Traditional newspapers take leap forward
Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009
Readers have asked more than once in the past couple of years if we are going to stop printing The Beaumont Enterprise.
My answer always has been an emphatic, “No,” but to younger questioners I have modified that to, “Not yet.”
Read farther before you start shouting the news from the rooftops. I don’t mean we won’t be writing and distributing the news. Rather I acknowledge the fact that eventually a printed newspaper might become a relic.
Just as fewer and fewer people write letters they send by the U.S. Postal Service; and fewer and fewer people actually get a printed pay stub on payday; it seems logical that one day newspapers also will exist primarily in an electronic form.
We’ve already taken a step in that direction with our eEdition, but the thought is that one day readers will be able to download newspapers to their choice of electronic reading devices.
The Hearst Corp., parent company of The Enterprise, made another step in that direction last week in announcing the purchase of Skiff, a company that will offer information from Hearst-owned publications in digital form. Differing from existing electronic readers, Skiff will display advertising as part of its capabilities.
The venture would make Hearst “the first publisher with its own end-to-end digital publishing system and reading hardware,” according to a news release.
It’s a wonderful development for a company that a decade or more ago made investments in E Ink Corp., which makes screens used in Kindle and other readers. The company’s interest in the concept is not new.
Since Hearst also owns many popular magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, the Oprah Magazine and others, the implications for both the company and consumers are clear — and exciting.
* * *
Businesses across the country are innovating and changing to meet the challenges of today’s economy, but (perhaps because of my perspective) I dare say media businesses, in particular newspapers, are right up there in efforts to change and innovate.
Among the latest experiments raising eyebrows among traditional journalists is a plan announced by the Dallas Morning News, in which some of the news staff reports to members of the paper’s advertising staff.
Some would say that’s comparable to putting the football team in charge of watching the buffet. The paper put some measures into place that might make it workable, but it’s still something that is bound to make reporters and editors uncomfortable.
* * *
Some readers still are calling to express confusion and frustration concerning our Sudoku number puzzle.
Probably close to a dozen have called to complain that there’s a problem with our puzzle because when they go on line to check answers, the numbers don’t match up. That’s because they aren’t supposed to. We no longer use that puzzle.
Our original Sudoku included instructions for puzzle fans to go online to get the answers.
About six weeks ago we made some internal changes involving how we produce the newspaper pages. That Sudoku puzzle wasn’t compatible with our new production system, so we changed to a different puzzle. Because we had gotten complaints from readers about having to go online to get puzzle answers, we chose a puzzle that included an answer guide.
Then came the uproar. To have the space to publish answers, the puzzle was smaller — too much smaller, according to many readers.
When we explained our good intentions, those same readers said they didn’t need answers, at least not as badly as they needed larger squares to work the puzzle. As one caller put it, “It’s math. There’s only one answer. Why would you need the answers unless you wanted to cheat?”
So we did away with the answers and made the puzzle larger. Readers can no longer find those answers on-line. That was a different puzzle. Now there are no answers, no peeking, no cheating — just math.
Readers have asked more than once in the past couple of years if we are going to stop printing The Beaumont Enterprise.
My answer always has been an emphatic, “No,” but to younger questioners I have modified that to, “Not yet.”
Read farther before you start shouting the news from the rooftops. I don’t mean we won’t be writing and distributing the news. Rather I acknowledge the fact that eventually a printed newspaper might become a relic.
Just as fewer and fewer people write letters they send by the U.S. Postal Service; and fewer and fewer people actually get a printed pay stub on payday; it seems logical that one day newspapers also will exist primarily in an electronic form.
We’ve already taken a step in that direction with our eEdition, but the thought is that one day readers will be able to download newspapers to their choice of electronic reading devices.
The Hearst Corp., parent company of The Enterprise, made another step in that direction last week in announcing the purchase of Skiff, a company that will offer information from Hearst-owned publications in digital form. Differing from existing electronic readers, Skiff will display advertising as part of its capabilities.
The venture would make Hearst “the first publisher with its own end-to-end digital publishing system and reading hardware,” according to a news release.
It’s a wonderful development for a company that a decade or more ago made investments in E Ink Corp., which makes screens used in Kindle and other readers. The company’s interest in the concept is not new.
Since Hearst also owns many popular magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, the Oprah Magazine and others, the implications for both the company and consumers are clear — and exciting.
* * *
Businesses across the country are innovating and changing to meet the challenges of today’s economy, but (perhaps because of my perspective) I dare say media businesses, in particular newspapers, are right up there in efforts to change and innovate.
Among the latest experiments raising eyebrows among traditional journalists is a plan announced by the Dallas Morning News, in which some of the news staff reports to members of the paper’s advertising staff.
Some would say that’s comparable to putting the football team in charge of watching the buffet. The paper put some measures into place that might make it workable, but it’s still something that is bound to make reporters and editors uncomfortable.
* * *
Some readers still are calling to express confusion and frustration concerning our Sudoku number puzzle.
Probably close to a dozen have called to complain that there’s a problem with our puzzle because when they go on line to check answers, the numbers don’t match up. That’s because they aren’t supposed to. We no longer use that puzzle.
Our original Sudoku included instructions for puzzle fans to go online to get the answers.
About six weeks ago we made some internal changes involving how we produce the newspaper pages. That Sudoku puzzle wasn’t compatible with our new production system, so we changed to a different puzzle. Because we had gotten complaints from readers about having to go online to get puzzle answers, we chose a puzzle that included an answer guide.
Then came the uproar. To have the space to publish answers, the puzzle was smaller — too much smaller, according to many readers.
When we explained our good intentions, those same readers said they didn’t need answers, at least not as badly as they needed larger squares to work the puzzle. As one caller put it, “It’s math. There’s only one answer. Why would you need the answers unless you wanted to cheat?”
So we did away with the answers and made the puzzle larger. Readers can no longer find those answers on-line. That was a different puzzle. Now there are no answers, no peeking, no cheating — just math.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 4:37 PM
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