Rumors, propaganda, and speculation have been increasing recently concerning the viability of the Argus Leader. There have been many rumors but little information coming from the source.

About a week ago South Dakota’s largest Daily reported in a very short article that there would be a staff reduction of about twenty. However this would only affect some ten or so persons (my numbers are from memory and thus approximate) as about half of the positions are currently vacant.  No names, no positions, no reasons, no further explanations – just not much information.

Contrast that to today’s edition with three front page stories (all newsworthy) about other organization just full of facts, statistics, and substantive information. The stories were the big story above the fold on the Sanford MertiCare merger, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission decision to proceed with a possible casino near Sioux Falls, and Morrell cutting thirty jobs at the Sioux Falls plant. In particular the Morrell story was loaded not only the facts surrounding the job cuts and those affected but a look at industry trends and interviews with economists and Morrell’s parent company.

There have been times when I have questioned news coverage, political bias of the editors, and their relationship with the business management. I have been told that there is a WALL between the newsroom and the business office. Hell, I have even been told that reporters do not even know who writes the headlines.

That is why it is surprising that news coverage of the several changes at the Argus is so sparse. While coverage of a possible Larchwood casino, Sanford, and Morrells is extensive, nary a peep of what is happening at the Argus. And yes what happens there is important to our community.

Sidebar – Really not because they are our prime source of news, or the best place to advertise but because they presently are part of the fabric that connects our community and helps to hold our government accountable (although many times they can get self-important and go overboard).

Surely the newsroom wants to hear about the changes more than even the community. Why aren’t the reporters telling us what is going on at the paper?  Perhaps it’s not such good news.

There have noticeable changes at the Argus Leader. First there was the makeover of the print edition, then a refocus on their brand; no longer the Argus Leader but Argus Leader Media. The old model died. The new model is missing important revenue producers. The new has basically few classified ads (hello Craigslist), few employment ads, few car ads, and fewer readers. (Few people less than forty years old read a paper.)

Their attempt to integrate their newsgathering with an Internet model was way too little, too late. Their attempt at blogging and podcasting have been miserable with the notable exceptions of when Dave Kranz was webcasting once a week from Kaladis, Terry Wooster (perhaps their best writer whom they pushed out) was podcasting daily from the Legislature, and currently the brilliant blogging and twittering by Terry Vandrovec.

On Monday mornings I go out to my driveway to retrieve my paper and invariably have to walk over to the neighbors to pick up the paper because the paper weighs so little it has literally blown away. Just this week the Sioux Falls Business Journal announced it was changing its format from a weekly to a bi weekly paper. Surely the Business Journal was an attempt to differentiate their product and produce additional revenue; but I always wondered why they just didn’t beef up the very poor business section in the daily Argus. Another change this week is the arrival of the Harrisburg Champion in my mailbox (free of charge). They took their “Harrisburg Champion” newspaper and simply converted it to what is essentially an advertiser. It’s a shonde that Lincoln County and the City of Harrisburg have to place their public notices in it.

Some of the persistent rumors are the Argus will continue to cut staff, they will be completely gone by the end of this year or the end of next year if things do not turn around, they are going Internet only and become a Weekly with just a Sunday paper, or that they are going Internet with four printed editions weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday). And these are just some of the rumors I’ve heard. If they want us to read them and trust them, why don’t they tell us what is going on?

Otherwise KELOland.com has kicked their butt. KELOland.com is the most accessed website in South Dakota second only to the State of South Dakota’s page. My guess is KELOland.com is profitable because they have great automall pages, employment pages, even obituaries. Simply put they are committed to the Internet and are putting significant emphasis on it and resources toward it. While their parent company, Young Broadcasting is in bankruptcy, I’ve got to believe they have a prosperous child in South Dakota.

Local Daily Newspapers as a model are dead. They really have to do something different to hang on. It doesn’t look like Argus Leader Media has figured it out soon enough.  

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