Changes to the DRC website

Brett Vito · October 31, 2019

Just a quick FYI on the Denton Record-Chronicle’s website. We have been posting our stories for free for years.

That will change this week, as the paper moves to a subscription-based website.

The change was not supposed to happen until later this week. It happened ahead of schedule tonight.

Most papers have moved to a paywall model over the years due to changes in the industry. Print subscriptions and print advertising revenue have declined over the years as online readership has soared.

The only way to make money consistently is to move to a subscription site. The Dallas Morning News has done so, as have most papers that cover Conference USA schools. Recruiting websites also have a subscription model.

The paper invests considerable resources to cover the news, including sending me to California, Mississippi and North Carolina earlier this season.

The paper is offering up digital subscriptions for a few dollars a week that will help us continue to provide coverage of UNT and the city of Denton.

https://classadz.vdata.com/DentonRecordChronicle/Circulation/Subscriber/Subscription/Create

Not everyone agrees with everything we write, but I believe there is value in the coverage the DRC provides that is worth the small fee we are charging for a subscription.

I hope that you will agree and will consider supporting local journalism and coverage of UNT.

Edited October 31, 2019 by Brett Vito

Big Z · October 31, 2019

2 minutes ago, Brett Vito said:

Just a quick FYI on the Denton Record-Chronicle’s website. We have been posting our stories for free for years.

That will change this week, as the paper moves to a subscription-based website.

The change was not supposed to happen until later this week. It happened ahead of schedule tonight.

Most papers have moved to a paywall model over the years due to changes in the industry. Print subscriptions and print advertising revenue have declined over the years as online readership has soared.

The only way to make money consistently is to move to a subscription site. The Dallas Morning News has done so, as have most papers that cover Conference USA schools. Recruiting websites also have a subscription model.

The paper invests considerable resources to cover the news, including sending me to California, Mississippi and North Carolina earlier this season.

The paper is offering up digital subscriptions for a few dollars a week that will help us continue to provide coverage of UNT and the city of Denton.

https://classadz.vdata.com/DentonRecordChronicle/Circulation/Subscriber/Subscription/Create

Not everyone agrees with everything we write, but I believe there is value in the coverage the DRC provides that is worth the small fee we are charging for a subscription.

I hope that you will agree and will consider supporting local journalism and coverage of UNT.

DRC won’t last any longer

untcampbell · October 31, 2019

I subscribed last week, BV. We moved back to Denton after being gone for 25 years. I like how the DRC aggregates the local news, sports, business and entertainment into one place. It is a quick read and I learn more about my city there than from twitter or any other online source.

I also am old school, in that I like to hold the newspaper and scan each page for stories and ads that interest me. The cost of the DRC is reasonable and provides value for the entertainment it provides. Yes, there are things I don't like about the DRC. They do not detract from what I enjoy about the paper.

GMG

NorthTexasSportsNetwork · October 31, 2019

1 hour ago, Brett Vito said:

Just a quick FYI on the Denton Record-Chronicle’s website. We have been posting our stories for free for years.

That will change this week, as the paper moves to a subscription-based website.

The change was not supposed to happen until later this week. It happened ahead of schedule tonight.

Most papers have moved to a paywall model over the years due to changes in the industry. Print subscriptions and print advertising revenue have declined over the years as online readership has soared.

The only way to make money consistently is to move to a subscription site. The Dallas Morning News has done so, as have most papers that cover Conference USA schools. Recruiting websites also have a subscription model.

The paper invests considerable resources to cover the news, including sending me to California, Mississippi and North Carolina earlier this season.

The paper is offering up digital subscriptions for a few dollars a week that will help us continue to provide coverage of UNT and the city of Denton.

https://classadz.vdata.com/DentonRecordChronicle/Circulation/Subscriber/Subscription/Create

Not everyone agrees with everything we write, but I believe there is value in the coverage the DRC provides that is worth the small fee we are charging for a subscription.

I hope that you will agree and will consider supporting local journalism and coverage of UNT.

I saw that today, and luckily I already have a subscription.

p_phelps · October 31, 2019

Welp... I get my news from this forum and twitter anyways. Typically before drc does reporting.

edcollopy · October 31, 2019

I’ll be subscribing for the online. I’d hate to see newspapers in print or online give way to two sentence sound bites.

peanuts104 · October 31, 2019

I was going to come in and bitch about this, but $5.00 a month is pretty reasonable.

UNTLifer · October 31, 2019

We lose the DRC, we lose a dedicated reporter for North Texas sports as well as the high schools in Denton for those of you that live there.

Army of Dad · October 31, 2019

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

We lose the DRC, we lose a dedicated reporter for North Texas sports as well as the high schools in Denton for those of you that live there.

Meh, the quality of writing overall (specifically talking mostly about non-sports articles) has been declining at the DRC for some time now.

greenminer · October 31, 2019

29 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

Meh, the quality of writing overall (specifically talking mostly about non-sports articles) has been declining at the DRC for some time now.

Perhaps because of lack of funds? It's a bit of a chicken-egg discussion but, as in any endeavor, you put more money into something, expectations should rise and quality should improve.

If you feel like Twitter, podcasts, and blogs are good enough, then you are fine with letting formal journalism die. I personally feel there's still a place for it in today's world and hope that the only remaining source in Denton for published/formal news remains...with or without Vito.

greenminer · October 31, 2019

This has been ongoing in the music business for years now.

The digital age has already been transforming everything, as most of you all know. Not only the products, but the culture as well. People want the ease of buying a hamburger, downloading an mp3, or an app for their phone, and they have zero interest in the time and effort it takes to build these things. By extension, they do not have any interest anymore in investing in things. "If I can get it free over here, why does this other one want more money?"

Some people will prioritize news and place value on it.

Others won't give a shit and won't be changed.

It's why you can buy a Grammy award winning song for 0.99, the same price it costs to buy an app created by an 11 year old that makes fart noises.

Edited October 31, 2019 by greenminer

THOR · October 31, 2019

Just now, greenminer said:

This has been ongoing in the music business for years now.

The digital age has already been transforming everything, as most of you all know. Not only the products, but the culture as well. People want the ease of buying a hamburger, downloading an mp3, or an app for their phone, and they have zero interest in the time and effort it takes to build these things. By extension, they do not have a vested interest anymore in investing in things. "If I can get it free over here, why does this other one want more money?"

Some people will prioritize news and place value on it.

Others won't give a shit and won't be changed.

It's why you can buy a Grammy award winning song for 0.99, the same price it costs to buy an app created by an 11 year old that makes fart noises.

i am a cd person...not a fan of streaming/downloading the music...something about the jewel case, liner notes, beauty of the cd. got a new car a few months ago and it didn't have a got damn cd player! now, the cds are just played at home and not driving while the windows are down...totally sucks!

keith · October 31, 2019

21 minutes ago, greenminer said:

Perhaps because of lack of funds? It's a bit of a chicken-egg discussion but, as in any endeavor, you put more money into something, expectations should rise and quality should improve.

If you feel like Twitter, podcasts, and blogs are good enough, then you are fine with letting formal journalism die. I personally feel there's still a place for it in today's world and hope that the only remaining source in Denton for published/formal news remains...with or without Vito.

Journalism died a long time ago IHMO. Now it's all about creating a story, crafting a narrative or asking gotcha questions. Behold the dawn of the citizen journalist, returning power to the people without the filter of the industrial-media complex.

UNTLifer · October 31, 2019

1 hour ago, Army of Dad said:

Meh, the quality of writing overall (specifically talking mostly about non-sports articles) has been declining at the DRC for some time now.

True, but this is about UNT Sports coverage.

UNTLifer · October 31, 2019

26 minutes ago, THOR said:

i am a cd person...not a fan of streaming/downloading the music...something about the jewel case, liner notes, beauty of the cd. got a new car a few months ago and it didn't have a got damn cd player! now, the cds are just played at home and not driving while the windows are down...totally sucks!

That's how I feel about my 8 track collection!

Related image

greenminer · October 31, 2019

34 minutes ago, keith said:

Journalism died a long time ago IHMO. Now it's all about creating a story, crafting a narrative or asking gotcha questions. Behold the dawn of the citizen journalist, returning power to the people without the filter of the industrial-media complex.

I really like the last part of this post, but I can't help but think most people are pulling away from journalism because Twitter and blogs are free and easy, and the papers want money; "journalistic integrity" is further down the priority list.

Army of Dad · October 31, 2019

1 hour ago, greenminer said:

Perhaps because of lack of funds? It's a bit of a chicken-egg discussion but, as in any endeavor, you put more money into something, expectations should rise and quality should improve.

If you feel like Twitter, podcasts, and blogs are good enough, then you are fine with letting formal journalism die. I personally feel there's still a place for it in today's world and hope that the only remaining source in Denton for published/formal news remains...with or without Vito.

Journalism’s long slow death is about 50/50 societal change/it’s own undoing.

Army of Dad · October 31, 2019

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

True, but this is about UNT Sports coverage.

Boedeker was trash. Ben Baby moved up in the world (twice). Vito is really pretty good. High school coverage by Steve and Reece is good as well.

I don’t think the DRC is selling only online subscriptions to UNT coverage so their total package is worth considering.

Coach Andy Mac · October 31, 2019

Social media is taking over journalism is what it is.

keith · October 31, 2019

9 minutes ago, Army of Dad said:

Boedeker was trash. Ben Baby moved up in the world (twice). Vito is really pretty good. High school coverage by Steve and Reece is good as well.

I don’t think the DRC is selling only online subscriptions to UNT coverage so their total package is worth considering.

On-line ad revenue is based on traffic/eye-balls/impressions. The question becomes with a pay-wall, what will happen to the overall traffic? It generally drops off, especially if there are other avenues for basically the same content. Will the new subscription revenue make up for the drop in ad revenue. It would be interesting to see the traffic numbers before/after the pay-wall. I suspect that the vast majority of Vito's traffic comes directly from GoMeanGreen.com which means this site should really get a piece of the pie for any traffic sent its way.

Cerebus · October 31, 2019

"Twitter and social media" feed off of newspapers and other real journalists. Next time you read a tweet or blog post, notice how often they have a line that says something like "according to a report in the NYT" or, "The Dallas Morning News reports...", etc. Most of the real leg work is coming from journalists.

Without them, the "twitter and social media" have nothing to report on.

Newspapers made a huge mistake at the start of the internet age, when they decided to compete on price. You can't be free, they should have competed on quality.

Interestingly enough, higher ed is at the same crossroads. If higher ed tries to compete with online only education on price or ease of use, they are going to get killed. They need to compete on quality. Sure, they will lose some people to online ed, but they always lost some people to trade schools because of cost/ease, and they never decided to change everything to try and compete with trade schools.

NorthTexasWeLove · October 31, 2019

3 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

"Twitter and social media" feed off of newspapers and other real journalists. Next time you read a tweet or blog post, notice how often they have a line that says something like "according to a report in the NYT" or, "The Dallas Morning News reports...", etc. Most of the real leg work is coming from journalists.

Without them, the "twitter and social media" have nothing to report on.

Newspapers made a huge mistake at the start of the internet age, when they decided to compete on price. You can't be free, they should have competed on quality.

Interestingly enough, higher ed is at the same crossroads. If higher ed tries to compete with online only education on price or ease of use, they are going to get killed. They need to compete on quality. Sure, they will lose some people to online ed, but they always lost some people to trade schools because of cost/ease, and they never decided to change everything to try and compete with trade schools.

Completely agree

keith · October 31, 2019

20 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

"Twitter and social media" feed off of newspapers and other real journalists. Next time you read a tweet or blog post, notice how often they have a line that says something like "according to a report in the NYT" or, "The Dallas Morning News reports...", etc. Most of the real leg work is coming from journalists.

Without them, the "twitter and social media" have nothing to report on.

Newspapers made a huge mistake at the start of the internet age, when they decided to compete on price. You can't be free, they should have competed on quality.

Interestingly enough, higher ed is at the same crossroads. If higher ed tries to compete with online only education on price or ease of use, they are going to get killed. They need to compete on quality. Sure, they will lose some people to online ed, but they always lost some people to trade schools because of cost/ease, and they never decided to change everything to try and compete with trade schools.

Twitter and other social media outlets have been busy censoring and de-platforming the citizen journalists that aren't part of the "club" so all that will be left will be the so-called "real" journalists.

TheNewEra · October 31, 2019

Got on here hoping BV was no longer covering UNT. Got my hopes up.

GrandGreen · November 1, 2019

9 hours ago, greenminer said:

I really like the last part of this post, but I can't help but think most people are pulling away from journalism because Twitter and blogs are free and easy, and the papers want money; "journalistic integrity" is further down the priority list.

Yes, most businesses want money.

As the print media continues to die, I predict you are going to find that those worthwhile free online sources of sports journalism begin to charge for their content. This will fail.

Most professional sports writers will just disappear and we will have to be content with the team's media output and not so expert opinion of fans like ourselves.