Aspen Times, Swift Embrace Big Shift Into Video

November 30th, 2006 at 05:44am Post Staff 43

RENO, NEVADA (Post Time News)--Envelope, please.

Swift Newspapers--owners of the Aspen Times and dozens of other dailies and weeklies--has figured out a way to make its way in the gnarly world of The Internet and new media.

And the winner, according to sources close to the company, is...video.

That's right, a newspaper chain with over thirty dailies and weeklies in Colorado, California, Nevada, and Oregon has determined the route to 21st Century survival lies at the end of a lens that captures motion video news and information. In the Roaring Fork Valley and Vail Valley alone, the chain owns everything from the Aspen Times to the Vail Daily, with multiple newspapers in between, including the Snowmass Sun and the Post Independent in Glenwood Springs.

In an initiative yet to be announced publicly, Swift papers like the Aspen Times will have to embrace a major cultural and technological shift requiring a new storytelling skill set. Swift, of course, is responding to the roiling world of newspapers, where display and classified revenues are faltering even as circulation continues to dip nationwide. The company is also experiencing positive results online from the introduction of a Web version of the print newspaper.

SWIFT NEWSPAPERS:

California
Tahoe Daily Tribune
Tahoe World
Sierra Sun
The Union

Colorado
Greeley Tribune
Summit Daily News
The Aspen Times
Vail Daily
Glenwood Springs Post Independent
The Fence Post
Nebraska Edition
Rocky Mountain Edition
Western Slope Edition
Windsor Tribune
Vail Trail
The Leadville Chronicle
The Citizen Telegram
Snowmass Sun
The Valley Journal
Eagle Valley Enterprise
Grand Junction Free Press

Nevada
North Lake Tahoe Bonanza
Nevada Appeal
The Record-Courier
Northern Nevada Business Weekly
Lahontan Valley News
and Fallon Eagle Standard

Oregon
The News-Review
Real Estate Guide
Pacific Coast
Oregon Coast
Southern Oregon

Entry Filed under: Basalt, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Vail, Media, Aspen, El Jebel, Colorado, Silt, Garfield County, Eagle County, Women, Post Time News, Emma, Resorts

4 Comments Add your own

1. Lost Sailor | November 30th, 2006 at 9:10 am

is this the same thing that the aspen daily news website has been doing recently?
2. TeleDogTwo | December 1st, 2006 at 7:12 am

Hey ConMan...

If this is news, your blog is in big trouble.

Wake me up when something interesting gets posted again in here.
3. Michael Conniff | December 1st, 2006 at 7:33 am

The Daily News has been running "Breaking Video" from a national feed.

When I started in the online business 25 years ago, it was clear that it was all about customization and convergence--the convergence of all the media. When we started Post Time Media with Aspen Post, our intention from the start was to embrace all media in a local portal/platform.

And that's what we're doing. FYI, we will be announcing a major initiative with a local radio station next week, and another big connection to a local television provider. Next week we are also launching Fractional Post, our fourth blog, with many more to come. Fools that we are, we expect the same spectacular results.

I would also point out to my relentlessly critical Dog that all of our blogs--Aspen Post, Snowmass Post, and Skiing Post--had their biggest days ever this week, so something seems to be working. (Thanks in part to the Dog's participation in our online community.)

As for our competition, we expect it and welcome it and take it very very seriously. Eventually, the local papers here and everywhere will release that the REAL power out there is with the people--with content generated by real folks. Until they make that transition--and they will--they can go into radio, video, and basket-weaving but it still won't address their vexing institutional identity crises.

All best, Michael!
4. Lost Sailor | December 1st, 2006 at 3:46 pm

No blog about the demise of the onion? No posts about rick giving the sheriff flowers, or the number 2 stepping down from apd? Aspen Post is missin the boat.

Teledog - stoked for highlands opener?