One of the benefits of having a somewhat underground publication is that I am so far from being in the same league as the other in-town newspapers and magazines, that I can provide an outsiders opinion of them. On occasion, Orlando's local news people go all Schindlers List on one another and start sniping from their respective balconies. It's all so unnecessary. As newsmen, they should be observing a cooperating with each others editorial intents in the spirit of providing their readers with informing and rich content. I say this because I do not want this piece to be interpreted in any way as an attack on the other local publications. The krill never teases the whale. Let's take a look.

The Orlando Weekly

Issue Date: October 15'th through 21'st
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Times Shamrock (Scranton, PA)
Ads: 128 (not counting text classifieds, which are considerable)
Stories and content: 36 (and that's a very generous rough count)
Facebook Friends/Fans: 237
Myspace Friends: 1837
Strengths: Billy Manes, Jeffrey C. Billman (when he makes the time), extensive calendar section, Strong editorial support of adult entertainment and activities.
Weakness: Seems to prefer the notoriety of causing trouble as opposed to initiating real social, cultural and political change.

Without a doubt the Weekly is the town crier of the art's, music and political scenes. Their op-ed style of journalism is as witty and endearing as it is informative. Based on this, the Orlando Weekly possesses what can be described as the most fiercely loyal readership in Central Florida. Though they are no longer locally owned, it seems The Weekly has the benefit of an extremely generous and forgiving parent company in the Times Shamrock out of Pennsylvania, a publishing company that owns dozens of locally operated publications around the country.

I'm guessing Times Shamrock are the ones that foot the bill whenever the Weekly gets into hot water with their arch rivals the MBI over their coverage of anti-adult activities on the part of the city of Orlando. The only real problem the weekly seems to have is that it can feel a bit gossipy. Some of the articles and stories from lesser writers than Mister Manes have the editorial feel of a friend of yours saying "Ooh child, you ain't never gonna believe this!." Content such as that can sometimes remove the publication from the old adage applied to local papers around the world. "Good readers, read. Great writers, lead."

Axis Magazine

Issue Date: October
Page Count: 40
Publisher:
Ads: 42
Stories and content: 15 (including calendar section)
Facebook Friends/Fans: 1,550
Myspace Friends: 5281
Strengths: Eye candy, Calendar Section.
Weakness: Lack of local news and information. Trying and failing to be Maxim Magazine.

While Axis Magazine plays the social networking game well (as you can see above) and keeps us informed of big ticket local music events, the content seems bland. Their actual pen on the page stories and article are few and far between. Not to be rude, but the only people that seem to be doing any real work at Axis are the girls in tight tank tops, the people who photograph them and their ad salespeople. They're promotion of local shows is second to none but they seem to favor the national acts rolling through. It would be nice to see a local magazine dedicated solely to music and nothing else, but Axis leaves it's readers wanting.

The Watermark

Issue Date: October 15'th though October 28'th
Page count: 60
Publisher: Watermark Media, Inc.
Ads: 129 (rough count, excluding classifieds)
Stories and content: 40 (rough count including calendar)
Facebook Friends/Fans: 527
Myspace Friends: 775
Strengths: Strong Social Activism for the LBGT community, Content retains focus.
Weakness: Overly stylistic, Bad content to advertising ratio.

We have a lot of admiration for The Watermark. Usually when a publication has been out as long as they have, it suffers a loss of editorial focus. This could not be said for this paper as they appear to have picked a strong regional market. The gay and lesbian population in Central Florida continues to grow, and with that growth brings several questions and issues for the LBGT community, and The Watermark has performed exceedingly well in the role of advocate, promoter and defender of rights and activities for it's readers.

The Orlando Sentinel

Issue Date: October 22'nd (selected for its comparable page count to other local papers during the period.)
Page Count: 66
Publisher: Tribune Co. (Chicago)
Ads: 88 plus 3 ad inserts and 7 classifieds pages
Stories and content: 103 (not counting funny pages)
Facebook Friends/Fans: 812
Myspace Friends: 1199
Strengths: Sports, Obituaries, Headline Local News.
Weakness: Too many wire pieces, lack of support and listings for local events and issues.

After 133 years in operation, the Sentinel seems to be suffering from the same lack of ingenuity in the face of slumping subscription and ad sales and the rise of online readership. In fact, the saddest job in Orlando belongs to the Sentinel salespeople standing outside 7-11's and grocery stores trying to sell Sentinel subscriptions.

Last year, the Sentinel let go of 16 newsroom employees, the first stage of a purge of 20 percent of the paper's editorial staffers, thus the rise in wire pieces and Associated Press content. While the Orlando Sentinel and it's other big-city counterparts focus heavily on local content, it's always been favorable to have the local writers perspective on national topics. Local journalism is an integral part of a city's cultural identity, and cuts such as these are the very issues that put our city on the fast track to a cultural washout.

While informative on local sports and national issues, the Orlando Sentinel has become so obsessed with the bottom line that they're no longer the best representation of local journalism. Bring back the local staffers, listen to what the readers want and cut back on the useless print issues and you could be the bastion of information the local consumer is seeking once more.

The apocalypse of local publishing

In march of 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one of the city's oldest newspapers, announced it was ceasing print editions and going to reformat into an online only publication. The same thing is happening to local papers all across the world. It's developments such as these that force editors and journalists to consider where local publishing now stands as providers of service to our communities, and where our future lay as an industry.

The recent opinion of the old guard of the press and advertisement industries is that we are facing the death of the publication as we have known it. They cite the reason as the rise of the internet and social networking and it turning every blogger into a would be journalist, and that the intelligence of the reader and the constitution of their long cherished industry suffers for it.

On this note, many would submit that the rise of the internet and social networking is no more the death of the local publication than the introduction of the automobile was to transit. When large publications talk about the death of their industry, they are referring to the death of advertising. What we used to read in our papers, watch on our televisions and hear on our radios, defined what we considered as viable products and services, and newspapers and magazines enjoyed marketing that control to local business. Money was made, decade after decade, and then the print and web ad boom of the early two thousands brought about an unintended effect. What some would argue that movies and games had done for violence, the publishing industry had done for it's main product. They had made the users numb to it.

In a bar seven or so years ago, I watched an ad salesman play a game with a girl that he was explaining the fundamentals of advertising to. She would say how many fingers he was holding up and he would cycle them. Five, two, three, four, three, three, two, four, three, five, one, three, five.... and then he put his hand behind his back and quickly asked her the first number that came to her mind. Her answer was three and sure enough he had three digits poking from his hand beyond her sight.

Presentation and repetition. He loved doing this little trick to display how advertising can manipulate the decision making process using those two simple methods. With the future of the industry on my mind the other day, I tried the same trick with a someone I met at the bar. In just the same sequence I described above, I flashed my fingers, put my hand behind my back and threw a single finger down. The first number that came to his mind, was one.

The point that ad salesman made for the time was accurate. His little test also served to prove my theory on the modern consumer. When he repeated the number three so many times, he flooded that girls mind and it was as simple as training a dog to bark on command. My test subject, an internet customer service provider, picked the only unique number from the display. One appeared one time. It's no longer repetition and presentation that reach them. It's who is singular. They choose whoever stands out from the rest.

The golden rule of local publishing used to be the 70/30 law. Your publication was to never exceed the ratio of 70 percent content and 30 percent advertising. Then 70/30 became 50/50, in favor of profit. A large number of national and large local publications now run 70/30 in the wrong direction.

The death and subsequent reinvention of advertising as previously practiced will cause a lot of print publications to cease production. While most in the industry will mourn the loss of a bygone era, others will recognize what is developing in local media is a more genuine and organic a resource for keeping the public informed than has ever existed before. Journalists now have the opportunity to respond to reader opinion as opposed to speculating on it, and the internet is to thank for this inclusion.

The Final Word

Orlando's publications have some issues (no pun intended) and I feel you can compare the situation to that of an injured man, forced to learn to walk again. It's happening all across the world as a new age, with a new reader and a new market rearing it's head, and everyone's just trying to keep up.

Of the 4 papers we evaluated, My personal opinion is that the Watermark holds the title as the most consistently informative publication. Their focus and dedication to their readers and the issues facing them are second to none and I eagerly await every issue to hit the stands and their site.

The Orlando Weekly retains it's position as the most influential in town in terms of development and distribution of local culture and opinion. Their star writers rise to the status of local celebrities and the stories and articles they run are constantly discussed in Orlando's homes, bars and business's. They are still the one stop read for Orlando's underground culture.

As for Axis Magazine.... I could take it or leave it. Their focus seems to be a bit narrowed and the boobs, beer and bikini showcase is insulting to the intelligence of the local reader and consumer. Not a fan.

In regards to the Orlando Sentinel, the diagnosis would be that Tribune Co. needs to take the handcuffs of the papers editorial staff. The bottom line should be at the bottom of a newspapers priorities and serving it's community should be atop all others and leave local journalism to local journalists.

For now, that's all the news that's fit to print. Keep reading Orlando.