended audiences, said Robin Luymes, two-time past president of the West Michigan Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and executive director of communications at Davenport University.

Luymes said niche publications should be more stable because their “smaller, more segmented readership” has a higher interest in the targeted, quality content the outlets provide. The trick for companies, advertisers and PR practitioners will be to identify which niche publication reaches the intended audience.

“PR professionals have to get creative in finding other ways of getting their (clients’) message out,” Luymes said. “One of the reasons this is happening is that the audience has already shifted. The ability to deliver news has not disappeared, but it’s gone online. … What’s happening in Grand Rapids and Michigan is … the next step in the progression to be an online society.”

Ginny Seyferth, president of Grand Rapids-based SeyferthPR, welcomed the changes, though it means considerable turnover at the Booth publications in West Michigan. For her clients, the focus on online news opens a much broader audience across MLive’s brands.

“Some may think it is sad, but I am thrilled because (MLive) gives us a statewide audience,” Seyferth said.

As she works with reporters at the new company, Seyferth admits that there will be considerably more work that will go into presenting her clients to the fourth estate, especially as it switches to new, oftentimes less experienced reporters. Even though her PR team will have to work harder and faster to get sources for reporters, she doesn’t question the ultimate quality of the reporting.

“Business has to sometimes go backward to go forward. The market will demand better writers on those digital platforms,” Seyferth said. “People are going to start wanting to be the best digital reporters in auto, in agribusiness. It will take a little correction time. The reality is that really, really great writers — the people who build a reputation as being the best in that digital market — the market will see the cream rise.”

Michigan Press Association’s McGraw said the turnover in the newsroom reminds her somewhat of what happened when term limits took effect for the State Legislature. In short, state government lost its institutional knowledge, long-standing relationships disappeared and a continuous slate of rookies keep joining the ranks.

“There will be a big learning curve,” she said of the new journalists stepping into both the organizations and the communities. “This is a big change all around.”