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Next year, the Juneau Empire will undergo a redesign and implement a system under which readers will pay for Web content, publisher Mark Bryan said Thursday evening at the newspaper’s 100th anniversary celebration.
The Empire opened its doors to the public Thursday afternoon, giving readers access to its Channel Drive office and press room, as the capstone event in its commemoration of 100 years in business.
Bryan talked about the Empire’s evolution over those 100 years, indicating the front pages from throughout the newspaper’s history that were arranged around the first and second floor of the building.
“What’s vitally important for a community newspaper like the Juneau Empire is that we provide you some of that (national news) information, but local news is our niche. This is what you need. You’re not going to get it anywhere else. We’re the only ones that can provide that to you,” Bryan said. “So that’s a significant difference between 100 years ago and today.”
Among the changes that are coming to the Empire, Bryan said, is a paid subscription model for online content.
“The old model is not sustainable,” said Bryan. “The Juneau Empire will be transitioning to what we call an ‘all-access membership program’ in early second quarter of 2013. Print subscribers will be able to use their subscription to activate us online and be able to continue reading us. Digital-only … readers will have metered access to juneauempire.com, allowing for a few pages to be read every month before payment will be required.”
Bryan added, “Of course, we’ll offer digital subscriptions for those who want to read and interact on our website. Mobile and tablet versions will follow.”
The paper will also undergo a “complete redesign” early next year, Bryan said.
“The landscape has evolved, and we need to evolve to be able to meet our readers’ and our advertisers’ needs,” Bryan said. “Over the next few months, we’re going to be inviting our readers to tell us what they like, what they want in their newspaper.”
Bryan said information gathered from tracking patterns of usage by Web visitors to juneauempire.com is also being considered as the newspaper looks for ways to improve itself.
Gov. Sean Parnell and the first lady, Sandy Parnell, also attended the open house. Gov. Parnell emphasized the value of a free press in American democracy in his remarks, while congratulating the Empire on its longevity and service to the community.
“You know, lots of times, I disagree with the press. Lots of times, they disagree with me. And many other politicians and elected officials would feel the same,” said Parnell, to chuckles. “But the thing I do love about our country is that we do have a press that can report facts, and in my estimation, the Juneau Empire has been a pillar in Alaska for that.”
Colleen McCowan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s field office director in Juneau, also spoke at the event, reading the senator’s remarks from the Senate floor earlier this week that she had entered into the congressional record to acknowledge the Empire’s anniversary.
“On behalf of my Senate colleagues, I congratulate the staff of the Juneau Empire on the occasion of the newspaper’s 100th birthday and wish the Juneau Empire many more years of service to the people of Alaska,” Murkowski’s statement concluded.
The chairman and chief executive officer of Morris Communications Co., William “Billy” Morris III, and his wife Sissy also spoke briefly by telephone from Augusta, Ga.
“What a joy and a privilege it is for our company to own and operate the Juneau Empire, the newspaper that has served a wonderful community for 100 years,” Billy Morris said. “As we all know, this city was founded by Joe Juneau and Richard Harris in 1880 as a mining town in the early days of gold prospecting. It is a unique city, bounded by mountain and sea, accessible only by air and ship. It is a city whose magnificent beauty draws millions of visitors each year. And it is a city of cultural diversity that thrives on pioneer spirit and rugged charm.
“From its early days, Juneau has understood the importance of the press. Only seven years after the city was founded, the first newspaper was printed here. Over the years, there have been several different news publications. The Juneau Empire, whose distinguished lineage dates back to November of 1912, has the longest publication history,” Morris continued
In the late 1960s, when our newspaper company purchased the Juneau Empire, our family began a lifelong love affair with Alaska. Our daughter, Susie, lived and worked here for several years. She met her husband here and their first child was born in Alaska. Now, more than 40 years since we first came to Juneau, we still visit frequently and always enjoy the time we can spend here with you.
Morris concluded, “It’s a great honor for my family and for our newspaper family to have the friendship and the support of this great community, and the privilege to serve you every day with news, features, stories, essential information and important advertising. We look forward to many, many more years of service to Juneau.”
The open house was well attended throughout the afternoon and featured demonstrations of the printing press, as well as tours of the building, which houses a collection of Alaska art on the first and second floors.
The Crimson Quartet of the Juneau String Ensembles provided music, while Yees Ku Oo performed multicultural Native dances.
Go to www.juneauempire.com for more photos and video of this event, and click on our 100th Anniversary section online to find historic front pages and more.
• Contact reporter Mark D. Miller at 523-2279 or at mark.d.miller@juneauempire.com.
Comments (94)
Add commententitled?
I don't know why people feel entitled to get this news service for free. Obviously you use it otherwise you wouldn't be here complaining. If you pay 2 quarters or whatever for the paper version than you can pay for the online version, too. The mistake is on all news agencies for not changing from the beginning.
@Channelview
HAH!!! JE is NOT a small business!!! If you knew what you were talking about, you'd know that it is owned by Morris Communications Co. based out of Augusta, GA and currently employs more than 6000 people.....they publish 13 daily newspapers for cities such as in Augusta, Jacksonville, Topeka, just to name a few. They also own over 30 radio stations including one in Monaco. Oh, and don't forget their publishing section which Globe Pequot Press is one of the leading publishers who just so happens to publish The Milepost. One should know their facts before commenting.....just saying....
FYI Empire Staff.........
These are two of the comments on my facebook page from my friends who have opinions on your plan to charge for on line access:
1. ".....the juneau empire was never worth reading in the first place and do not get why anyone would want to read it online..... may not be the worst newspaper in the world - have not read them all to be fair - but is the worst i have ever seen..."
2. "...I would never never pay to read the Empire online,what a joke....."
Still think this is a good idea?
juneauakgrrl
Funny that you bring up entitlements... I think this country just proved on election day that entitlements are the way to go! Everyone wants something for free and will villanize anyone for wanting to make a profit off their services! It is greed for me to want to make and keep my own money but not greedy for a person to want someone else's money or services in this case, for nothing!
That being said, I think that if the Empire wants to charge for online content, they would be well served to provide a better service than what is currently offered. I would not pay for what is currenly online. I would, however pay for content worth paying for.
I will admit that the Empire
I will admit that the Empire staff do an OK job, and Abby in particular does really good, and she is responsive and follows the blogs. There are aspects that I will miss, and Abby is one. I hope they decide to scrap this idea, but otherwise, I will read the ADN
Suggestion
I'd really like to see a dating section added to the online posting section so I can get hot dates. I'd pay for that. Chicks dig the Bubb.
The empire is no longer a
The empire is no longer a "news paper" its more about entertainment, sex, drugs, sensationalism reporting if you ask me. The empire seems to enjoy dragging people through the muck these days. I guess that's what they think is warm fuzzy community reporting.
New York Times is indeed charging for online content
While no one is comparing this paper to the New York Times, the times in the newspaper industry are changing. Craigslist and other online advertisers have displaced income to all newspapers. Some kind of revenue addition has to come to permit survival of newspapers.
I hope the Empire will consider some kind of per story purchase - or some kind of flexible purchase options. Otherwise, I'll be visiting this site even less. I can't at this point afford a subscription but hope to in the future. How about a subscription break for students attending college elsewhere and for those at UAS?
Empire bye bye
Not a clue, Empire--good thing there are other places online for local news, unlike your erroneous assertion in the article. That's only the usual erroneous info that you supply. Won't miss it much, and certainly won't pay for it!
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A celebration of a century in business should not have been the time or place to advertise a rate increase. Nice picture of the governor with a microphone at the side of a desk, almost a podium. Agree to disagree seems to be the theme of his comments, with a compliment to the JE. However, the governor is a lawyer with a win lose agenda.
He obviously missed his chance to argue to win.
Metered access & debit card information are the reasons I won't pay. This very large corporation or business needs to substantially prove their online security of our exchange of packets then our financial information. Too many times the recipients of our information have fallen backwards on the legalities that they were sufficiently cautious.
JE already owns our comments, now they want us to pay for their opportunity to own our future comments? We are free writers, all of our writing should be appreciated from every differing perspective, and we should not be charged for sharing our perspective after reading their perspective.
My thoughts go out to the loss of a life today. The downtown is probably a buzz of non-newspaper information. The pressures that lead to a death are not one-sided. I miss him.
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There are "free" sources for news
as has been pointed out----J.E.'s main value is as a forum for opinions: Threads like these, and the op-ed page itself. You can't spout your bile on the KINY website---though I'll bet site managers will be mulling that over now.
The P---d-Off Old Farts who've made these threads their home and hobby for the last few years will be glad to pay a small stipend to continue venting their spleens every day---I'd lay money on it.
Forums like these are important, and while not necessarily representative of actual community opinion as a whole, as has been shown time and again, certainly provide entertainment value, and are often more informative than the actual article: Interactive news, if you will.
J.E. provides this service, and is now asking to be paid for it. We'll see for ourselves what the market will bear. I for one am looking forward with great curiosity to see what this will do to the overall tone of the comments.
Not going to pay
The most interesting thing about Juneau Empire online is the forum. I'm going to miss chattin with ya'all. I don't intend to pay to read online content...ANY...online content. Go ahead if ya want...not this girl.
The ad's won't get the exposure free content attracts....so you see there juneauakgrrl...nothing is really free. I'm a potential customer so even my 'freeloading" tail is really worth $$$$ to the empire. The advertisers won't be happy with reduced exposure. Newspaper advertising (print/cyber) is expensive, now they get less bang for the buck.
So here's the problem
Juneau, as the Capital City (for now) needs a newspaper. The Empire is struggling financially, as is the entire newspaper industry.
As most of you have noted, there are plenty of free sites providing much of the same news. And there are free sites like Craigs List and Ebay for advertising your products.
So what's the Empire to do? They have to make money somehow or they fold up their tent. Lots of bashing and whining here, but not too many constructive ideas.
And Jamison, I'm not so sure the regular POOFs here will pay. They can easily shift to the many other free sites that have robust commenting boards, from RedState to Huffington Post to NPR to HotAir where they can complain and troll to their heart's content.
But if you're right, I hope the tone of the dialogue improves. I'm guessing the worst of the trolls will abandon ship.
OK Empire
Here's your chance.
Are you aware that all of the absentee votes have been counted for the House District 34 race? This is Haines, Hoonah, and Sitka, newly formed after redistricting.
Bill Thomas is the long-serving rep for Haines, but now with Sitka newly added. He was running against Jona Kreiss-Tomkins, a 20-something kid out of Sitka.
According to the State elections site, the final vote for Thomas is 4,054. The final vote for Kreiss-Tomkins is...4,054. So now what? Obviously a recount. But assuming that doesn't change things, how does this get resolved? And who is this Kreiss-Tomkins guy and why did this kid do so well against Thomas?
This is a story in your backyard, strongly linked to State government, and a very interesting result. Are you guys all over this? You should be...
Oh, and KINY already has a story about it on their website. So does KTOO.
Georgia Crackers
When a group of Georgia crackers bought the Empire the quality started going down hill fast. All of the quality people like Larry Persily quit and it became a gulag where the untalented were banished. It is now worse than a college paper. It does make a good fire starter, so I'll miss that.
Here ya go lat
Here ya go lat http://ap.juneauempire.com/pstories/state/ak/20121116/1066890220.shtml
This was at the bottom of the website, it's just a repost from the ap.
Pretty sad we are getting our local news from the AP. which by the way, is just a blurb. I sincerely hope the JE takes the comments and concerns stated in this thread seriously, and makes strides to improve the format, content, grammar etc before charging people, or this could be a disaster for them
I would certainly pay a subscription for this on-line Empire.
The Juneau Empire has been a mainstay to me for over 50 years. (Proud to have once been a member of the army of kids who sold it at every street corner downtown.)
I have always been drawn to it for its coverage of my community and Capital City and now enjoy the added plus of reading the comments from residents and non-residents alike.
I will not miss slogging through the snowy driveway to pick up my morning edition.
I find it interesting that for all the many efforts the Empire has made in support of local merchants and charities over the years many of the above commenters feel the Empire is not deserving of reciprocation.
Tough audience.
Dear Abby...
Funny thing... I first read those words in the Roswell Daily Record where Dad was the pressman for 30 years. I used to go with him to the railhead and help him unload boxcars (many here won't remember those) full of newsprint rolls. I even got to go on the bus to Six Flags Over Texas with the winning paper carriers (subscription sales, I think). There was no online content and a subscription to a very labor intensive news source was chump change compared to the paid advertising that kept the industry afloat. I remember when the Record went offset and Dad didn't have to operate Line-O-Types and cast the lead type drum rollers. That modernization saved the paper tons of money in the long run. Not to mention cut jobs. But, it was still a PAPER with all the hard copy handling expenses. I'm sure that ad space went up in price to pay for the upgrade. Now, the new modern upgrade is digital web content. Ads still have to be paid for and those who buy them are not going to stop paying for space. I, personally enjoy the free online paper and can understand that access to a product usually is obtained at a price. But, at what price? Of what quality is the product. And, of course, is the mark up on that quality of the product worth paying. The fact that I can find news online from infinite sources for free (as long as I am willing to endure the ads) makes me skeptical of comments that website expenses are so prohibitive that you have to charge the advertiser AND the reader. One can get news pretty fast on Facebook, Twitter...ad nauseum and not pay a dime. Not to mention AP, ABC, CBS... Ad nauseum. Especially when you cut all the overhead from the boxcar full of newsprint to the paper carrier's bicycle. I'm not a believer. It'll take a lot of convincing. Good Luck!
Online ads?
I always thought the online advertising was what paid for the website.
Sitka-Haines élection coverage omission/better coverage offered?
Lat, a very good point - better coverage of this election in adn.com, but not altogether much better. CoastAlaska stations reported it best, but the reapportionment and district race has already cost Southeast dearly.
I can guess on reasons why did Thomas do so poorly in some of the villages. Garnering perhaps 50 per cent or less from them. Some would submit it was the treatment the incumbent gave his constituents in some of the smaller villages. It seemed there was an arrogance, almost a complete example of a caste/royalty attitude towards his constituents - an I know better than you attitude. Then there was an action where a choice was made to affiliate with one of the two senate incumbents - that definitely might impact voters.
Should the incumbent prevail, I would hope some thought would be given by him to his attitude. Voters want a public servant, not a benevolent despot. Few constituents who were recipients of his wrath would forget the humiliation he gave to those in Skagway at a Southeast Conference meeting in years past.
Past actions are certainly a measure of what to expect from someone in the future, but I'm convinced that a less holier than thou attitude can do much to show that a mistake or mistakes have been learned. I won't hold my breath, but I've certainly learned from mine, which are a gross in quantity.
So, if a humbling experience (being turfed off of finance) is a sufficient attitude changer, then it is hoped that if the incumbent prevails his demeanor will reflect it. Our region lost a great deal of political power, but perhaps it can be recovered with something more positive over time.
If they are not buying
Perhaps what you are selling is not worth what you are charging. Selling advertisements must be difficult without quality content.
After all 84 comments.....
so really... after all these 84 comments, and no real rebuttal from Empire.....
what a great place to just vent then...
BOO!
Boo!!!
Wont pay for lousy reporting
Never been to KTOO's site till reading the comments in this article. Wow, there's LOCAL NEWS there.
I'd rather read the news than the comments, and honestly i read the comments far more than the little bit of information passed off as local news in the Juneau Empire.
Marijuana is Legal and Hostess is Out of Business
And now the Empire will be installing paywalls. What have the gays/liberals/pro-choicers done to upset Yahweh this week?
Mike
Ummm...
Its been shown time and again that advertising on an online news outlet and providing quality content performs a lot better than paid subscriptions. Especially in a smaller market like Juneau. I don't know who you paid too much for this idea but it is a bad one...
Here's a thought
The Empire today carries an article about a stolen truck that was torched at Echo Cove. The article states that NO ignition keys were in the vehicle.
Meanwhile, over at KINY, "There WERE ignition keys left inside the vehicle, according to the owner."
Obviously, only one of the reports is correct. But for all the Empire-bashing in these comments, it's just as likely that Re-Pete at KINY is wrong. Sure, they often break news articles before the Empire, but their writing is usually full of typos, grammatical errors and facts that are just plain wrong (such as "The equinox begins at....." when the equinox is actually a moment in time, or this from today: "A corporate spokeswoman based in Las Angeles...."). Sometimes I think they don't even read, or understand, what they write before they publish it.
Having said that, let me add to the chorus here: There's no way I'm going to pay for the standard of journalism displayed by the Empire. I quit buying the print version years ago for that very reason.
Good luck with that....
Oh, and Abby: were there keys or not?
@Mikey
They both could be right. The keys were probably under the visor or in the ashtray, not "in the ignition". But, as you noted, there was no reporting to explain that.
And again the Empire strikes out. No mention of the tied House District 34 race in the Sunday edition. I'm laying odds that the typical skeleton Monday edition will largely ignore it too, with perhaps a copy of the AP blurb, but no real reporting. (and you want to charge us for content?)
Limited online Empire coverage in SE will restrict exchange
of idea across SE.
Clearly the Empire wants to limits participation to the top 1% and Parnell supports that.
One reason why the Republican base is shrinking is that they only talk among themselves.
Get more SE news at adn and on Twitter these days.
Should be a nice boost to the Capital City Weekly.
Morris owns Capital City Weekly too.
.