Future Gazette: Print phase-out?

Why Future Gazette?

For 35 years I have worked in the newspaper business. I have been a general assignment reporter, managed an outlying bureau, been a political reporter, city editor, business editor and, most recently, editorial page editor for the mid-sized daily where I've been employed for most of my career.

During my years in the business, the industry has obviously changed tremendously. Now, as I near the end of that career, and as I have begun to teach college classes on journalism, I wonder more and more about the future of the industry.

I've also delved into newspapers of the 19th century as part of some research not directly related to journalism. In the process, I've been interested about some of the changes in the past century and more, but I've been far more amazed at how little basic news coverage has changed.

Young Benjamin Franklin's newspaper was the Pennsylvania Gazette. There is little question that it helped establish the template for what newspapers would look like on this continent -- something different from those of Europe. The Gazette was more cheeky toward authority, more populist and offered more homespun advice than most of what was published across the pond at the time.

So, what is the future of the Gazette in the 21st century? It looks bleak, at least for the ink-on-paper format we've known for the past few centuries. The corporate boards and academics are working hard to figure out what comes next, but I'm not sure the answer will come from them. Perhaps there is a 21st century Ben Franklin -- or thousands of Bens and Bernadettes -- who are already in the process of creating a new journalism form on their own.

That's more exciting than ideas generated at a facilitated meeting with flip charts and consensus ideas.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Print phase-out?

From Jim Romenesko's site at Poynter Online:

Oregon paper will halt Monday delivery
"Klamath Falls Herald and News
Beginning Jan. 5, the Herald and News will put many of its Monday features into the Sunday paper. Publisher Heidi Wright says the Monday edition is being killed to avoid staff cuts and rate increases"

Hard to fault a paper for doing this as newsprint and other costs increase. But how will the readers take it. The start of a new work week for many newspaper readers -- including my wife -- requires reading the latest news in print. Reading it in Sunday's edition won't be quite the same.

But it is one step that may begin to gradually move readers to online editions. That's a good thing.

Future Gazette

Why Future Gazette?

Blog Archive

About Me

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Print phase-out?

No comments: