The newspaper death tax

Alan Mutter tried to buy obituary space in the San Francisco Chronicle and learned that it would cost $450 "for the one-day run of a crappy-looking, 182-word death notice." This kind of gouging is a disservice to the community and to the paper, he writes:

This practice is not only exploitive, but also strategically tone deaf, because it misses a terrific opportunity to cement reader loyalty to a newspaper.

Every country editor knows that names make news. Birth announcements, wedding announcements and death notices are the only ways most people ever get their names in the newspaper, an event that remains a big deal to all but the most jaded individuals. ...

While metros can’t fill their shrinking news holes with every birth, wedding or funeral, they can offer people a free place on their websites to self-chronicle the comings and goings of their families.

The full post is here.