More "fun" with New Mexico magazine

 I've written before about some of the foibles at the magazine, most in the name of New Agey-type pseudoscience. Well, time for a new round of that and more, from that magazine's last three issues.

The November 2023 issue has Christina Selby, who says she's been going to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to see the sandhill cranes for years, talk with refuge staff about how drought is affecting how much food the refuge can have on site (seeding NWRs with grains for birds gets my goat in general and is a whole other topic), how climate change is affecting their migration and more.

So, Selby talks about other birds that can be seen there, including "dowagers." Now, I know a dowager can be called an "old bird," but I don't think they migrate to Bosque del Apache every winter.

Maybe long- and short-billed dowitchers do, but Selby can't be that ardent of a birder if that's not even spelled correctly. I webmailed her about that; we'll see if I get a response. If so, I'll add it here.

A week later, no response. I suspect that because she bills herself as a freelance science writer and other things, there won't be one.

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December's issue had an interesting story about rock-hounding. The most interesting part is that it put the east side of the Rio Grande, north of White Sands, to the WEST of Socorro, saying that the rock-hounding group north of White Sands had to travel east to get back to Socorro. Maybe one too many beers at San Antonio's Buckhorn along with a green chile burger?

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Then, directly tying to that older piece? One story in the "Lowdown" section is called "Star Maps." It then has this extended kicker header:

This year, let the zodiac chart your travel plans to a captivating, mystical, or iconic New Mexico destination.

And yes, it was travel "horoscopes." And, as generic, other than mentioning NM travel spots, as horoscopes in general. I assume the Katy Kelleher who wrote is minor book author, with a Tweet like this.

I complained on Facebook, then blocked a nutter who had a nutter response.

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Just as the state, riffing on its motto, is often "The Land of Disenchantment," so it is with the magazine.

More local news isn't the (total) answer for local newspapers

Good piece here from two academics. The TL/DR is that more local features stories and things like that has to be part of the issue.

And, yeah, corporate media can sort of do remote stories about city council meetings and other local government meetings, getting agendas off websites and emailing city managers, county executives and school superintendents.

But, the only way to do a feature story about someone who has biked across the country for a cancer fundraiser is to interview them. The only way to do a story about a business' 100th anniversary is to get history out of local archives and talk to people.

And, this says nothing of photos for things like this.

Nor does it consider local lifestyles type stories from or about clubs and organizations. Even if that is submitted, somebody local and onsite will know how much, or how little, play a particular submission needs.

And, that takes people power, on site. Period.

The pair even cite statistics that coverage of local elections does NOT spike local news readership.

Tell me you're a capitalist without telling me ...

 I recently was interviewed by a recruiter. (Whom I may name here at some point later.)

Asked about why did I leave job X after 2.5 years, job Y after 1.5, job Z after 2, etc.

First, as I noted, every move but one of mine in the last 15 years has been related to the turmoil in the newspaper industry. Guess I should be putting that more up-front on the resume, but, nonetheless, I have no problem explaining it.

Second, I not only kept my head above water but in general (in nominal dollars, at least) moved forward financially. That's not a nothingburger in today's newspaper world.

And, said recruiter said she had decades in the newspaper business before setting up shop as a recruitment and placement company for various media companies. Mentioned Wick (meh), Hearst (blech) and others.

But, of course, the recruiter's spiel was "newspapers don't want to pay to relocate you" etc. if they think you'll leave in a couple of years. 

Rather than asking right away if these changes were because of newspaper industry turmoil and decimation.

Oh, I understand. 

That said, if the job is good enough, I'll be staying. And, by that, I mean not only pay, but in general.

No bosses who got to be the boss allegedly per one old-fashioned way, which, sadly, still happens. (And, it does take two to tango.)

No going back to places where, if books weren't actually cooked, they did seem to have been padded on how advertising was treated.

Anyway, said recruiter mentioned she represented Wick, among others, and I mentioned one interview. Probably why no follow-up. Oh, well.

Part of me says, "Yeah, it sucks."

Part of me, besides, "It's capitalism," says this whole idea of being "first," on news that doesn't necessarily warrant it, is an issue itself.

Part of me looks at companies phoning shit in and says "Peter Principle."

Part of me notes that said recruiter looked at town where I lived, not actual location of the two newspapers and takes that into account.

I did learn some resume tweak ideas, even if the recruiter didn't email me the ideas in detail because they wrote me off. But, what makes a "good" resume seems to change every five years. Isn't that itself part of capitalism? Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to make you stumble into the furniture?

Beyond that? I decided to go halfway "in your face" with the new one for newspaper journalism jobs.  Nothing to lose.

Finally? This is also a reminder that recruiters ALWAYS work for employers first, employees second.

I wish I could remember her name now.

The publisher of the newspaper in South Dakota for Wick? Spit the bit and went to work for Cherry Road a few months later.

And, I now present Dave Shabaz.

Giving Focus Daily News and Marlon Hanson a good kick

 The Daily Snooze (not to be confused with the Dallas Morning Snooze) still claims to be a five-day daily, but, what would you get with that?

Archived as well as current e-editions are all paywalled, so I don't know.

That said, the last freebie "special section" available for view on the website? And, this is why "special section" is in scare quotes! A four-page 2020 Veterans Day "special section," where P1 is a full page editorial cartoon and 2-4 are listings of restaurants that give discounts to veterans. Oops, that's a three-pager, not four, so it was "special pages," not a section. Unless Marlon ran a blank fourth page.

That said, at least on the website, in this restaurant review, The Colony is in the Best Southwest along with Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster. 

And, he's running unedited press releases as news.

This all said, I don't know if his wife passed, or what. She's not on their "about" page. Don't know why he's still running it, then. He's over 70 — in fact, guessing by his LinkedIn, over 75 — and can surely retire, unless scraping digital newspaper floors for cigar butts still drives him along. Maybe it's the car reviews, and the free test-drive cars, that keep his motor running, so to speak.

I gave it the label of "fake news" because, while not in a pink slime sense, I think it is little more than fake news by press release any more. Take the T-Mobile press release. If Marlon's running that instead of getting a T-Mobile ad ...

And, also on fake news? I believe even less Marlon's claim of a 15K circ today than an 18K circ 15 years ago.

Small newspapers not getting it on magazine inserts

 As Louis DeJoy kills the joy in newspaper Mudville with the ever-continuing rate hikes (mixed with the ever-continuing kowtowing to Amazon), newspapers that deliver by mail (which includes some small five-day dailies these days as well as non-dailies) need to be rethinking their bromance with magazine inserts.

NOT tabs on newsprint.

Magazines on the gloss.

First, with newsprint cost issues, magazine stock, even cheaper, is on the rise.

Second, and to the point of this post, magazine stock, even the flimsier stuff, definitely weighs more than newsprint.

Those of us editors with some advertising experience, or GMs or small-town publishers, already know there's an issue as to whether or not magazine ads primarily poach from newspaper ads, anyway.

But, those quarterly neighborhood magazines often more than double the cost of the newspaper into which they're inserted.

And, are the ads paying for that?

Take my beloved nearest CNHI paper.

Its "holidays" quarterly issue of a month ago was 32 pages and just over 25 percent adhole.  Not sure how much net profit that returned.

And, the editorial side, the printing turnaround time was slow enough that a "coming" event mentioned in a feature interview had already happened.

The Texas Observer needs more of your money

 They're looking for $317K by the end of the year.

To that end, they've finally gotten smart enough to add two donor levels to their original Javascript screen of "supporter" at a paltry $11.87/yr and "advocate" at $48, which is higher than it originally was. "Defender" is at $71.88 and "muckraker" at $131.88. (I have no idea why these are the exact amounts, but it sounds like they could still learn something from NPR/PBS type fundraising.)

Speaking of?

If they get money, it will be "your" money, not mine." They still don't move the needle much on most their stories, and, while Counterpunch may not accept ads, The Nation does, and they're a local of The Nation, not Counterpunch. (Plus, NPR/PBS have "sponsors" if not ads.)

(Update, March 29, 2024: In fact, The Nation now has a Javascript screen, like many newspapers, saying: We see you have an ad-blocker on. Please disable it to continue reading our articles.)

And, more weirdly? On this donations page, the donation amounts do not align with what's on the Javascript. So, Observer, next time you write something about education, include yourself.

Back to the no-ads schtick. I discussed that and more this spring. Speaking of Counterpunch and the Nation, this time, it's both vs. the Observer, whether an articles-limit paywall (The Nation) or a premium section (Counterpunch), vs neither at the Observer.

Speaking of The Nation and Counterpunch in another way?

The Texas Trib has made the Observer as currently focused semi-irrelevant in my point of view. At one time, to look at the political alignment of national magazines, the Observer was Texas' version of, say, The New Republic or Mother Jones. Now? Though the Trib isn't that far out there, it is close enough to that at times, and is also perceived that way.

The Observer needs to more explicitly make itself Texas' version of at least The Nation, if not a Counterpunch or Alternet. (As well as getting a clue about a paywall, ads or both.)

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Update, Aug. 10, 2024: I don't even get their Javascript "please become a member" screen now with various membership price listings. That's after clicking to read more than half a dozen stories.

Moahr puzzles at CHNI!

Or, at least, at my local CNHI installment.

Wonder why?

Were people bitching about the amount of Texas Trib content? Bitching about seeing three days worth of comics at one time because it hasn't gotten a clue about not doing that and overvaluing its fishwrap at $1.25 Tuesday and $1.75 Saturday, higher than places like Bowie and Decatur which still have more than fishwrap?

Were they bitching about all those Alabama ads (without knowing why they're there)?

In any case, moahr puzzles, as teased on the banner of the Dec. 9 issue, is "the answer."

And, having seen the first new installment, it's apparently to keep from running more and more of those CHNI corporate-wide prebuilt pages, though the Dec. 12 Register still has one of those, plus this new full page of puzzles for four pages of puzzles or puzzles/comics. Add in it still having one of those other prebuilt pages, and that's five pages of birdcage filler on a 10-pager. 

Update, May 7: The prices are now $1.50/$2.00. And, the Tuesday puzzle may be hit and miss. The current Tuesday issue had two of the prebuilt infographic pages.

NOT the answer? Nobody biting on the "get paid to write sports for us" ongoing house ad ZERO basketball coverage during the non-district season (and who knows after that)? Going on five weeks since the start of hoops at the 4A level and nope, still nothing.

With an editor AND a staff writer (and, AFAIK, pages built at a pagination hub), they could do better.

Back to the header, though. What they need is FEWER puzzles, as well as more editorial content. And, of course, more ads.

As for CNHI in general? I remember when the Snooze touted "moahr puzzles" as "the answer four-plus years ago. Shock me that CNHI is that far behind the curve.