When Presses Go Off Edition and ‘Papers’ Go On Line
The logical extension of cost-cutting is total elimination of the enormous cost of the paper, ink, personnel and distribution involved in publishing on paper. Whoever first suggested replacing the paper medium was probably praised by his board of directors for being willing to make the tough decisions, for being forward-looking, for being innovative, for seeing the future of the industry.
So, capital and hope are invested in online ventures. Audio, video, interactive features are used online, which attract younger people, who will pay to visit and will create buzz, which will attract advertisers, who will pay more money, which will save the company, the reasoning goes. Improved websites promise all this without the costs of publishing on paper.
Finally, presses go off edition and ‘papers’ go strictly online.
But people are not attracted to the newspaper website by its audio; radio does audio better. People are not attracted to the newspaper website by its video; television does video better. People are not attracted to the newspaper website by its interactivity; Fox News, CNN and less impressive networks have much better interactivity.
No planet ever welcomed a shuttle just because it was a shuttle. It welcomed the shuttle because it was part of the Starship Enterprise. Without the mother ship, the shuttle wouldn’t be there.
What’s true for shuttle craft is true of newspaper websites. If the newspaper is gone, the newspaper website is just another choice among thousands of online choices featuring better audio, better video, better everything. Maintaining popular local features may delay the inevitable failure of the website for a short while, but without the professional journalism and the credibility of daily publication in a mass medium, the project is doomed.
The sad truth is that a local online newspaper without a local paper newspaper is no newspaper at all. And like a shuttle without a mother ship, it is not leaving the ground.
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