Times-Dispatch cries "wolf" over First Amendment
MEDIA WATCH
Greg Pearson

Every once in awhile someone in the media business in this market does something that makes some of the rest of us blanch. We have learned over the years not to trot out the First Amendment defense when it just favors one of us - citing freedom of the press needs to be for something important.

Earlier this month, the Henrico County Board of Supervisors used good common sense when it passed an ordinance making it illegal to solicit donations, distribute fliers or sell items while standing in a median strip. According to Publisher Tom Silvestri, the Richmond Times-Dispatch (RTD) was reportedly selling 1,000 newspapers each Sunday using "hawkers…who are trying to get back to normal or who need money."

Before the Henrico board, Silvestri breached the First Amendment argument followed by an editorial on Aug. 16 and a subsequent cartoon in the paper's coordinated attack. The editorial didn't indicate why it should be legal to sell newspapers in the public's right-of-way when it's illegal to put signs there.

If the RTD really believes its First Amendment argument trumps state law and county ordinances designed for public safety, the paper will be filing suit soon in federal court. We doubt they will. If the RTD could sell papers in the median, what's to stop Starbucks from selling hot lattes street side while Ntelos hustles cell phones at the curb?

There are plenty of ways to read the RTD: you can subscribe, buy a copy at hundreds of retail locations in Henrico or go online. The "convenience" argument advanced by the RTD seems more than a stretch.

These are difficult times for daily newspapers, and the RTD is among them. Four months ago, the RTD reported its circulation dropped 6 percent for weekdays and 4.2 percent on Sunday from the corresponding period a year ago. Silvestri attributed the declines mostly to "a cut in the paper's budget for circulation marketing."

The RTD's whining is not about being able to report the news, it's about money. Lower circulation could mean you charge advertisers less. Media General, the Richmond-based parent company of the RTD, just reported publishing revenues down almost 19 percent for July, led by serious declines in classified revenue at its daily newspapers and lots of bleeding at the Tampa Tribune. The downward cycle has taken a heavy toll on the company's stock price - now trading in the $12 range from a high of $72 (March 2004).

Ironically, decisions made by the RTD are factors in the circulation decline. They include downsizing the number of reporters; cutting the number of pages printed each week; increasing the cost of a subscription; and providing their stories online for free.

The reader reasons, "Why should I subscribe when those stories are free online?" That's particularly true for the highly desired readers under age 35, which means paid circulation for the RTD is going to continue shrinking.

When one of us cries "wolf" over a false First Amendment issue, it diminishes all of us in the Richmond media community. It's particularly unfortunate when the culprit is the daily paper.