by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Reacting to hearsay about his passing, author Mark Twain famously once said something to the effect of “rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”
Like the rumors of Twain’s death, the rumors of the death of the newspaper industry have been rampant for some time, killed off by declining advertisement revenues and the emergence of the Internet.
If Lucy Talley, publisher of The Florida Times-Union, has any say in it, though, the Times-Union won’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“We’ll be here to print my obituary,” said Talley, addressing members of Meninak during its weekly meeting. “With that, we’ll be here to the end.”
Talley spoke to more than 80 members of the civic organization about the Times-Union and newspaper industry in general, informing the crowd of both the good and bad news during tough economic times.
While print circulation is down around 6 percent a year now, she said, the paper has taken advantage of technology and increased Web traffic for its site to around one million unique visitors a month.
There isn’t a lack of audience (a common misconception among the public) but there is a true problem: declining revenue.
Despite what readers and listeners read and hear regarding its status, the Times-Union is still a profitable business, she said.
That doesn’t make it immune to hard times or even harder, highly visible cuts and steps needed to survive.
“It’s not without a heavy heart, I promise you,” she said, later adding during the question-and-answer portion: “We’re not waiting until a three-alarm fire (breaks out) and then trying to put it out with a bucket.”
And while the business side of the news isn’t always cheery, Talley said she believed it’s news the public needs to know.
The impact and promotion of good news (or “Journalism of Hope”) is one of the initiatives the paper has undertaken for the future. Hoping to strike more of a balance, there will be a concentrated effort to report positive news within the community, said Talley.
Another initiative, what Talley called the largest project in years, will take the paper’s three education reporters and put them in the classroom to examine education from the inside and how students are taught “instead of simply reporting on a (Duval County Public) School Board meeting.”
Additionally, with the one-year mark of the Jacksonville Journey approaching, the paper will have a progress report on the programs affected by the initiative.
The importance of the newspaper industry was something Meninak members didn’t take lightly, as President Bunky Johnson referred to the medium as “truly the lifeblood of the community.”
Member Ted Pappas said he appreciated the upfront and candid approach of Talley’s presentation, while expressing his disappointment in hearing of a circulation downturn. Still, he was happy to hear of the great success the paper’s online entity, jacksonville.com, has had by being ranked the No. 4 newspaper Web site of the nation’s top 100 in circulation.
During her speech, Talley was adamant the Times-Union would survive and continue to have an important role within the community. Pappas said he believed she’s the right one for the job.
“I was very impressed,” said Pappas. “She’s climbed so far up and I think she’s the one for the job.”
The next Meninak meeting will be Monday with guest speaker Peter Bragan Jr., Jacksonville Suns owner and president.
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