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They are better off getting people to signup for a newsletter and go digital. Local means local businesses will have a strong interest in promoting to the subsc

They are better off getting people to signup for a newsletter and go digital. Local means local businesses will have a strong interest in promoting to the subscriber base.

mschuster91 6y ago
Someone has to prepare the actual content for a newsletter too, the only thing you "save" by going digital is the cost for print and distribution. To make it worse: newspapers in cities and large-ish towns can keep afloat, even when going digital as there is a young subscriber base... but a small rural community? Most of them are old people which means they are unable to consume the content any more. That in turn raises serious questions about legal issues - is a "publication in a local newspaper" still compliant with a law requiring it, if the newspaper is unable to be read for half the population?
- imgabe 6y ago
  Why do you say old people are unable to consume content? They can still read. Many of them are online. Take a look at Facebook.
  - mschuster91 6y ago
    Not everyone has a broadband Internet connection worth that label or adequate phone service. The mandate to publication in the local newspaper in laws is precisely to account for as wide and barrier-free distribution as possible.
    - imgabe 6y ago
      Sure, but that's not a function of being old. Some people can't afford to buy a newspaper every day either, or they live far from town and only go in once in a while.
    - alisonkisk 6y ago
      That's a 100 year old rule based on the traditional permanence of paper. Not because it's accessible. Old people largely don't have the eyesight to read the newspaper effectively. They aren't combing the classifieds for legal notices.
      - mschuster91 6y ago
        Reading a newspaper requires buying the newspaper. Reading an electronic newspaper requires buying a computer or a phone and an Internet subscription, that's orders of magnitude more.
        ghaff 6y ago
        Or it requires going to the library (in both cases). There are reasonable arguments about what level of friction is acceptable. Certainly no one's buying a newspaper to read public notices. The only thing that probably comes close to universal notification is postal mail to individual households.
ghaff 6y ago
1. As with books, the physical media doesn't actually cost a lot under most circumstances vs. paying for the person or people who are attending boring meetings, interviewing people, and writing stories. 2. A lot of local once you get out of urban neighborhoods and dense suburbia doesn't even have a lot of businesses.

They are better off getting people to signup for a newsletter and go digital. Local means local businesses will have a strong interest in promoting to the subscriber base.

mschuster91 6y ago

Someone has to prepare the actual content for a newsletter too, the only thing you "save" by going digital is the cost for print and distribution. To make it worse: newspapers in cities and large-ish towns can keep afloat, even when going digital as there is a young subscriber base... but a small rural community? Most of them are old people which means they are unable to consume the content any more. That in turn raises serious questions about legal issues - is a "publication in a local newspaper" still compliant with a law requiring it, if the newspaper is unable to be read for half the population?

imgabe 6y ago
Why do you say old people are unable to consume content? They can still read. Many of them are online. Take a look at Facebook.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  Not everyone has a broadband Internet connection worth that label or adequate phone service. The mandate to publication in the local newspaper in laws is precisely to account for as wide and barrier-free distribution as possible.
  - imgabe 6y ago
    Sure, but that's not a function of being old. Some people can't afford to buy a newspaper every day either, or they live far from town and only go in once in a while.
  - alisonkisk 6y ago
    That's a 100 year old rule based on the traditional permanence of paper. Not because it's accessible. Old people largely don't have the eyesight to read the newspaper effectively. They aren't combing the classifieds for legal notices.
    - mschuster91 6y ago
      Reading a newspaper requires buying the newspaper. Reading an electronic newspaper requires buying a computer or a phone and an Internet subscription, that's orders of magnitude more.
      - ghaff 6y ago
        Or it requires going to the library (in both cases). There are reasonable arguments about what level of friction is acceptable. Certainly no one's buying a newspaper to read public notices. The only thing that probably comes close to universal notification is postal mail to individual households.

ghaff 6y ago

1. As with books, the physical media doesn't actually cost a lot under most circumstances vs. paying for the person or people who are attending boring meetings, interviewing people, and writing stories. 2. A lot of local once you get out of urban neighborhoods and dense suburbia doesn't even have a lot of businesses.