Amid a deluge of criticism, Tampa Tribune increases to two sections of news content weekdays

It's not exactly like the end of New Coke.

But officials at the Tampa Tribune say they are revamping the newspaper again, less than a week after combining most of the news content into one section on weekdays. Starting Monday, the weekday newspaper will offer two sections of news and a classified section, after receiving thousands of complaints from readers who once enjoyed sharing separate sections with friends and family.

"It was a noble experiment, but we're going to back up a step," said Tribune executive editor Janet Coats. "People want sports in a separate section . . . they want to be able to hand sections around. Turns out, we had really disrupted the way people communicate with each other in the morning." See her note to readers today here.

On Monday, the paper will offer a front section with local news, national news and obituaries, a second section with sports and business news and a third section with classified ads, comics, puzzles and movie listings.

Other sections, such as the Monday Bucs Bonus section with football coverage, a Friday sports section and neighborhood news sections on Wednesdays will also continue. 

In addition to sharing sections, readers complained about the obituaries' location in the classified section of the original redesign. Other complaints, some featured on the paper's letters to the editor pages this week, criticized the shorter stories and briefs -- an approach Coats said would remain in the tweaked redesign.

"Apparently the folks who came up with the idea for New Coke have finally found employment designing newspapers," read one letter printed Wednesday, referring to the mid-'80s revamp of Coca-Cola, which the company abandoned in the wake of mass complaints. Coats estimated the newsroom received close to 3,000 calls criticizing the changes and 300 subscription cancellations.

The changes also highlight a central problem for most newspapers, caught amid the traditional demands of their core audience, the need to cut costs in a worsening economy and the habits of younger consumers. In Staten Island, the Advance newspaper got 1,500 complaints after discontinuing its Sunday TV book, despite the fact that many viewers now get scheduling information from on-screen TV guides or the Internet.

Indeed, as times get tougher for newspapers, it's easy to forget what the audience likes about them in the first place.

Coats had hoped to create a single news section that could allocate space according to news events of the day -- giving more space to sports when the Rays are in the news, but shrinking that space when other news stories emerge. Changing to a tabloid was not possible because of the difference in revenue between tabloid-size ads and traditional newspaper broadsheet, and competing with the St. Petersburg Times, a newspaper that still offered a more traditional structure was also difficult, Coats said. 

"What was different (about these complaints) was the level of passion -- this wasn't something people were going to adapt to," Coats said. "It's going to eat into my savings. But I knew when we did this, it could be something we'd have to modify."

Click below to see excerpts from Coats' memo to the Tribune staff (h/t to Nick Bergus' blog):   

*

* Our core audience loves the Tampa Tribune. It’s not just that they love newspapers; they love this one. St. Pete [Times] is not a true substitute for them – they want this paper. Any sense that the newspaper has become a commodity for those readers isn’t the case – they recognize and appreciate the distinctions between us and our print competition.

* The multiple section habit is deeply engrained. It’s clear that trying to change that habit through a single news section is not something readers are going to accept. As [Trib Managing Editor] Duke [Maas] said, we’ve interrupted the way our most loyal readers communicate with each other in the morning – through handing the paper back and forth and sharing items with each other.

* The Tribune has always been a strong sports paper, and that is a distinction for us. But the changes we’ve been making for the last year have tipped sports out of balance with the rest of the newspaper. While sports remains important, in a world where the economy is imploding and a presidential election is upon us, we’ve overemphasized that part of our content.

* The problems readers had with the changes had to do with sectioning and placement of some types of content. The alternative story presentation, shorter stories, and fewer jumps have not generated a strongly negative response.

So, am I sorry we tried this? Hell no. We live in a time that calls for making some bold moves. This one was a move perhaps ahead of its time; it certainly was ahead of what our readers are ready to accept. We’ve learned from it, the story format is working (we’re actually hearing some positives about that) and we’re going to respond quickly. This is the first test for our audience-focused newsroom; we’re going to listen to what our audience is telling us instead of trying to just outlast the complaints.

Comments

[rocky]

If you really are Vernon Bradford, what is your brother's name and in what town is he living? If you can't or won't answer, I know your post is a fraud.

[Vernon Bradford]

I am ashamed and mortified to admit in public or private that I aonce was a local news reporter and capital bureau chief of the Tampa Tribune. Excuse me noow, but I must step outside and barf.

[Wenalway]

Janet Coats should be fired immediately. Every day she stays is a day that newspapers show they have lost their way.

Janet Coats should be fired.

[It's the audience, stupid!]

re: "Who cares what some 16 year old blogger has to say? It isn't the MTV crowd who buys these papers and ads. Just like TV, trying for the 18-34 year olds when it's the 40 and up who are doing the buying."

Above is the best comment of the day.

Why do newspapers, with their print editions, continue to try to please the people (early 40s and under) who long ago transferred their loyalties to the Web?

By doing this, by going after readers who aren't there, newspapers are focusing on the stuff - gossip, celebrity, stories on teenyboppers - that just serves to scare away the older readers who are still inclined to be loyal to print newspapers.

So they're trying to serve the readers who already left for the Internet, and simultaneously pissing off the readers who still prefer ink-on-paper.

It's a screwed-up way of thinking, and Janet Coats isn't the only one in the newspaper industry who has yet to figure this out.

[been there, seen it]

Janet "Weaver" Coats would be considered a perfect example of the Peter Principle, expect her glib tongue and skillful evasion of difficult situations by telling people what they want to hear instead of the truth have allowed her to rise a few levels ABOVE her level of incompetence.

I hope someday, somewhere, someone will publicly pronounce that this empress has no clothes - and no scruples.

[been there, seen it]

Janet "Weaver" Coats would be considered a perfect example of the Peter Principle, expect her glib tongue and skillful evasion of difficult situations by telling people what they want to hear instead of the truth have allowed her to rise a few levels ABOVE her level of incompetence.

I hope someday, somewhere, someone will publicly pronounce that this empress has no clothes - and no scruples.

[been there, seen it]

Janet "Weaver" Coats would be considered a perfect example of the Peter Principle, expect her glib tongue and skillful evasion of difficult situations by telling people what they want to hear instead of the truth have allowed her to rise a few levels ABOVE her level of incompetence.

I hope someday, somewhere, someone will publicly pronounce that this empress has no clothes - and no scruples.

[former Tribber]

This has happened for decades. Media General wants to save money, so they mandate moves meant to save money. It happened with stock listings, which hacked off the core readership. They ordered cuts in content 11 years that the Tribune initially tried to fob off with an ad campaign called, "Expanding your paper, expanding your world." That Orwellian experiment died in a staff meeting in which reporters and editors shouted it down as a lie. There was a Saturday bulldog edition that failed because circulation never got the papers to the right stores on time. The same thing happened with a special sports publication that fizzled. Many of the failures could be traced to faulty business execution. Every time, though, it was the newsroom that got blamed, and the people responsible for the problems got promoted.

In another market, it might not be as obvious. But the Tribune has to fight an adversary that doesn't have to make money. While the Times has financial problems, too, they don't affect its overall mission as much. So, as the Tribune casts about trying to make it through a terrible economy, each decision makes it worse when compared to the Times. Now it's in a death spiral.

[rocky]

It was a mistake and it was rectified with alacrity. The Trib, in many respects, has surpassed the ethically-challenged SPT. Since I spent my career in the media, I can say that as far as content is concerned, the Trib is unequivocally superior. Some of you may prefer the Times, probably out of habit or some misguided geograhical loyalty, but you are not reading a better paper.

The reader revolt was remarkable. Trib messed up big time by not researching the changes before they did them. Readers are cancelling their subscriptions in droves. It will be dubbed the biggest marketing screw up since New Coke. You can move the sections all you want but the content still stinks. Who cares what some 16 year old blogger has to say? It isn't the MTV crowd who buys these papers and ads. Just like TV, trying for the 18-34 year olds when it's the 40 and up who are doing the buying.

[Bob]

A good point Jon: "The Tribune was good a decade ago. Now it's so lazy that it usually waits for the Times to break the news first, then prints a follow up one day late like it's news." I used to buy both papers daily. And I noticed this again and again. The Times would have it first, and the Tribune would follow the next day. This happened on several of the recent Buddy Johnson stories.

But you also say: "why would people pay for the Trib's useless Sunday edition when it costs twice as much as the Times?" The ONLY reason I buy a Sunday Tribune is because the TV listings magazine is so much easier to read than the Times' version. Times please change your TV grid so the stations go down and the show times go across instead of the reverse as you have it now. It is so hard to read.

[John]

The Times IS a left-wing People's Daily but you have a much better web page than the Trib. Also, the last time I read the Trib print version, each inside page was about 40% ads

[Mike]

To Bill: If you think the Trib is a conservative paper, you're just ranting without any idea. The Trib loves Maureen Dowd and likes to reprint her article often. That's enough for any conservative to stop reading it. And, Bill, if you don't know who Maureen Dowd is, it proves my point about you, man.

[beltwaybandit]

Coats is unbelievably naive, or possibly just stupid. How do we know that?

Read her memo excerpts to the staff:

"Our core audience loves the Tampa Tribune. It’s not just that they love newspapers; they love this one. St. Pete [Times] is not a true substitute for them – they want this paper. Any sense that the newspaper has become a commodity for those readers isn’t the case – they recognize and appreciate the distinctions between us and our print competition."

So what? The precise problem in the newspaper industry is that the "core audience" she refers to that loves the paper is not large enough to sustain the business. Thus, their opinion is irrelevent to the newspaper's business operation and its efforts to survive. It takes no particular brains to figure that out, and that reflects poorly on Media General management if the comments in the memo are shared by Richmond HQ.

"The Tribune has always been a strong sports paper, and that is a distinction for us. But the changes we’ve been making for the last year have tipped sports out of balance with the rest of the newspaper. While sports remains important, in a world where the economy is imploding and a presidential election is upon us, we’ve overemphasized that part of our content."

Wow...this one really baffles me. The U.S. economy has been in steady retreat for months and is now in full implosion mode. And it's not like Coats hasn't known for the past year while making changes that there was a Presidential election in progress. Only NOW do they realize their changes have tipped the balance between what is important and the latest thigh bruise for one of the Bucs? Unreal.

"The problems readers had with the changes had to do with sectioning and placement of some types of content. The alternative story presentation, shorter stories, and fewer jumps have not generated a strongly negative response."

Sure, Janet. Keep trying to fool everyone as well as yourself. For now, this is the major complaint because it was the most obvious issue and the few people remaining in the "core audience" got their morning routines upset. But wait until you un-do some of those changes and the layout is less of an issue. THEN, the light content will become issue number one. And when newspapers can't deliver the content, they have nothing.

But here was the real gem....

"So, am I sorry we tried this? Hell no. We live in a time that calls for making some bold moves. This one was a move perhaps ahead of its time; it certainly was ahead of what our readers are ready to accept."

Ahead of its time? That makes the assumption that the printed newspaper will be a viable business model in the future (it is NOT at this time). That is a huge assumption not in evidence and reflects a continued lack of acceptance of the new media rules as well as an arrogance that has been imbedded in newspaper management (and staff) for decades. It is that attitude that in fact has helped propel newspapers to their current state.

Janet Coats and Media General have continually demonstrated their competence level...low. At some point, someone has to put a stop to this.

I think "stop" is going to mean cutting losses and closing or selling the tribune Tampa operation to investors for a low price and taking the money and running. The alternative is to lose everything, and they are well on their way.

[exnewspaper reader]

Look at the facts. ALL print media is in a decline of readership. Some of this can be traced to the expansion of alternative news outlets. Some of it can be traced to the lack of objectivity in the "NEWS" portions of the paper.

If I want opinion, I have a variety of sources to go to for opinion. NPR will give you the "progressive" opinion and what "progressives" deem newsworthy. The front page "NEWS" has turned into fact devoid opinion pieces. Today when people just want ALL of the facts and then make up their own minds, the bias of print and most main stream media pushes away people looking for honest and factual news.

The Times does have a slant to the progressive and for me, it has crummy coverage for my area of Tampa Bay.The Times only has relevance in area code 727. The Trib will have it's problems but the entire medium of newspapers are on a decline. A decline that is reflected in the growth of new sources of information and a decline that is self inflicted by reporters allowing their opinions to determine what is or is not newsworthy.

[Jon]

The Tribune was good a decade ago. Now it's so lazy that it usually waits for the Times to break the news first, then prints a follow up one day late like it's news. It has run out of ideas and talents that it's resorting to reprinting articles from other sources, including the disgraced NYT. Last but not least, why would people pay for the Trib's useless Sunday edition when it costs twice as much as the Times? The Tribune should stop doing business altogether.

[exnewspaperwriter]

The Tampa Tribune has been a joke for years, now they have simply shown how BIG of a joke they really are! What a mess!

They want to change with the times and appeal to a younger demographic all while satisfying their budget cuts. The problem with that is the younger audience probably isn't going to subscribe to the Trib as much as the older audience. As one of those younger people, I can tell you that I will not subscribe to any newspaper when I can get all of the news that I want online where it is free. Our budgets are tight too, you know! So, stick to pleasing the old people who will pay your bills. When they all die off, then you can make your changes! Simple as that.

[Grease]

Janet "DUI" Coats is so painfully out of touch. She's on a mission to find the new winning formula for newspapers, rather than write great stories, fill readers needs and revamp TBO, which sucks compared to the Times' site.

[drinklime]

our standards have fallen so low in this country

If anyone thinks Media General's Tampa Trib is a rag, they should check out its little sister "Hernando Today"--it really sucks.

I like the obituary page in the Tampa Tribune. It is interesting reading about some of the long time Tampa residents especially. The St Pete obits don't have the same "historical element."

[Trunk]

Janet Coats and the brain trust at Media General have no idea what they are doing. Only a matter of time till this rag is out of business.

[Trib Writer]

I LIKE RIGHTING FOR DA TRIBE. WE HALF A LOD OF GOOD RIGHTERS HEAR. I DON'T UNDERSTAN WHY ANY ONE WOOD REED DA TIMES.

[Dave]

I grew up reading the Tribune. I have nothing but good memories of the newspaper I once read.

This odd tabloid thingee they are putting out now is not a newspaper. How many columnists haven't they fired? Daniel Ruth & Steve Otto?

I guess Tampa Bay has gone from a two-newspaper area to a one-and-a-half newspaper area.

[The Carl]

Clearly somebody at Media General loves Janet Coats, else she would be toting a box out the door by now. But wait a minute. Isn't this the same journo-genius Poynter Institute used to be in love with back when her last name was Weaver? Guess the Times can't rap on her too much.

[Bill]

The Trib is a fine conservative rag. The uneducated republicans would be missing something if it were gone. Can republican man live on fox news alone?

[Bruce]

How does Coats still have a job? She obviously has no business sense and is completely out of touch with the readership. The Media General bosses in Virginia must be fuming at their lousy decision to put her in Tampa. I hated working at the Times but it is still one of the best papers I've seen.

The Times still is an obnoxious, liberal rag. So long as the Times staff thinks objective news coverage does not matter, the Tribune will have a niche to fill, its bad writing notwithstanding.

[tim]

We need the Tampa Tribune like the Globetrotters need the Washington Generals.

For years have subscribed to both the Times and the Trib. When the Times cut its business section down to barely more than a paragraph (isn't the economic situation worth at least 2 pages?) I stopped my subscription. Almost did the same with the Trib, but at least they - unlike the Times - recognized the problem and fixed it.

Now that's for the hard copy. Regarding the online papers - the Times does have the Trib beat a zillion times over on breaking news items, local in depth coverage of issues (Trib just skims many of the Times stories it seems sometimes)and I personally think their reporters are better.

So fix your business section and I will re-subscribe :)

[J]

Having lived in many towns around the world, I can unequivocally state The Tampa Tribune is the worst daily newspaper on planet earth. It is even worse than the New York Post---and that is saying something. Even my birds refuse to poop on it!

[Eric]

The Tampa Tribune is a second class citizen to the St. Pete Times. The Times covers the bay area much better and the quality of the articles and reporters ten times better.

It is time to put the Tribune to rest. RIP Tampa Tribune.

[Craig]

Dumb decisions, that's why newspapers are dying. So long Trib

[Sandy]

A Trib haiku:

Chasing more money
Causes Trib's bad decisions
Times soon owns Tampa

[Dave]

Why don't they just give up entirely? I've watched the Trib turn from a decent paper into a joke in a pretty amazingly short period of time.