# Cuts Outdoors Section



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

This is only one more example of the decline in hunt/fish coverage we have in our newspress. My local Muskegon Chronicle no longer has the 2-page 'Venture Outdoors' section and just has smaller 1-page coverage on Sundays.


'LA Times' Cuts Outdoors Section Amid Layoff Rumors 

The Los Angeles Times revealed in today's paper plans to end its Outdoors section after Dec. 6, a move the paper's top editor explained as a cost-cutting move.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001480103


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

I could take up a whole page here with all the publications that have either gone out of business, been terminated, or changed radically in the last 10 years. 

It's just sad, and an indication of what's coming down the pike for all of us who hunt and fish.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

we have the Internet and websites, like this one. It isn't called The Information Highway for nothing. Most people have internet access now, and newspapers are almost archaic for information exchange. 

How may different websites do most of us visit on a daily basis? 1? 2? 10? 50? Think about it.


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Fishndude, Think about what you just said a minute. You say we have the Internet and websites, like this one, and that most people have internet access now, and newspapers are almost archaic for information exchange. Do you realize how many hours I put in to find and construct these articles in form for you to read? I still need the original outdoor news writers to write the articles I bring to M-S.com. Note also that the post I make give the original site links so the original authors get the credit. Without the outdoor writers there are few 'personal' outdoor stories. Press releases and associated news sources are useful, but but not of the same character as our fellow outdoor personalities. I have great respect for the work they do.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I am only pointing out that newspapers are feeling the pressure of the Internet - just like the U.S. Postal Service has. It is far simpler to search for and find information about anything you want to, online. Of course people still have to write articles. It is only the medium that has changed. 
My 10 year old (wait, just turned 11) daughter uses Google all of the time to research stuff for school.


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

Yes, the web is causing print publication to go the same way the US Postal Service is going...gone before long.

And the Internet IS going to be the answer to keeping outdoor publications going-I've been telling editors and publishers that for 10 years now. 

BUT, the problem is, there is still no credibility on the web. Meaning advertisers simply don't want to invest in it, (they don't think it's real, I guess) so they don't...which means great sites like this one hang on by the skin of their teeth, and writers like me and everyone else out there who has ever written an article for a professional publication are finding less and less work, every day. At least, for pay, which is how I have to operate if I'm going to take the time from another paying position to write at all. 

There are now just three fulltime staff outdoor writers in this state that I'm aware of...Sharp, Gwizdz, and Dave Graham. None of the other Michigan papers carry full-time outdoor writers on their staff anymore-none of them. Same goes for the magazines. All the magazines use as staff are publishers, editors and print folks. The rest of us are "stringers"-freelancers, most of whom write only on occasion...and more and more often, as you're seeing in one of our very popular monthly tabloids, not even recognized writers, but rather guides, preserve owners, manufacturer's reps, etc., who have offered to trade an editor an article in exchange for free advertising of their product. 

It's just sad, and very disheartening. I love being an outdoor writer, but it is very discouraging to make less money than you did 10 years ago, both because the market is so much smaller than it was then, and because editors of many publications are now paying less per article or photo than they were then. When you add in the fact that costs to create these articles (phone bills, gas, photo development) have risen dramatically, it certainly isn't worth it anymore for many people, and we're seeing fewer writers every day.


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## BGB (Jul 21, 2004)

After reading this thread I felt compelled to post this link about outdoor activites.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/2005-11-30-hunt-fish_x.htm

Perhaps these sports are not dying and the participants glean their information from elsewhere. You don't book South Dakota pheasant hunting or Montana fly fishing by looking at ads in your local paper. I agree with Fishndude. Consider that most newspapers are anti-gun and anti-hunting along with cost cutting it has contributed to the demise of the outdoor section. Newspapers as a whole are down because people want more visual.

However, I also agree with Hamiton Reef, we need the writers. But, I subscribe to periodicals of interest of interest to me and the activities I participate in and save the local rags for wrapping fish.

I believe that we are in a transition. We can get all the info we want and even interact with people about our favorite subject using the web. And it is all basically free. The advertising revenues at Google and Yahoo are rising. Eventually advertisers will realize this and sponsor more sites like this or the site members will see the value of the site and subscribe. The money will eventually have to come from somewhere. 

Perhaps this site will someday have a staff of writers and editors paid from subscribers and advertisers. I don't think a few dollars a month is too much to ask for the wealth of information, support, and entertainment contained in this site and others that I now visit at least weekly.


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## Linda G. (Mar 28, 2002)

What you're seeing with the rise of Cabela's, Gander, Dick's, etc., etc., all over the country is really a symptom of the problem. Not an indication that more people are interested in the outdoors. 

I'll never forget the first time I visited Michigan's new Cabela's in Dundee. It was a lovely early fall day, and I stopped on the way to Ohio to dove hunt. The store was absolutely chuck FULL of people...and I found myself far more interested in them than I was in the new store-all Cabela's are more or less the same. I've seen most of them.

People were absolutely mesmerized by the trout stream and the taxidermy...I do mean mesmerized. I began listening to what they were saying...

It took about 30 seconds to realize that for most of those people, a trip to Cabela's WAS an outdoor experience for them, and for many, the closest they would ever get to seeing anything like that at all. 

With less and less land to hunt and fish, fewer skill sets and knowledge of how to do it, less money to do it, and most of all, less time, people aren't getting outdoors to hunt and fish like they used to-they're going to Cabela's...

I have several acquaintances that are "Cabela's junkies"...a garage or closet full of the latest outdoor gear from one of these stores-but they never get out or go anywhere to use it. 

Much less book hunting or fishing trips from anywhere, much less the newspaper.

That's how it is for more and more people every day, so they go to Cabela's, and dream-maybe, someday...


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## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Linda is correct. I feel sad for her dying profession which is something like the former union jobs being out source.

The other problem I have with the outdoor magazine industry is there is great diversity of outdoor magazines but very little substance inside the covers. Even when the magazines are broken down to hunt, fish, camping, off road, there is only one maybe two short articles worth reading. The rest are adds or phony disguised articles written as info-commercials to sell the product in the article. I pick up the magazine to check if it is worth reading, notice 1-2 articles, read part of the article to see if those articles are worth reading (oops), both articles are completely read in five minutes. Now there is no point buying the magazine since the core 6 pages out of the 110 are already read and the high price of the magazine equals the gallon of gas already spent to get to the grocery store. The only magazines I get mailed to home are included with memberships to couple organizations I belong to. The other magazines are free sitting in the waiting rooms of some office visit during the month. That time boredom covers reading the picture add articles of the other 104 pages. Finally, many of our monthly meetings are held at our local library conference room. The library has 60-80 monthly magazines for free covering the half hour waiting for the meeting to start.


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