A 2013 Pew State of the News Media report showed a 55 percent plunge in print revenues, and Americans reading more online news than ever.
It’s not a lack of news that print is suffering from, but the advent of tablet devices and mobile web access. Together, these new technologies sharpen the challenge for print news to catch up or move on.
A digital Globe will create a Bruin experience unique to where Salt Lake Community College students strive, learn and live. The Globe content and format will be more interactive and web-like.
Print newspaper production depends on print advertising. Advertisers pay for guaranteed exposure through ad space in The Globe, but the lack of readership doesn’t support production costs.
At the present, The Globe doesn’t satisfy the Internet; it’s time for renovation.
Making The Globe digital means re-designing the content, and potentially bringing the Bruin voice to 65,000 people.
The Globe teaches mass communication, hands-on news production, public relations and media tools for Bruins interested in becoming twenty-first century journalists.
According to The Globe web editor, Aldo Gomez, being part of a digital Bruin voice gives students “real-world preparation and learning to adapt AP-style to meet audience demand.” Gomez works to translate the Bruin experience online.
Assistant editor Shad Engkilterra supports individual campus beats to share and promote exclusive coverage of all 13 SLCC locations.
“The Globe is an important opportunity for students to create and lead,” says The Globe Editor-In-Chief Julie Hirschi.
In an informal Bruin survey asking if students read The Globe, responses were consistent.
“Unfortunately, I never read the Globe,” says Web Graphic Design student Buddy Morgan.
“Zero. I didn’t even know [the Globe] existed,” says Web Design student McKenzie Pierce.
“I don’t usually pick up the paper,” says Web Design student David Mitchell.
Digital first could be the biggest journalistic evolution in a long time according to media news expert Jim Brady.
“Print advertising is suicidal thinking,” said Jim Brady, the chief editor of the second largest newspaper chain in America, during a conversation with a small group of students and visitors at the University of Utah on Wednesday, July 31.
Brady defined what it means to be digital first and shared an insider look at how news audiences are changing.
Brady bulleted a centralized digital first business model:
- Digital management
- A digitally oriented Sales Force Compensation Plan
- Journalistic resources (iPhones, iPads, video recorders, wifi, sufficient data plans, etc.)
“Tweet it out and pick your spot based on surroundings. Try www.scribblelive.com,” suggested Brady.
Mitchell doesn’t read the Globe, and Pierce gets her news elsewhere. 2013 Pew news research agrees that a stronger digital Globe personality could bridge the gap as a Bruin source of relevant, useful and engaging student news.
“Sharing life as it happens, even in a review expands experience beyond what someone typically reads,” says Gomez whose digital initiative will add relevance through Instagram and a “SLCC Talks” forum at the Globe.
