If you know that the headline, "Briefing," refers to The Dallas Morning News' freebie newspaper that is tossed on the lawns of 200,000 non-subscribers Wednesdays through Saturdays, then Belo's branding effort is working. According to Robert Wilonsky, in a Unfair Park blog, Belo CEO Robert Decherd maintains that "the free, miniature Morning News is a money-maker, not merely a trash-generator." And he apparently gets support from Editor & Publisher.
Maybe yes, maybe no. I was more interested in the opening this blog posting offers me to question a mystery that's been bugging me ever since the thin, soggy paper started showing up on my own lawn a year or two ago. So, I posted my question in a comment on Unfair Park.
"Is anyone else receiving two copies of Briefing in the same bag? Not all the ads, just the main section. It's not just an occasional accident. It's pretty dang near every day. What gives?"So far, no luck. Either Unfair Park readers have moved on to other pressing topics (Jim Schutze is back at the City Hall trial; bring the popcorn), or no one else is getting double delivery (two for the price of none), or no one knows why the DMN is being so generous (word used loosely). I'm hoping readers here might be more knowledgeable than Unfair Park readers (I know we all think that, but here's the chance to prove it).
2 comments:
Wow, talk about synchronicity. They stopped delivering 'briefing' in my neighborhood this week! Only last week, I was getting the much sought-after 'double briefing' replete with a double-dose of full color ads and valuable coupons. Before I could thank Belo, it was gone!
I understand that it's getting harder, damn near impossible, to keep the doors open at the DMN. Maybe with the money saved from the 'de-briefing, Belo can afford to keep Rod Dreher and the wildly popular Cruchy Christian blog.
Bob
Bob, thanks for the report that I'm not the only one getting double Briefings. I'm surprised that they quit your delivery. The article made it sound like they were expanding delivery instead.
By the way, your mentioning Rod Dreher's crunchy Christian blog reminds me of another mystery. How common is it for newspaper writers to also write a daily blog elsewhere? I've seen them publish books, but not a blog on another Web site. It seems like direct competition with the DMN to me, especially because he often covers the same topics being discussed in the DMN blogs.
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