Author Philip Roth inspired newspaper headline

When Philip Roth, the novelist who wrote about Jewish life and male sexual identity, died May 22, 2018, at age 85, we recalled a headline he inspired many years earlier.

Stockton, California, residents with homes along a major waterway said they were annoyed by loud sounds emanating from increased cargo ship dock activity nearby. They even sued.

The December 1, 2000, headline:

By the way, a judge dismissed the suit in September 2002.

Math for journalists

Here's what it takes to pay for a typical news reporter's salary of $40,000 a year plus benefits ($50,000 total, figuring benefits packages including health insurance are 25 percent of salary).

➤417 subscribers each paying $10 a month.*

Or
➤20 full-page newspaper ads @ $2,500.*

Or
➤50 30-second spots on local TV news @ $1,000.*

Or
➤2.5 million views of online ads @ $20 cpm.*

News organizations relying on people to pay for news are going to need bigger boatloads of subscribers.

*Prices vary by market/publication size/other factors but these are typical of small and midsize operations.

For example, a full-page, midweek black-and-white newspaper ad at open rate (at time of this post):

• USA Today: $125,600
• WSJ: $277,200
• Milwaukee J-S: $23,688
• Bozeman Daily Chronicle: $2,587