House, hunting

A bottom line that demystifies

        Common question: Why don't newspapers dump their print version and go all-Web?

        Ryan Chittum had a big part of the answer recently in Columbia Journalism  Review. In an article headlined "The Chasm Between the Value of Print and Web Readers A person buying the paper brings twenty times the revenue of an online reader," Chittum laid out some intriguing numbers. Here's the nut of what he wrote:

        "After posting the unhappy news that newspaper ads are at 1965 levels, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how much revenue newspapers get from their print readers versus their online ones. It offers a reality check as newspapers try to figure out where to go from here.

        "Print newspapers took in $34.7 billion in ad revenue last year and had 49 million subscribers. That works out to $709 per subscriber ... . Newspapers online had $3.1 billion in ad revenue last year and averaged 67.3 million unique visitors per month. That’s $46 per reader. $709 (or even $603) versus $46. And you wonder why newspapers still like their print products."

        Surviving in print obviously is a highly complicated situation, but it's nice to have Ryan's piece of the puzzle. 

        

        

Oh, and there was powwow video

        In fairness to the Star-Telegram's coverage of the FWISD powwow, which was minimal in the print edition, reporter Eva-Marie Ayala shot some good video that includes an interview with Alice Barrientez, FWISD liaison for the American Indian Education Program. The video was part of Ayala's online coverage of the event.

        For some reason, I didn't notice that there was video. Other readers probably didn't notice, and that's a weakness that needs attention. The more help we readers get, the better.

Missing the Native American story

        I'm late with a comment but that's better than never, I hope.

        Readers got a beautiful photo on this past Sunday's Star-Telegram's metro cover -- A Fort Worth Independent School District Native American student dancing at a powwow, which was held as part of the district's American Indian Education Program. I wish I could post the photo for you, but I don't have permission.

        Where was the story????? As usual, a local Native American event deemed worthy of coverage was (1.) a powwow (2.) worth photographing because of the color and exotic nature (3.) but not a story. That was it for the news value -- a great photo with some cutlines but nothing in the paper about FWISD's American Indian Education Program. Hard to believe yet such typical treatment by the MSM.

        Except for casino issues, Native American issues are pretty much ignored by the mainstream media. There just aren't enough Indians with enough economic and political clout to justify much media attention, one hears. Tsukanvsdina! "Bull!" in Cherokee.

        At the least, consider how much taxpayer money is going into the program and what benefits, in any, are realized. But consider, too, that there are many more Native Americans than those who are certified as Indians by the federal government (American Indians are the only ethnic group in the U.S. forced to prove their ethnicity according to federal guidelines) and who carry the federal-issued Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood card, which creates "real" Indians. 

        There are millions more of us mixed-bloods descended from Indian ancestors who feared federal census initiatives such as the Dawes Roll and hid from them to avoid the "Indian" label. We who love our heritage and how it is treated by public institutions would welcome news reports that understand and respect those ties. Plus, stir those numbers into the count and the real Indian demographics throw newsworthiness into an entirely different, and brighter, light.

        There should have been a story with that picture, dang it. The event was treated instead with stereotypical planning. At least staff writer Eva-Marie Ayala wrote a blog item in the paper's Extra Credit blog. If you don't want to click on that link, here's what she wrote:

        "Fort Worth ISD hosts second annual powwow

        "Saturday's free event was aimed at getting more students involved in the district's American Indian Education Program, which helps them connect to various educational benefits and other resources. Alice Barrientez, who oversees the program, has helped increase the number of students identified as Native American in the district from about 180 five years ago to 208 in the 2007-08 school year. Barrientez was named the American Indian Community Individual of the Year in 2008 for her work with the students by the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Texas. This weekend's powwow was 1-9 p.m. and was to include dancing, arts, crafts, food and other activities at the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center, 5201 C.A. Roberson Blvd."

        The end. 30. Would you have liked to have known more? Would you like to know more about Native American issues? For that matter, what do you think of Fort Worth's treatment of Native Americans in its history, its public art and history?

        Eva-Marie and FWISD: Bless you. Star-Telegram: Shame on you.

I can hear it now: 'Learn English!'

        Got a great chunk of information in today's mail from Birdville Independent School District -- a glossy, full-color package of helpful news and back-to-school details piled into a magazine-like publication called "Partnership Newsletter."

        I'm sure that most recipients enjoyed the cover shot: an endearing little boy offering an apple to the camera. Stereotypical for a certain demographic but no less endearing.

        But this was a two-part package. The back half was presented in Spanish, an approach that surely riled many English-speakers throughout these parts who protest the use of other languages in public education. I can hear them now: "Quit glorifying other languages. This is America. We speak English. Learn it or leave."

        I thought about that group as I leafed through BISD's magazine and admired their effort to help parents get up to speed on back-to-school issues. I don't know how many anti-ESL and anti-anything-except-English people I talked with either on the phone or by e-mail while I was the Star-Telegram's reader advocate. Their complaint: The liberal media were soft with their coverage of ESL and other programs that in their view did not crack the whip on forcing non-English-speaking students to learn the Queen's English.

        I don't have documentation to show the progress that non-English speakers are making in building proficiency in English, but I've heard inspiring stories along that line.

        Just this week, I learned about a young woman who came to the U.S. with her family from Mexico when she was 5 and couldn't speak a word of English.

        Guess what.

        She learned English. She was passionate about doing so. And after a string of academic victories at Tarrant County College and Southern Methodist University, she now holds her baccalaureate degree from SMU and just returned from Paris (France) where she pursued post-graduate work. Not bad for someone who once was a little Spanish-speaking girl who was passionate about learning English -- and, I suppose, French. How many of us can speak three languages much less two?

        For the most part, Americans are descended from people who couldn't speak a lick of English when they got here. In the 19th and early 20th century, many newspapers in the U.S. were published in German and other languages of the immigrants because their readers couldn't speak a lick of English. But they learned. So will other new Americans. May take a couple of generations, but it will happen.

        So all of this is just to say: Hats off to BISD for making communication a top priority -- in Spanish as well as English. And not being intimidated by those who evidently have forgotten that many of their ancestors came here not knowing a verb from a pronoun -- in English.