Boston Globe print vs. online

Media Nation's Dan Kennedy asks:

If the Boston Globe (or any major metro) raised its prices to $2 on weekdays and $5 on Sundays, what sorts of print-only content would induce you to pay for it rather than simply reading it online?

OK, here's a start:

1.) A New York Times-level crossword puzzle, or at least a good acrostic.

2.) Comic strips less than 25 years old. Specifically, comic strips that Garfield fans don't "get."

3.) Quirky or offbeat stories from all over New England (because I already know the quirky stories from Boston itself, thanks to my daily blog reading).

4.) "On Beacon Hill" and "Around City Hall" columns by reporters who cover nothing else. I said NOTHING else.

5.) Lengthy TV articles by Matthew Gilbert (as opposed to photo collages of the "Top 10 TV Bosses," etc.)

6.) A tabloid version of the Ideas/book review section, so I can carry it around all week and I can make copies of particularly good articles. (Currently, it's handier to print out each article from the online edition.) But don't reduce the length of the articles.

7.) Cool maps!

8.) Photojournalism in the Boston Globe magazine, other than pictures of food and home interiors.

9.) A good food writer who covers things rather than places (a brief history of Peruvian cuisine, yes; a Q&A with a new chef at a upscale restaurant, blech).

10.)  A handy list of which stores, bars, and restaurants in the Boston area have closed in the previous week, so I don't suggest them to friends. If the economy improves, maybe I'll want to know what has just opened, too.

Comments

[Chris VanHaight]

The Globe's problem is that, except for the first two items you list, everything else more or less appears once or twice a week. Hence, if you are interested in recipes and restaurants, you might pick up the Wednesday edition but ignore the other days. Occasional readers will not be enough to sustain their business model. In the past, newspapers were the only daily source for both news and entertainment. But in our "niche-fied," internet-soaked world, a newspaper can seem like a waste of a lot of paper.