Advice for NYT and WSJ on San Francisco editions

Posted by Liz Webber on September 9, 2009 at 3:27 PM

Last week, The New York Times wrote that both it and the Wall Street Journal were planning to start special editions for the San Francisco area. Searchblog's John Battelle, a San Francisco Bay Area resident, is intrigued by the idea, but offers certain caveats if the newspapers hope to achieve success.

First, Battelle notes that those living in the Bay Area tend to only care about local news that directly impacts their town or neighborhood. Even stories about the next town over can leave residents yawning. With that in mind, Battelle suggests the best bet for the Times and Journal is to highlight national stories with a local focus, specifically in the following categories: technology/Internet, biotech/health, sustainability, Asia, real estate and sports.

Even if the national heavyweights manage to win over readers, Battelle questions whether or not the local advertising is there to support a localized edition. He asserts that a lot of area businesses have already moved their ad dollars online, which begs to question what kind of Internet presence the NYT and WSJ are planning for their San Francisco ventures.

As far as the Times is concerned, it seems unlikely there would be much of a separate web presence when one looks at the recent merger of the International Herald Tribune website with NYTimes.com. Though the "global edition" of the NYT site differs from the US version, the two have the same format and offer much the same content. One can therefore hypothesize that even if there were a San Francisco-branded page, it would not diverge much from the main NYT site.

Though Battelle's suggestions hold merit, the realities of the proposed new editions may make them difficult to carry out. The Journal for its part only foresees one or two pages of Bay Area-specific coverage, not very much considering the overall size of the newspaper. And while Battelle admits he has long since canceled his NYT and WSJ subscriptions, the Times claims national papers sell better in San Francisco than elsewhere in the country.

Battelle's comments about Bay Area residents' only wanting to hear about their own communities suggests hyperlocal publications might be the most successful in garnering reader attention. With that in mind, as well as the fact that the regional San Francisco Chronicle has experienced considerable hardships this year, the city will be one to watch as different news sources compete to see who will best serve the community.

Source: Searchblog