How many printed newspapers do you read daily? Which ones? Do you subscribe? Do you subscribe to out-of-town newspapers?
My preference: I love holding a newspaper in my hands. I can scan sections of a newspaper that I’m holding far faster and more thoroughly than I can by going to a newspaper’s Web site. Like the stories that hit after page 3A. I’d usually miss those unless I were searching the Web sites for a specific topic.
The future of newspapers was a hot topic today on CNN’s Media Matters:
HOWIE KURTZ: … is the outlook really as bleak as the critics suggest?
Joining me now here in Washington, Geneva Overholser. She is former editor of “The Des Moines Register” and now directs the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Washington program.
Also with me, “Washington Post” associate editor Robert Kaiser. He is a former managing editor of the paper and co-author of “The News about the News.”
And Jim Warren joins us from the “Chicago Tribune,” where he serves as deputy managing editor.
Welcome.
Jim Warren, the “Chicago Tribune” just cut 28 editorial jobs. A lot of “Tribune” papers having to cut back. “The Baltimore Sun,” for example, closing two of its five foreign bureaus.
How exactly is this going to help the business attract more readers?
JIM WARREN, “CHICAGO TRIBUNE” MANAGING EDITOR: Well, I think, let’s stipulate, for starters, Howie, that in our industry we are facing an older, declining audience and fragmenting advertising for sure. Add to that the fact that I think traditionally, probably as a result of our success, we have been pretty smug, too hierarchical, very resistant to change, and have not invested wisely when it comes to marketing. … Read the transcript
It got kind of sad when Jim Warren suggested this:
… Even in Davenport, Iowa, as old Iowa resident Geneva may know, the “Quad City Times” is doing some fascinating things in trying to get a younger audience not only with a Web site but with a very small printed product that you can put into your pocket called “My Mom,” which is actually largely produced by kids. It’s an innovation that comes a little bit late, but I think it is a sign of the times, and which is why I am quite optimistic.
Maybe it’s a cooler product than he describes. So, do you hold a newspaper in your hands every day? How many? Thoughts?
