Phase two starts today bringing back a Tuesday print edition.
As we plan for back to school and the hopes it brings in getting the family routine back in check, Tuesday’s edition makes sense. Typically Tuesday is our edition to celebrate the accomplishments of our students from the weekend whether it is a football game or an Ag show.
Phase one introduced our 24/7 digital editions where news and marketing can be updated around the clock.
We will print our typical Wednesday edition because of its popularity of feature news. During the phase of getting back to our daily print schedule we will hold our Thursday and Friday eEditions and not put them in print.
All of our editions also have been online throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and have created digital readership allowing some flexibility only online can provide. In March we announced our 24/7 edition allowing changes to the digital edition any time of day or night as news occurs. With print we cannot do that.
We get numerous questions about whether the newspaper will switch to online only and have no print editions. We cannot see that in the future of our business model.
The synergy between print and digital is what drives our readership. The fact we can drive readers from print to digital and digital back to print helps our readership skyrocket. You may have noticed graphics within our printed stories and photos which direct readers to a video clip or additional online content.
Additionally we will offer snippets on our online platforms whether they are our own news site, Twitter, or Facebook ,directing online readers back to our print edition for the full story.
Our digital platforms have become some of the highest following of any in our market territory. We believe it is because we offer the online content readers want to follow each day. This has opened the doors to marketing opportunities as well.
We understand the challenges of retailers and as they gradually recover, so will our print editions. In the meantime we will continue to pursue creative content for our online editions with the 24/7 capabilities.
Thank you for your continued reading both in print and online. Newspapers, as the fourth estate, provide an irreplaceable role as the watchdog of government and the cheerleader for the community.