The Omaha World Herald

[Garrett]

The calls from the OWH to resubscribe have gotten relentless. I've been called 5 times in the last 24 hours, finally just answered and asked them to take me off the list, only for the worker to say "Please give it a try sir" and at that point I just hung up.

[nebugeater]

The calls from the OWH to resubscribe have gotten relentless. I've been called 5 times in the last 24 hours, finally just answered and asked them to take me off the list, only for the worker to say "Please give it a try sir" and at that point I just hung up.

At least I am not getting calls yet. I get at least an email a day and often more for this same thing. Started a couple of months ago.

[jessep28]

The calls from the OWH to resubscribe have gotten relentless. I've been called 5 times in the last 24 hours, finally just answered and asked them to take me off the list, only for the worker to say "Please give it a try sir" and at that point I just hung up.

[Bob from Omaha]

The last two times I was called I swore like I did when I was a drunken college student. Non stop. The first time the caller just said "I'm inpressed" & hung up. The second time I warned the caller what I was about to do until I was taken off the call list. Then I started in. Finally the caller yelled "OK! You're off the list!"
I haven't been called in over a week.

[Greg S]

The last two times I was called I swore like I did when I was a drunken college student. Non stop. The first time the caller just said "I'm inpressed" & hung up. The second time I warned the caller what I was about to do until I was taken off the call list. Then I started in. Finally the caller yelled "OK! You're off the list!"
I haven't been called in over a week.

Interesting, I have never got the call to resubscribe (I just cancelled in January). I have received several emails. Most recent is offering 6 months online for $1. I plan to take that one.

Greg

[WBR_Tom]

I finally got around to canceling our digital subscription on Friday because they raised it to $38 a month (!), and the hard sell they gave me was honestly impressive in an annoying sort of way. First they offered to drop the price in half for nine months. When I declined that, they offered to give it to me for $15 for six months. Then it was $9.99 for three months with one month free. Then I got the ol' "What do I have to do to get you to keep your subscription?" line. I wanted to ask her how much time she had because I had quite a list of gripes, but I know the problems there are way further up the org chart than the customer service rep who was just doing her job so I let it go. It's not her fault Lee Enterprises has gutted that place.

Based on the experience of people in this thread, sounds like I can look forward to many phone calls to get me to re-subscribe shortly...

[jessep28]

I pay like $38.99/mo for my online Wall Street Journal subscription which has substantially more news, lol.

[Garrett]

I pay like $38.99/mo for my online Wall Street Journal subscription which has substantially more news, lol.

The New York Times is only $25/mo and similarly has way more things

[jag42]

I know it's probably not true, but it sure seems the OW-H has more staff covering anything Huskers than general local news.

[skinzfan23]

I know it's probably not true, but it sure seems the OW-H has more staff covering anything Huskers than general local news.

Feel like its been that way for years.

[GenX]

World Herald’s subscription system has been undergoing maintenance for the past couple days. As a result, the paywall is down.

[nativeomahan]

There are many reasons, make that MANY REASONS why the OW-H is where it is today. The print media tide rolled out a decade ago and left most of the U.S. print media world high and dry. Not just newspapers but magazines as well. On top of that the W-H had for decades been living high on the hog, with basically zero competition, and they absolutely thought that those days would never end, and consequently they were slow to realize that times were rapidly changing, and that their readership was either dying off or moving on to digital media and then to streaming services. They used to think that local TV news was their only competition. That seems both quaint and funny today.
Lee Enterprises has essentially drained the lifeblood out of the paper, as it has done in many other media markets. The comment about Lee cutting everything except Husker coverage has more than a ring of truth to it. That strategy might have better succeeded had the NU football and basketball programs actually had regular winning seasons. Nothing succeeds like success, but conversely failure is not something most people care to be reading about.
Honestly I don’t see the W-H continuing to be a daily newspaper much longer. They already choose not to print papers on both minor and major holidays. And few people besides myself even noticed. It’s a sad reality.

[Cermak]

There are many reasons, make that MANY REASONS why the OW-H is where it is today. The print media tide rolled out a decade ago and left most of the U.S. print media world high and dry. Not just newspapers but magazines as well. On top of that the W-H had for decades been living high on the hog, with basically zero competition, and they absolutely thought that those days would never end, and consequently they were slow to realize that times were rapidly changing, and that their readership was either dying off or moving on to digital media and then to streaming services. They used to think that local TV news was their only competition. That seems both quaint and funny today.
Lee Enterprises has essentially drained the lifeblood out of the paper, as it has done in many other media markets. The comment about Lee cutting everything except Husker coverage has more than a ring of truth to it. That strategy might have better succeeded had the NU football and basketball programs actually had regular winning seasons. Nothing succeeds like success, but conversely failure is not something most people care to be reading about.
Honestly I don’t see the W-H continuing to be a daily newspaper much longer. They already choose not to print papers on both minor and major holidays. And few people besides myself even noticed. It’s a sad reality.

Well put, newspaper's and magazines got destroyed by smartphones, it’s shocking how quickly it happened. It wasn’t that long ago when newspapers were huge maybe 12-15 years ago.

[Bob from Omaha]

Lee Enterprises, owner of the owh & a ton of other papers, has seen its stock price fall from a high of $498.50 in late 2003 to $13.50 today, and no more dividend. Most news regarding the health of the company is negative. I'd say the patient is dead and doesn't know it. OWH printing plant can print 75,000 papers an hour. Sucks that they can do the who print run in less than an hour. Buffet was right years ago. "Newspapers are toast"

[Renovator2559]

It wasn't just technology that killed newspapers. Newspapers like OWH, NYT any many others lost their neutrality and became opinionated partisan hit pieces. Now people rely more on independent and citizen journalism.

It just came today that government agencies, were essentially handing out 8.4M of tax payer dollars to fund Politico. Quite strange that our tax dollars would go to fund Politico, even though USAID is for international causes.

https://nypost.com/2025/02/05/us-news/f ... yer-money/

[Garrett]

"Opinionated partisan hit pieces" he says citing the NYPost without a hint of irony.

[djc311]

"Opinionated partisan hit pieces" he says citing the NYPost without a hint of irony.

LOLOLOLOLOL - I can't say much, as one of my previous posts got booted. But ohhhhhh, the irony.

Kinda like NewsNation; glad they're not biased or partisan at all, either.

[guy4omaha]

I don’t know if there is such a thing as a neutral or unbiased news or media source.

[Linkin5]

First of all, the Politico stuff has already been proven to be a lie. They received $44,000.00 over two years for subscription (https://www.yahoo.com/news/claims-polit ... 55202.html).

Second, yes all media sources are biased to an extent, however there are clearly networks/publications/websites that are more egregious than others.

[Stargazer]

Anyone know the largest city without a daily paper?

[nebugeater]

Anyone know the largest city without a daily paper?

According to Google, Pittsburgh is the largest city without a printed daily.

Results also show New Orleans, Birmingham and Salt Lake City as some larger cities without a daily

[bbinks]

When did they stop doing the 2 free article a month access online? I was trying to look at an article but the paywall came up. I honestly can't recall the last time I saw a Sunday paper in anyone's driveway on my morning walks. Even at the Dr. office at a Methodist clinic, no newspapers anymore.

[Dundeemaha]

With the current issues from their servers getting owned, they can't fix my subscription issue so I just turn off javascript on omaha.com. You don't get images but their paywall is entirely client side post-page load so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[OverlookedFarm]

Bold idea here.

But what if the OWH and other daily print outlets actually expanded their news rooms, stopped engaging in the lazy media biases and actually got out and talked to people and wrote meaningful articles?

Last time the OWH (and many other papers) was maybe worth buying was the mid-90s (coinciding with the rise of internets). Physical papers in your office lobby, home, break room or at the dentist seemed like a valuable cultural cornerstone built on trust. Unfortunately, the unsavory got involved, the trust was broken and they destroyed their own business model. Canvassing for digital subscriptions will never supplant actual advertising revenue like selling space would.

[Louie]

I’d love to see print papers become more solely focused on investigative journalism. They’ll never beat social media speed to deliver plain jane news in this day and age, but the quality and education level of reporting could translate well into a media that ONLY delivered hard hitting pieces.

[Greg S]

In the last couple weeks they did a great 2 part story on Brandeis, history of the family in town and the store. Really enjoyed it.

[nebport5]

I’d love to see print papers become more solely focused on investigative journalism. They’ll never beat social media speed to deliver plain jane news in this day and age, but the quality and education level of reporting could translate well into a media that ONLY delivered hard hitting pieces.

Sounds more idealistic than realistic. They and other local media already engage in click bait which I’m afraid is what it would largely be as their exclusive M.O.

[almighty_tuna]

Mayor Stothert Hates This One Weird Trick (Try Immediately)
Fix Potholes Here

[Louie]

I’d love to see print papers become more solely focused on investigative journalism. They’ll never beat social media speed to deliver plain jane news in this day and age, but the quality and education level of reporting could translate well into a media that ONLY delivered hard hitting pieces.

Sounds more idealistic than realistic. They and other local media already engage in click bait which I’m afraid is what it would largely be as their exclusive M.O.

Well yeah, that's why I said I'd love to see it...

[Bob from Omaha]

Amazing story in the UNO Gateway regarding the owh. I'll post the link here but I'd like to point out a couple of nuggets and then two or three thoughts.

https://www.unothegateway.com/news/warr ... 8345a.html

"Lee Enterprises, a national chain based out of Davenport, Iowa, has slashed the staff by 75% in 6 ½ years, amid persistent concerns about whether the company is on the verge of a financial collapse. The most recent round of layoffs on March 25 reduced the newsroom to about 28 total staffers at the city’s designated news source since 1885. Two decades ago, the World-Herald had 200 staffers in its newsroom."

"Under Lee, the World-Herald has pivoted to primarily sports coverage. In the March slashing, Lee cut a half-dozen news staffers while leaving sports untouched. With the remaining staff, eight full-time news reporters and a part-timer working 30 hours a week are dedicated to covering news in a city of almost 500,000. The paper retained its sports staff of at least eight journalists.
“If you exclude sports from the equation, we now have campus newspapers that are better staffed than what was once the state’s preeminent news source,” said Cooper, now general manager of The Gateway."

So the bottom line is that the owh is a ghost of its former self. These days while some may wish for a robust local print media or at least robust local cyber media, it's not happening and with legacy media in all likelihood it's never going to.

When Buffett bought the Buffalo paper he had interest for a while but said something not long after that foretold of the future. He said that the content section of the paper would continue to have the same number of column inches it wasn't going to add anything to the profit of the paper. Remember, everyone, while he loves his public image it's still all about profits. He dabbled in the Omaha Royals for a bit. He bought the world herald and held it for a bit. BUT he simply cannot stomach losses. In the end he is ONLY interested in the monetary returns on his investments. NOT some social responsibility. He's made that clear his whole life. That isn't a crime. He's free to die with billions. But in my personal opinion he lessens his legacy by doing it. AND donating to Gates' foundation doesn't buy him a pass.

Very well done writing by the Gateway. And Buffett and Lee not responding is cowardly. I know they'd rather the story just go away but hiding won't make it so.

[nebugeater]

I did a quick Google search and didn't find anything, and I will admit I didn't spend long on it.

Does anyone have a year-by-year trend of their circulation numbers? I will do some more digging later, but I thought I would see if anyone knows where this data might be.

[Greg S]

Amazing story in the UNO Gateway regarding the owh. I'll post the link here but I'd like to point out a couple of nuggets and then two or three thoughts.

https://www.unothegateway.com/news/warr ... 8345a.html

"Lee Enterprises, a national chain based out of Davenport, Iowa, has slashed the staff by 75% in 6 ½ years, amid persistent concerns about whether the company is on the verge of a financial collapse. The most recent round of layoffs on March 25 reduced the newsroom to about 28 total staffers at the city’s designated news source since 1885. Two decades ago, the World-Herald had 200 staffers in its newsroom."

"Under Lee, the World-Herald has pivoted to primarily sports coverage. In the March slashing, Lee cut a half-dozen news staffers while leaving sports untouched. With the remaining staff, eight full-time news reporters and a part-timer working 30 hours a week are dedicated to covering news in a city of almost 500,000. The paper retained its sports staff of at least eight journalists.
“If you exclude sports from the equation, we now have campus newspapers that are better staffed than what was once the state’s preeminent news source,” said Cooper, now general manager of The Gateway."

So the bottom line is that the owh is a ghost of its former self. These days while some may wish for a robust local print media or at least robust local cyber media, it's not happening and with legacy media in all likelihood it's never going to.

When Buffett bought the Buffalo paper he had interest for a while but said something not long after that foretold of the future. He said that the content section of the paper would continue to have the same number of column inches it wasn't going to add anything to the profit of the paper. Remember, everyone, while he loves his public image it's still all about profits. He dabbled in the Omaha Royals for a bit. He bought the world herald and held it for a bit. BUT he simply cannot stomach losses. In the end he is ONLY interested in the monetary returns on his investments. NOT some social responsibility. He's made that clear his whole life. That isn't a crime. He's free to die with billions. But in my personal opinion he lessens his legacy by doing it. AND donating to Gates' foundation doesn't buy him a pass.

Very well done writing by the Gateway. And Buffett and Lee not responding is cowardly. I know they'd rather the story just go away but hiding won't make it so.

The thing is, it's not just Lee and Buffet that are having issues. It's the industry as a whole.

[Bob from Omaha]

The thing is, it's not just Lee and Buffet that are having issues. It's the industry as a whole.

In a way you're right, though some stand out. The owh got rid of pretty much the entire editorial staff save sports. Here in Detroit there are still two papers, the Free Press and the News. They print at the same press and delivery is four days a week. You can still buy the print versions at gas stations & grocery stores. Both are worthy of a read. I can't say that about the owh. It's dead and doesn't even know it. Compared to Gannet Lee is a joke.
But yes it's an industry problem.

[damonhynes]

And Buffett and Lee not responding is cowardly.

It's not in their interest to do so. More precisely, they don't gain from responding. Given that their only response would be what their lawyers would let them say, they can keep their CTRL+C, CTRL+V boilerplate to themselves.

[bbinks]

Who's going to pay $3 for the weekday paper that's now the size of what the "Entertainment" section used to be in the Sunday paper of yesteryear? I can't remember the last time I saw the Sunday paper in someone's driveway when walking the dogs in the dawn hours. Covid axed the paper in medical office waiting areas, and was never brought back.

[Brad]

Rick from the Red Army pointed this out... WOW

Tyler Bishop drives in 5 runs as Omaha baseball defeats South Dakota State

Tyler Bishop drove in five runs to help Omaha baseball overcome an early five-run deficit as the Mavs defeated Summit League leader St. Thomas 11-7 on Sunday.

UNO (18-24, 11-13) took two of three from the Tommies in the series and has won 13 of its last 20 games to match its win total from the 2024 season.

St. Paul led 5-0 after two innings, but the Mavs had an immediate response with four runs in the top of the third. The key hit was a two-run double by Noah Greise.

https://omaha.com/sports/college/uno/ar ... 64edf.html

[Louie]

Rick from the Red Army pointed this out... WOW

Tyler Bishop drives in 5 runs as Omaha baseball defeats South Dakota State

Tyler Bishop drove in five runs to help Omaha baseball overcome an early five-run deficit as the Mavs defeated Summit League leader St. Thomas 11-7 on Sunday.

UNO (18-24, 11-13) took two of three from the Tommies in the series and has won 13 of its last 20 games to match its win total from the 2024 season.

St. Paul led 5-0 after two innings, but the Mavs had an immediate response with four runs in the top of the third. The key hit was a two-run double by Noah Greise.

https://omaha.com/sports/college/uno/ar ... 64edf.html

3 errors on the opponents name in one article is wild.

[nebugeater]

Rick from the Red Army pointed this out... WOW

Tyler Bishop drives in 5 runs as Omaha baseball defeats South Dakota State

Tyler Bishop drove in five runs to help Omaha baseball overcome an early five-run deficit as the Mavs defeated Summit League leader St. Thomas 11-7 on Sunday.

UNO (18-24, 11-13) took two of three from the Tommies in the series and has won 13 of its last 20 games to match its win total from the 2024 season.

St. Paul led 5-0 after two innings, but the Mavs had an immediate response with four runs in the top of the third. The key hit was a two-run double by Noah Greise.

https://omaha.com/sports/college/uno/ar ... 64edf.html

Well, in baseball, hitting .333 is respectable. Since they got it correct one out of three times, they are "hitting" .333. I'm not sure we can really hope for more in terms of Baseball!

[Bob from Omaha]

I've said before that I really don't have a dog in this hunt except that while I've been gone 17 years I still can't get the Nebraska and Omaha out of my system.

Cox Communications and Charter Communications are merging in a $35 Billion transaction. It's a big deal. I don't pay the owh anything so I can only go on the pre paywall info. Zilch. I guess that's what passes for local journalism these days.

Wowt had it two days ago. A cursory search doesn't return anything from KETV or KMTV.

[nebugeater]

KFAB was talking this AM about an email sent to subscribers that the cost was going up to $11.99. They said it was listed as temporary. (Does that mean only until they close the doors?) They also mentioned that one of the reasons listed for the increase was tariffs. What do they do in the day-to-day costs of doing business that a tariff would impact? Maybe an occasional part or office supply, but I would think they have plenty of "extras''s" lying around with all the layoffs