What is taking place in the media world?
The last decade saw many businesses turning to the Internet as a means of advertising. Internet advertising certainly has its merits. It can generate customers from around the globe, is relatively cheap compared to print media and advertisers can monitor Web traffic allowing business owners to view the number of visitors to their Web site. So how does this relate to the world of media and advertising? Data indicates approximately half the people in the United States have access to the Internet. Expert consultants posit Americans wanting Internet service already have it and postulate Internet advertising has run its course and reached a marketing curve. Perhaps such is why print advertising remains the most effective tool in any sales arsenal. While the Internet is a fantastic tool and modern technological wonder, the convenience and familiarity of print media all but guarantees such will remain with us for quite some time.
All across America major newspapers are scaling back, yet an underserved niche market is emerging. Major daily newspaper circulation is waning but smaller community newspapers are thriving and growing. Community newspapers are usually free to the public, picked up at area business establishments or direct-mailed. Community newspapers reach nearly every household in North America, approximately 45 million homes each week. This number indicates more readers than any other print media in the country, bar none. By tapping the largest circulation base in North America, advertisers can rest assured their message reaches potential customers.
So what is creating such a large demand for community newspapers at a time when Americans are increasingly turning to the Internet to obtain their news? As the term implies, “community” is the key. While larger daily newspapers attempt to present a realistic sampling of community news, all too often such an approach falls flat resulting in an informal and generic approach by reporters assigned the beat. Community newspapers are staffed by those intimately familiar with their communities and the people and businesses comprising those communities. Take a look at any daily newspaper and one will find reporters residing in one county and covering a town in another. The large dailies simply lost their way throughout the years. The newspapers became too big, too greedy, too complacent and a victim of their own device. The mythical Ouroboros, a serpent swallowing its own tail, comes to mind.
Community newspapers like this are revolutionizing the newspaper industry throughout the country and changing the way major newspapers approach community coverage.
St. Petersburg and Gulfport have the Gabber, Clearwater has the Gazette, C & N Publications covers North Pinellas County and the beaches have the Barrier Islands Gazette.
It is by no coincidence the larger daily papers are changing their format. How many times have we read the daily paper heralding a plan to focus on the communities it claims to serve? It is also no coincidence some of the articles appearing in the daily newspapers first appear in the community papers. They know when we have a good thing. Such is why many major newspapers are looking to purchase community newspapers. They need a lifeline and are looking to piggyback on the success of the community newspapers.
Finally, while most major newspapers are sucking air and gasping for life, the Barrier Islands Gazette, not unlike community newspapers throughout the country, continues to gain readership, add content and expand. We have our readers and advertisers to thank.
“The newspaper reader says: this party will ruin itself if it makes errors like this. My higher politics says: a party which makes errors like this is already finished - it is no longer secure in its instincts.” – Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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