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.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: internet, madison, newspapers, print, wisconsin
Companies: madison capital times
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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).
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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.
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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).
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paper once a week
Ian
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why bother?
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Ours Work
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The Way We Were...
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2x a week
pretty common in rural areas
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