« Ever Been Mailed a Frozen Potato? | Main | Another sign of the impending you-know-what »
October 11, 2005
Minneapolis Star Tribune Redesign
Newspapers face an uncertain future. Circulation is down. Jobs are evaporating. Readers are disappearing. Yet profits for some, including the Minneapolis Star Tribune, are up. Go figure. Newspapers ran fat for years. But pulling cost out of production, cutting back on pages and increasing ad rates and subscription fees are ways newspapers such at the “Strib” have been able to survive.
Now comes the paper’s redesign. Before I proceed, I must disclose that I have a journalism degree and have been a reporter and freelance writer. I still can smell the ink from the press room of the International Falls Daily Journal, which sat directly behind the newsroom. I love newspapers.
But I fear for their survival.
The redesign is a step in the right direction. Newspapers must evolve or they will die. Most importantly, they need to grow and sustain relevance in the lives of people much younger that me.
I think of my preschoolers and wonder if they’ll get ink on their fingers in 20 years. How relevant will print be in 2025? How relevant will it be in 2010?
Newspapers have become one of many channels through which we receive news. I read more news online than I do in print, and I read almost as much news on my cell phone as I do in print. I monitor at least 25 marketing/pr/advertising/business blogs to get news the Strib doesn’t report. And I try to catch at least one 10 p.m. newscast every night. Oh, and I listen to Minnesota Public Radio on my way to work.
The redesign is meant to help the Strib cement relevance in our lives as a newspaper for the future. Let’s hope the effort succeeds. Or, at minimum, let’s hope the Strib cements its relevance in our lives as a news source for the future, whether it’s print or not.
Posted by Rich Sharp at October 11, 2005 9:54 AM