Newspaper Execs Say Print Media Is Not Dead
On Feb. 3, a small group of newspaper execs came together and launched The Newspaper Project to promote the value and vitality of newspapers in a dynamic economic climate, and to combat the notion that the industry is dying.
The Website, www.NewspaperProject.org, writes, “While we acknowledge the challenges facing the newspaper industry in today’s rapidly changing media world, we reject the notion that newspapers — and the valuable content that newspaper journalists provide — have no future.”
The organization is promoting its message through print ads, in a plethora of community dailies, as well as industry giants like The New York Times, and banner ads, and is publishing “insightful articles, commentary and research” on its Website.
But what’s ironic about this campaign?
- The organization is attempting to reach younger generations by publishing its message in print ads, a place where 20- and 30-somethings are nowhere to be found.
- It advertises 100 million daily readers, but the majority of that number is online readership.
- It promotes journalists as valuable assets to the industry, yet the industry as a whole has laid off hundreds and thousands across the country, and continues to do so.
- The print ads are being run pro bono — costing struggling newspapers not only ad space that could be sold to paying advertisers, but also the ink and paper to print them.
With this aside, the heart of the campaign is in the right place; the message is not. For a campaign trying to reach younger generations, the execs are going about it all wrong. The audience, and readership, is there to be reached — but online, not in newspaper ink.
The organization should set up Twitter profiles to reach relevant and interested professionals. It could start a YouTube Channel featuring newspaper exec interviews. And how about dabbling in Facebook groups?
Launching a social media campaign is all it takes for the younger generations to hear your message. Now, whether we listen is a whole other blog…
Related Posts:
Blog Series — The Battle for Influence: Print vs. Online Media
Part 1 — Newspapers without the Paper?
Part 2 — Views from the Mainstream
Part 3 — Print Media Is Losing
Part 4 — Public Relations: The New Fundamentals
Lyndsey Walker is a Consultant for PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. After five years in the journalism field, she is happy to have made the switch to public relations. Follow my updates on Twitter: @lyndseywalker
Reader Comments
Clay S
February 18, 2009 7:32 PM | Permalink
Hey Lyndsey, Thanks for the post, I enjoyed checking out newspaperproject.org. I also agree with them -- while I think the model is sorely broken, I also totally believe that there is room in our culture for the type of valuable information that newspapers and their journalists provide. Thought you might enjoy checking this out: "Future of Newspapers" on Charlie Rose with Walter Isaacson from Time, Robert Thomson from WSJ and Mort Zukerman: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10075Comments are disabled for this post.