Print journalism is not dead.
When I first attended journalism conferences in high school, professional journalists and others said this part of the industry was becoming extinct.
But recently, student journalists, publication advisers and professional reporters realize print is not dying. It’s just changing.
Change is not bad. It’s an opportunity.
Last year, Poynter Online reporter Bill Kruger wrote an article saying exactly what’s already been proved time and time again. People love to read about themselves.
Kruger drew from a survey done by Student Monitor, a company that researches the needs of those targeting college students as a consumer group. The survey showed 63 percent of students classify themselves as frequent or light readers of the print edition while 56 percent reported not knowing if their campus newspaper is available online.
“If something is free and convenient to get and whatever is in it is relevant to them, they have no qualms about printed versus non-printed. A college newspaper, if it’s done right, is all of those things,” said Kevin Schwartz, the adviser of The Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in Kruger’s article.
This is the answer to the changing industry — hyper-local news.
This is the opportunity for aspiring journalists to make their mark by focusing on issues and stories right from their own backyard. It’s what will make people pick up a paper more often.
True, reading about what’s going on in other parts of the nation or world is important. But as a journalist, we have to find a way to give an answer to the only question our audience seems to ask: Why the hell should I care?
Upcoming reporters can redefine the importance of news — where it comes from, what it consists of and how our audience can relate to it.
Welcome to the business side of journalism. Just combine that with compassion for your audience, and print won’t change too much.
Yes, there will be online newspapers. There will be multimedia packages, smart phone apps and photo slideshows. But news is still news and it must connect with its readers.
I believe The Collegian staff understands the value in connecting with their audience, and I hope they continue this in the future.
