BG Reports

Retrieved from Domo Development Corporation

By Matt Nye

Newspapers have been around for over 400 years and have evolved into newspapers we are familiar with today. With such an old tradition of getting news out to the public, it wouldn’t come to the point where they are irrelevant… right?

There are many reasons for newspapers being in decline, but the main reason is because the information on the web is free. Since 2007, 14 metropolitan daily newspapers have been terminated, including the Cincinnati Post, according to Newspaper Death Watch.

The Courier, in Findlay, Ohio has been in circulation since 1836. 2011 is the 175^th anniversary of the newspaper. They have had an online edition of the newspaper since 1996. With the ability to share news almost instantly is there still a reason to have the printed issue?

Larry Alter, sports editor for The Courier said the electronic edition of the newspaper has really taken off and is now focused on every day.

“Papers nationwide are fighting with the idea of charging for Internet content and using some kind of pay wall,” Alter said. “We have not done so, but I think some day that will happen. So far we are generating enough revenue from online advertising to at least break even with costs.”

The Courier is still just 50 cents for one issue, while many newspapers in Northwest Ohio are now 75 cents. One such instance is printing where The Courier now prints six daily newspapers nightly and two more during the day because cost factors have forced other production departments to shut down.

Alter said that journalism will survive, but journalists have to stick with what works.

“Writing is writing no matter if its in a print edition or online,” Alter said. “That is our challenge, drawing people to the real news. Also, I think the more features newspapers can generate or at least use feature type leads to stories, the more readership they will draw.”

For The Courier there still are a lot of people that just want the newspaper in their hand and take it to work with them, according to Alter. They want the chance to look at it on their own time and stick to the old ways and not change.

Even though newspaper circulation is declining every year, they are still relevant… for now.

For more on this subject go here: newspaper decline.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 11:01 am and is filed under Business, Student Contributor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.