June
17
Newspaper Death Watch
Publisher McClatchy is cutting its work force by some 1400 jobs nationwide, reflecting the continuing declines in newspaper circulation.
Another reason consumers are letting their print subscriptions lapse in favor of online: they feel guilty about all the newsprint piling up. They want to be green, responsible non-tree-killing citizens. (Have you noticed all the TV ads promoting everything green?)
In Cannes I was struck by an edition of the LAT that was emailed as a PDF and printed out locally; just the sections we wanted. I love to browse my morning newspaper, but I routinely throw away all the sections I don't want to read. There must be some way to deal with this waste.
Of course I recycle all my LAT newsprint, and I keep my subscription because I believe in newspapers, I want to support the LAT. And I still want to read the paper every morning with my coffee. But especially the Sunday paper--all that bulk! Of course, it's the ads that keep the paper alive. The online ads bring in a fraction of the print ones. What is the solution?
I would subscribe at home to the NYT and WSJ as well if they wouldn't pile up like everything else these days. I don't really WANT to read these papers on my computer. But I am often frustrated when I read stuff in print form and have to remember it to find it again and link to it online. (One solution is to read the paper with my portable computer on hand.) I would happily browse the LAT in electronic book or Kindle form. (But I will never give up reading magazines and books.)
UPDATE: More critics are departing their established newspapers, leaving all their followers behind. Well-regarded Washington Post film critics Stephen Hunter and Desson Thomson have taken buyouts.
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The thing I miss most about my digital subsciption to the NYTimes are the print advertisments. I don't even care if they're local to New York, I really want to see them in my green paper.
Posted by: T. Holly | June 17, 2008 at 11:12 PM