In an excellent on ed piece in the Baltimore Sun, Can newspapers reverse their decline?, Michael Socolow (Director of the journalism program, Brandeis University in Massachusetts) asks why newspaper sales and readership are falling.
Soclow considers the impact of technology and the desire for gossip over news. More important though is his question of whether newspapers themselves have contributed to the decline in sales.
Socolow says: “Newspapers sell you their credibility. That is the single most important value of any newspaper brand in the marketplace.”
I agree. Readers here will know of my frustration that newspapers too often try and build sales through competitions and not through promoting the brand and something to trust. Focus on delivering news backed by insightful and challenging analysis and make it available only in print and people will buy the product and therefore eyeball the advertisements which will generate the profits the corporations want.
Socolow goes on: “Most newspapers are offering little more than a comfortable rehash of events that their consumers are already aware of. Instead, newspapers should be challenging their readers by providing difficult-to-obtain firsthand reports from around the world that are unavailable anywhere else. They should combine that reporting with bracing, counterintuitive commentary that would provoke thought and discussion in the civic arena.”
Here here.
Competitions will not deliver loyal readers. Gossip will but at a cost to the brand. Loyal (valuable) readers come from providing quality content consistently. That’s what I hear across the counter in my newsagency.