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Re: [GWL]: newspapers




>From: GeraldB571@aol.com
>Reply-To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
>To: Gardenwriters@topica.com
>Subject: Re: [GWL]: newspapers
>Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 13:47:01 EST
>
>You're right about the LA Times--but it started to happen even before Bob
>Smaus left. He complained to me one time that his space was being 
>diminished
>almost every issue. I long ago gave up on the Times for both horticultural
>and travel articles, the latter bveing done entirely now by staff.
>
>As newspapers have dropped freelance writers the pages show it--dull and
>duller, especially in garden writing and travel writing which are close to 
>my
>heart. Of course contract problems helped them to make those decisions, but 
>I
>don't think that was the primary reason with the LA Times.
>
>Gerald Burke
>Flower Power Columnist
>Riverside, CA
>
>============================================================
I've been reading with interest the discussion on newspapers allocating less 
space for gardening features. I'm sure this is economically driven, but I 
wonder why garden & travel news are targeted. Is anyone in a position to 
know if the decision is research-based? They obviously feel that garden and 
travel don't attract as many readers or advertising dollars. I just did some 
research on the popularity of gardening that indicates the opposite is true. 
According to the 1999-2000 National Gardening Survey (the most recent 
available), conducted by the National Gardening Association, gardening is 
the most popular leisure activity in the U.S. Two out of three U.S. 
households are involved in some type of gardening/lawn care activity. 
American gardeners collectively spend $33.5 BILLION/per year on their 
gardening pursuits, which breaks down to $532/household. Just look at how 
many businesses sell garden-related products and you can see the number of 
potential advertisers to support gardening pages. And, with the current 
political climate, people seem to be staying home in droves. If that trend 
continues, I'll bet even more people will be gardening, and spending more 
money on their gardens. Besides, something about gardening is 
patriotic--homeland, victory gardens and apple pie. My point to this is, 
maybe as garden writers we need to be more pro-active in our approach. 
Perhaps professional associations like GWAA need to mount a campaign to get 
this message out to the decision-makers at newspapers and magazines alike. 
GWAA hired a P.R. firm to improve the image of our garden writing awards. I 
think money would be well spent on ensuring that we have somewhere to write 
in the first place. If publications see it as profitable, more space will be 
filled with gardening news.
>




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