newspapers need to “take one for the team”
Newspapers need to take a lesson from baseball.
It’s mid to late innings and your team is losing but you have a man on first.
You give a decent hitter a “sacrifice bunt” sign. No one likes to get this but it’s part of team play.
The hitter bunts and the infield comes charging. The runner is going and safe at second and the hitter is thrown out.
Now you have a man in scoring position. There is no gurantee that the next batter will get a hit. In fact, the chances are pretty slim.
Still, it’s a popular managerial strategy.
Newspapers have a man on first (classifieds and local ad dollars), but they are losing the big game (search and Attention). If they don’t make a sacrifice (open up), they’ll need two hits to score, and that’s a long shot to say the least.
Sometimes you need to take one for the team.