Tuesday, May 18, 2010
What’s killing Scottish newspapers?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2010/may/18/newspapers-scotland
What’s behind the rapid decline in Scottish newspapers?
Not just the rise of reliable commodity news on the Internet, particularly the BBC website, as Kenneth Roy suggests. Or that plus the competition from the Scottish editions of the London papers.
In my view it’s those factors plus the failure of the Scottish titles to compete effectively by first of all being too complacent for too long about the loyalty of Scots readers and then by failing to offer as good a perceived value for money as the London-based titles.
Most of all, they’ve failed to find out what Scots want from their papers now and deliver it to them. They need to think broader about their relationships with their readers and finding ways to be a supportive part of their everyday lives rather than an awkward adjunct.
They also need to invest more in exclusive Scottish content, something the London-based titles can’t, or don’t want to, compete on. Playing to your strengths can only help.
As for print, it’s on a terminal decline. So now’s the time for them to invest in their digital futures by making their digital versions worth paying for.
Labels: Newspaper Scotland decline Internet
