Newspapers, exercise and homework
I attended my first meeting with the Mosaic partnership last week, and one participant explained her newspaper reading habit this way: "It's like working out. It's right down there with working out. It's good for you, but it's work. You should do it, but you really don't want to. And, like going to the gym, I don't do it much."
Ouch. And now comes The Wall Street Journal today (subscription required) which quoted an ad agency big wig as saying that reading the newspaper is like doing homework. The story is more about newspapers as a vehicle for advertising, but the point remains for those of us on the news side, too. We're making a variety of efforts to make the News & Record easier to navigate and more interesting to read, without losing our sense of mission.
On the other hand, the article notes: "Some publishers are trying to project a hipper image. San Francisco Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein appears in artsy, black-and-white spots from Interpublic Group's Foote Cone & Belding for the Hearst newspaper. Some ads for Gannett's USA Today, crafted with Interpublic's McCann Erickson, feature actresses Pamela Anderson and Carmen Electra."
If we want to convey a hip image, I doubt artsy photos of me would cut it.
Comments (7)
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I love my paper. When it is not there in the morning when I get up it ruins my day. I read at least 2 papers every day - the N&R and USA Today - and the Charlotte Observer every Saturday and Sunday in full.
Posted on December 15, 2004 2:46 PM
John, ethics be damned -- we need to clone this guy.
Posted on December 15, 2004 5:05 PM
Thanks, Lex. I am not against cloning myself. Cloning others, I do not know about.
I read Observer online most of time, but it is not same as unfolding paper for me. They do, however, put all their content online, and their portal is much cleaner and smoother to navigate.
No offense intended, just an observation.
Posted on December 16, 2004 8:35 AM
Retrieving the N&R from my front walk every morning and reading it over a double espresso before the rest of the family gets up is one of my most reliable pleasures.
But then, I like going to the gym, too.
Posted on December 16, 2004 8:48 AM
There is nothing like good cup of coffee and the feel of newsprint in your hands. I start every day that way and, like Craig, am cranky if the paper is not there. It almost always is, even in really bad weather.
I, too, read papers from all over the world via the internet. But I still have to hold the N&R in my hands first thing. It's ritual.
In fact, in my house it is so much a ritual and so important that on Sunday mornings, when I wake up before Mr. Wonderful, it is required that I put the paper back in the order it was when I took it from the driveway. Otherwise HE'S cranky.
Posted on December 16, 2004 8:53 AM
What The Wall Street Journal seems to overlook is the franchise newspapers can and should have in local coverage.
Posted on December 16, 2004 9:12 AM
Work? Work? How can it be work? For me, reading the paper is a pleasure I rarely get to indulge myself in, but to think of it as work... never.
Posted on December 16, 2004 8:17 PM