Welcome to my 100th blog
since joining Blogger in July of 2012. Prior to joining blogger.com (a free
blog maker), I wrote blogs for a couple of years in a local paper online, The Mansfield News Journal, and Cleveland.com (online
version of The Cleveland Plain Dealer).
The One Thing
One thing I would do different
is create my own blog sooner in Blogger instead of focusing on my local
newspaper as a primary source. Gannett News owns our local paper and ended
blogging earlier this year by going to a pay-per-view version. For a little
while, I wrote blogs in the last remaining Gannett owned newspaper in
Montgomery Alabama. (Thanks to Hugmama).
One Less Blogger
At the end of the third business
quarter this year, Gannett discovered it actually made money from going to pay
subscription. Three days later, the Montgomery Alabama newspaper, The Montgomery Advertiser,
hid their blog format and a couple of weeks later; ended public blogging
altogether.
The Mansfield, Ohio paper gave
us notification while the Alabama newspaper gave us no indication of the sudden
change in policy. This method was poor public relations on their part, but it
doesn’t surprise me.
Here We Go Again
Now the Plain Dealer is in
financial trouble
and may limit their paper printing and delivery to a few days per week. Will
the Plain Dealer go to a pay-per-view subscription and how will that affect
public bloggers? I still blog on Cleveland.com. They’ve voted me Blogger of the
Week several times. It’s a first class newspaper and by recognizing bloggers
weekly it shows the online newspaper values the folks adding value.
Why Start Now?
Part of the idea of creating my
own online paper- The Rust Belt Chronicles came about from my
adventures with blogging in newspapers and seeing what’s lacking in today’s
digital news. The book I reviewed the other day- The Impact Equation by authors, Chris Brogan and Julien
Smith, played a large role in those thoughts as well.
Extra, Extra, Read All About It?
The problem with Gannett News is
it doesn’t offer enough niche information to justify subscriptions. In fact,
our local paper appears to feature less articles focusing on our immediate
area. National or World news can be read for free, so why pay for news that is
free from countless media sources? Newspapers are dying a slow death. When was
the last time you saw a newspaper rack on a sidewalk?
That’s what I thought. News has
been digitized, amplified, and ostracized. But is pay-per-view how we want it
to reach us? Local news is now competing with the biggest news source ever- the
Internet.
The Good News?
These days anyone can be an
owner, news breaker or story teller. To be successful doesn’t require being a
giant conglomerate like Gannet News. The pendulum has shifted. The problem is
newspaper media is responding by using a dated philosophy-reducing quality and
charging a fee.
Seeing is Believing
Our local paper in printed
format is nothing like it was in its prime. It covered meetings of nearly every
organization and gave you all the updates. Newspapers offered page after page
of full paid advertisements and thick as a brick on Sunday’s. I use to pity the
paperboy carrying all those heavy papers in his paper bag, strapped over his
shoulder.
Visit the local library and
compare the content from 1972 and 2012. It’s a shocking change in the quality
and quantity of articles.
In our lifetime, a small child
will one day ask: “What’s a newspaper, Daddy?
Until
We Meet Again,
Jim Carver
Jim Carver
Author: The Legacy of David A. Wells- The Lexington High School
“Band of Gold”
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com
Something Meaningful that Matters!
www.successthroughmusic.com
Disclaimer- Books and
links on this website contain affiliate marketing sources between Jim Carver
and third party companies. I only recommend products, brands and businesses
that I strongly support. Photos used on this site are used courtesy
of the original authors and in no way endorse The Rust Belt Chronicles or my
work. Thank you.
