Newspaper Shuns Web, and Thrives

With 2008 drawing to a brutal close on the media beat -- bankruptcies, daily newspapers that are no longer daily, magazines that are downsizing into brochures -- a little ray of light appeared. It was from a newspaper owner. Into the teeth of a historic recession, the newspaper had just published the biggest issue in its history. The product is double-digit profitable, and it has been growing at a clip of about 10 percent a year since it was founded in 1999, right about the time the Web was beginning to put its hands around print's neck. Finally, a story about a print organization that has found a way to tame the Web and come up with a digital business approach that could serve as a model? No, the TriCityNews of Monmouth County (NJ) is prospering precisely because it aggressively ignores the Web. Its Web site has a little boilerplate about the product and lists ad rates, but nothing more.