Thursday, November 6, 2008

Don't know what the run on newspapers really means, but. . .

the fact that all over America newspapers sold out, printed extra editions and added specialties like glossy covers or T-shirts indicates to me that people do want printed papers. I know the Marquette Tribune's special print edition was flying off the newstands around campus, and I heard more people talking about it than I ever did about the online Tribune (which is updated several times a day whether there is an edition that day of the twice-weekly print Tribune.

As I'll openly admit, I'm a fan of print newspapers (try reading comics online only) and I think print newspapers are better teaching tools than online, especially in creating that informed public needed in a democracy.

So the question for the newspaper industry is: How do you translate that demand for the permanence of print we saw yesterday into continuing sales. Even more, how do you convince advertisers that this is the way to go? I don't have the answer (although if I were the Journal Sentinel I'd be telling all of my advertisers about the success of the McDonald's spadia wrapped around the front section of yesterday's paper).

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