Statesman on Friday?
Don Day | August 30, 2008Why is the Idaho Daily Statesman suddenly giving weekend-only subscribers its Friday paper? The paper started the practice earlier this summer, and is now killing extra trees to give Saturday-Sunday subscribers something they didn’t ask for.
The question is… why? It certainly isn’t out of the kindness of its heart. Is the fast-shrinking paper trying to prop up its M-F circulation report by sautéing the books a bit? Hmm.
The only reason I don’t have a subscription is because I only really want Friday and Sunday. I think it’s a great idea.
Its called De-Marketing…. and nobody does it better.
Here in Portland, we took the Oregonian a couple times but only because they gave us a ridiculous offer. We paid something like $2.50 per month to have it delivered every day of the week and that was AFTER they gave us a free month! I figured that it had ALOT more to do with attracting advertisers. If they can show that they have high circulation numbers, they can use that to tell potential advertisers that there’s still a demand for the paper and set their rates.
But thats just my uneducated guess.
There was a conference this past week in San Francisco about the death of newspapers. The panelists estimate that the SF Chronicle, LA times and several other major market papers will go online completely within two years. Its about convenience. Why should anyone subscribe to an expensive printed paper when they can get the same content online or even their Blackberry for free. And, with today’s tracking technology, management can know how many people are reading their online content down to the minute.
The Statesman, what there is of it, takes under five minutes to read – and that’s the Sunday edition. The local paper is a dinosaur, along with almost every other newspaper (some exceptions being very small markets or special interest publications where the news is still oriented to the community it serves).
We don’t ask “why”, we just take the free Friday edition and enjoy. Besides, even if you’ve already read the news online, or heard it on air, sometimes its good to actually hold it in your hand…thats, hopefully, also why online books will never replace the actual hard copy. I hope, anyway. Theres something comforting about having an actual paper to fold and crinkle and roll up …and even read. Even if the paper is not up to par with others in the country, i still don’t hate it. Who am I to criticize how well a paper is really done, unless I’m an expert myself? Oh, I guess that defeats the whole purpose of this blog, hunh?
P.S. reading the funnies online is not near as fun for me and the kids as it is in the actual paper. No, theres a whole ‘nother topic. Remember when the funnies used to be much thicker with many more comics….good and bad?
And Ken, remember when Garfield used to be funny?
Cause sadly, I don’t. Although if you’re looking for a good read, check out garfieldminusgarfield.com
And Ken, don’t forget, Silly Putty won’t capture your favorite comics off a computer screen they way it does when you press it against the newsprint!
That site is Garfield Minus Garfield dot net for Ian’s post.
Apparently a book is going to be released with Garfield’s 30th anniversary.
Dave, Thats why I likes ya!
Last year I cancelled my Statesman and Argus (Ontario’s rag) delivery in leiu of the online versions. Mid winter I ran out of starter material for my wood stove … I didn’t like the expensive alternative; I learned that my monitor is hard to light and it smells funny when it burns.
Jim….Jim….Please – you cancelled your subscription to the ArgoRag? What will you do without the editor’s insightful Sunday editorials about how much they do to improve the paper each week….oh, Jim…. Well at least we Western Treasure valley folks have the Independent Enterprise so we do have a LOCAL paper to fall back upon. Thank goodness for that!
I subscribe to the paper and receive it every day. It’s so much nicer to sit at the kitchen table and read it with breakfast, than it is to fire up the computer, and read it in the back office. I get a lot of news from the computer, but I agree with Ken in that some parts of the paper are so much nicer to read in print than online. And if I spill a little milk from my cereal, it doesn’t cost me a new keyboard.
…and when did the Statesman start putting the Life section in the Scene insert on Fridays? I was so confused, but it made the comics so much easier to read.
Maybe if the Statesman had a better proofreader, they would have more subscribers. I think that a publication that touts its nomination for a Pulitzer should be free of typos, but maybe my expectations are too high.