New Study Agrees That Customized Newspapers Are The Future
from the but-don't-we-have-that-already? dept
A week and a half ago, we wrote about Vin Crosbie's suggestion that newspapers need to offer completely customizable online versions to attract readers. Now, the Project for Excellence in Journalism has released a report entitled The State of the News Media that seems to come to pretty much the same conclusion. They say that, while circulation is declining and many newspapers are struggling, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for those who choose to head towards it. They believe that much more customized online news is what will save newspapers. So, I still stand by my original question: why should it be the newspapers who do this customization? Already, people can "create their own newspapers" just using the web and finding the stories that are interesting to them. What additional advantage is there for the newspapers themselves to offer the customization tools? Is the role of the newspaper to write the news or to deliver the news - or both?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Customized Newspapers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Customized Newspapers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Actually...
(I'm sorry-- I couldn't resist.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Agreed - they're both missing the point
Syndicated and "wire" stories are filler. If you look at what consumers use a newspaper for, its local news, local weather, local opinion, and local ads. Yes, the large papers have all kinds of additional articles & sections - but come on, those sections are really there to sell local context ads. Which isn't a BAD thing, I know people who buy the paper to SCAN for local ads and sales.
Check the Car section of any Saturday paper in the country - yes, there may be a few cute columns or occasionally good advice, but nothing like what's available on the internet. And with something like 70% of car shoppers researching on the 'net now... is anyone really counting on that Car section to get them by? Of course not. But damn, isn't it handy to use it and see what local dealers have on special right now? However, as an internet publisher, I'm happy to see the dead tree media heading off again in the wrong direction.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Agreed - they're both missing the point
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Agreed - they're both missing the point
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Agreed - they're both missing the point
I'm canadian and while I do like reading stories on an international or national level, I want local news, NEED local news, of which there is very little or none online and in the local newspapers as well.
I have european friends who feel the same way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Agreed - they're both missing the point
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Compilation
[ link to this | view in chronology ]