Recently, there has been constant discussion over what is in store for the future of journalism. Many critics of the profession proclaim that print media will be dead in the near future.
We refuse to believe that this is the case. If newspapers make a few key changes to their models, they have the potential to be successful in the future.
There is no doubt that the Internet has been an appealing news source for people in recent years.
The Internet is successful due to the fact that it is interactive, visually appealing, and contains a never-ending amount of information. Consumers are looking for an immediate response to the information that they are looking for.
Therefore, we believe that it is essential for local papers to stay local in their coverage. People will not pick up a local paper for national news stories when there are plenty of online and national papers that would provide regular exposure to those issues.
On the other hand, there are very few outlets that would cover the local stories that are important to an individual community. Local papers are still an important source for citizens looking for information about their communities, and consequently, local papers should focus on staying local in order to appeal to their audience.
Wire stories should be basically eliminated from these small papers since consumers are not using small papers as their source for national issues.
This would free up more space for local issues that are important and relevant to individual communities. On this note, local newspapers need to make it a priority to get connected with their communities. This means sending staffers out to a plethora of events, and really getting involved with local happenings.
The annual national conference South by South West in Autstin, Texas as a means of business and community interaction is directly linked to the success of the Austin Chronicle. The weekly paper provides a solid example of how newspapers can integrate themselves directly into the communities they cover by hyperlocal reporting and manage to make substantial profits. The Austin Chronicle, as of March, hasn’t had to lay off any employees and doesn’t have any plans to do so.
We also believe that in order for daily papers to keep their full staff, it may be beneficial for dailies to lessen the frequency of publication to every other day (and take advantage of the Internet). The extra time allotted for assignments would drastically improve the quality of reporting. Additionally, if the papers are printed less, publication costs will go down. This would aid newspapers in being able to afford more staff writers or avoid letting them go.
People love the visually appealing aspect of the Web and newspapers should strive to include more dynamic layouts and add in more pictures and color so that readers will feel connected to the stories that they are reading about. While it would raise a credibility issue, we believe that providing more visually attractive looks will draw new readers. Magazines are not facing the same level of difficulty as newspapers are in attracting readers. This may be due to the fact that magazines are extremely colorful, and include many issues that are relevant to the readers personally.
Newspapers can adapt some of these interesting features, and still be considered a legitimate source for news. Changing visual aspects of a paper can aid in attracting readers without compromising the level of journalism involved.
All of these changes will help to attract readers of all ages to print media. The journalism profession as a whole is not a dying field. In fact, CCSU recently added journalism as a major, and there has been plenty of interest in the field.
There are thousands of college students across the nation interested in journalism to keep the print field alive. We just have to be the forerunners in improving and enhancing the qualities that already exist in print newspaper.
