Whether an advertiser or publisher, the question is the same.  How do you make newspapers relevant? 

It’s the Holy Grail for publishers and ad customers who see the numbers thwarting their desire to hang in with a beloved vehicle.  Shel Israel, an author of Naked Conversations, in a Twitter report points to an interesting report from Silicon Alley Insider.  That newsletter  observes that every subscriber to The New York Times could be sent a free Kindle for half what it costs to print and distribute the paper.  A few years ago, I’d protest. Need the real paper in my hands. I want to tear out articles, wrap the fish, whatever.

Maybe it has to do with being a bit older and more lazy, but I’m not driven to go out Sunday mornings and pick up the papers. Instead, I find myself  home with cup of tea by my side and the New York Times on line. Oh, we’re still old fashioned. We get all of the papers.

The Sunday papers come on Monday based on our orders because they’re almost always stolen. The Wall Street Journal and Times Herald Recordare regularly tossed into the snow pack in the middle of the yard, so you have to wade in to retrieve them. In this area, I like Gannett’s Poughkeepsie Journal, but the only delivery is U.S. Mail, so at best it’s at least a day late.

I have this short list of hyperlinks on my laptop. I find myself touring through the papers, sometimes even the far away like the Los Angeles Times and The Washinton Post. I like following suggestions from those I follow on Twitter.  Tonight I may hang in, boot up and read the Sunday Times online.

Yes the papers are relevant — both the articles and the ads.  Only their delivery has to change. Well, they almost all have gone online.  Maybe we readers have to catch up and learn to like them on screen.

Photo: Bob King