Can A Newspaper Survive By Only Printing Twice A Week?
from the what's-the-goal-here? dept
Romenesko points out that the Madison Capital Times, in Wisconsin, is not just putting more emphasis on its internet operations, but it's also cutting back on the print paper to the point of only coming out with a printed paper twice a week. Reader Joel also sent this in, saying: "A newspaper's web site gets its credibility from the daily publication. Without that it's just another news web site, and anyone can put up a web site. I think they need a reputable daily publication, even if it sells poorly and loses a little money, to give the web site legitimacy." I mostly agree, though, if you can successfully do news just online, paper could be a pretty big waste. However, in this case, it's unclear what benefit the "twice-a-week" strategy really provides. It will probably upset those who really liked reading the physical paper each day, and will do little to attract new readership. If they wanted to really bet on the web, why not make the bet complete? Going halfway by making the paper version less valuable doesn't seem all that compelling.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
Filed Under: internet, madison, newspapers, print, wisconsin
Companies: madison capital times
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
From Madison
I think the WSJ wanted to keep the pure local perspective, but is turning it into a more "community website" than a traditional newspaper. Correspondingly, this will probably open a NEW market for TCT (young, computer-savvy folks) while alienating its current reader-base (aging hippies).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Any news site is credible if it has original, factual material.
If there isn't enough news to fill a paper every day without a lot of wire copy, I think printing twice a week is a great idea. Most news isn't time sensitive. Who broke what first only really matters to competing newspapers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cap Times
I don't read the Cap Times. I think it's a good idea to get things more interactive and still have a print version. Also the focus turns on the Morning paper (Wis. State Journal).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
paper once a week
Ian
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
why bother?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ours Work
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Way We Were...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
2x a week
pretty common in rural areas
[ link to this | view in chronology ]