Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Former Neosho Daily News publisher: Change to two days was necessary to survive

Support for Gatehouse Media's decision to change the Neosho Daily News from five days a week to two came from a surprising source this week.

In a letter to the editor in the Sunday edition, former Daily News Publisher Randy Cope said the move was necessary in order for the newspaper to "thrive into the future."

I am still in the newspaper business and I am a big advocate for this change. With the access to social media and the newspapers' own website, breaking news, sports, and obituaries can easily still be found each and every day.

I encourage the Daily News staff to use those digital avenues to tell us what happened and when it happened, but then use the twice a week print product to give us more- tell us how it happened and why.

I was once told that every strong community needs strong banks and a strong newspaper. I hope this move ensures that we will continue to have a strong local newspaper in our community for years to come.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

By continually updating the paper's website with the latest news, you will end up cannibalizing your paid subscriber base unless you establish a paywall, and no one wants to do that. Fewer paid subscribers will lead to a loss in advertising revenue. It's a vicious cycle. The only hope is for the Copes to buy the paper back.

Anonymous said...

I sure hope that GateHouse Media gave Cope another share or two of common stock to have him rubber-stamp them turning his former newspaper into a bi-weakly.

I don't see why idiots pretend that a newspaper being stripped for assets is any more sacred than a wrecked 2005 Buick being stripped for parts.