Give me the daily paper, please!

The Indianapolis Star ran--at least, in its online version--an alarming story about declining circulation among newspapers generally and the Star in particular. Here's the lead:

INDIANAPOLIS -- Most large U.S. newspapers, including The Indianapolis Star, posted declines in circulation for the six months ending March 31 as readers continued to migrate to the Internet for news and information and as publishers took steps to shed unprofitable circulation.

None of this surprised me, but I felt moved to comment as follows:

While recognizing that people's needs and preferences change, as well as the impact that economics and technology have on traditional media, I can't imagine life without the daily paper. Not online updates; the get-it-in-the-driveway, fold-under-your-arm, read-circle-and-clip kind of publication that plays an irreplaceable role in our society. I've been reading the Star since I delivered it (inside your storm door and I won't walk on your lawn, for two cents a day, thank you) in the early 60s.

The Star was hideously conservative then (remember the daily Joe Crow feature? Dr Crane's column "The Worry Clinic"?) As our paper struggles like every other, I hope they keep trying to deliver the product, keep trying to hold public officials accountable, keep turning up the untold story. Checking facts. Applying standards of journalism. Some of that rigor is missing in our Wild, Wild West of blogs and tweets.

It's fascinating to watch the drama unfold as newspapers fight to stay alive.

          

Comments

[Cindy Dashnaw]

I'm with you, Dan; I love reading the paper with my husband in the morning, and reading a screen isn't quite the same thing. Sadly, though, it takes far less time to browse the print version of the Star now.

I'm afraid it's a vicious circle: Their high profits for print are declining, so they're printing fewer pages, which drives more readers away from what they see is a print product that's not worth the money.

For me, a bad print product doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to assume an electronic version produced by the same company will be worth my time or money.