Count me as someone who thinks this to be a pretty shrewd move by the Globe. The Boring Broadsheet is launching a new sports magazine, written by Boston Globe writers.
I, for one, will not buy the Globe because I can read any content online. And I'm now out of the habit of paying for that content so if they ever start charging me, I'm out of there.
But this I might buy.
Of course, the strategy is not unlike the Daily News' launch of its Newburyport magazine (due out on newstands this week.)
I suspect the Daily News faces similar obstacles after pushing all its content online for free. I still subscribe, partly out of loyalty, but I also enjoy picking the paper up on our door step.
But I wonder if the time will come when we see a hybrid of the web and publishing. Could a web site be used to deliver free content and news blurbs while the published paper itself is converted into a semi-weekly news mag that takes more in-depth look at issues.
3 comments:
I still read both the Globe and the Daily News on dead trees, in addition to 5 or 6 news web sites. I'm not sure why, except that print on paper is easier on my ancient eyballs than pixels on a screen.
The thing I miss from the "good old days" is the pack of high-quality journalists that worked for the newspapers and magazines that I used to read. I will cheerfully pay for a subscription to a web site that offers real journalism.
"Could a web site be used to deliver free content and news blurbs while the published paper itself is converted into a semi-weekly news mag that takes more in-depth look at issues."
An excellent idea.
Lately, I've found myself reading more books and literary magazines like Granta because they offer long, detailed narratives that can, if appropriate, take their time. The same content does not work on the web.
Print lives!
Hmmm I can read a magazine about local sports with in-depth articles written by real journalists or listen to grown men shout at each other on WEEI. I'm sold.
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