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Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:06 |
We got our first Macintosh computer here at The Journal in 1988 and we have been all Mac ever since.
Everyone knows that the Mac is the best platform for desktop publishing and graphics. We think it is the best for a lot of other uses as well, but then, we love our Macs.
Apple’s Steve Jobs, who died last week, was a benefactor for newspapers not just because Apple
Inc. created the Mac.
Jobs just liked newspapers and what they do for the public. Jobs is quoted as saying, “I don’t want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers myself. I think we need editorial more than ever.”
We agree with Jobs. Newspapers provide facts and the context that makes those facts more understandable.
Yes, you can watch video of government meetings, but we provide the background and context to make what is happening at those meetings more understandable.
Yes, you can watch demonstrators at Wall Street, but what does it really mean for the rest of us?
Yes, newspapers would become digital, but Jobs commented that he loved the printed page. “Whenever I have the time to pick up the printed version of the newspaper, I wish I could do this all time, but our lives are not like that anymore.”
That may be true for daily papers but weekly newspapers are not so constrained. We think there is still a place for newsprint in this world.
If you don’t read your Journal today, you can still read it tomorrow. Hopefully over the course of the week you will find time to sit down at the kitchen table and spread out the paper. The Journal is sticking with the larger page format - we have news to print - so it is a spread. And a comfortable one, we trust.
Beside that, how do you cut out that photo of your son or daughter riding on a float in the fall festival parade if your paper is all digital. The good news is, not only are newspapers still around, but circulation is coming back as people have assimilated all the iphones, blackberrys, etc. into their lives. Did they say the radio would go out of style when the TV was invented? That surely did not happen and the same is true for newspapers. It will just change with the times.
A recent study reported on Virginia’s Press, the monthly house organ of the VA Press Association, reports that 170,000 people a week in this country pick up the paper, either to read or shop for ads. The report continues that papers do a better job targeting their audience and providing them with information they want and find most useful. Papers are working with their readers for retention, rather than buck-shotting them far and wide, hoping to enlarge their readership. It’s a proven fact in business that you can do more good keeping your customers satisfied and doing business with you than always looking for the new customer. Here at The Journal, our readers’ interest drive what we do.
To quote from the article “Yes, newspapers have lost circulation and subsequently may lose some readership, but they are retaining their most engaged readers and prime consumers targeted by advertisers.
So, enjoy your iphone, text your friends, put your news up on facebook, but pick up that weekly paper, sit down, enjoy a moment or two and feel connected to where you live and what you believe in.
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