Friday, August 12, 2005

Why read a newspaper?

So I'm having a little bit of trouble understanding a couple of the local newspapers right now.
Maybe I'm just "in the know," but everyday I pick up a Killeen paper or Temple paper I feel like I'm reading last week's news.
They are full of AP news stories that I read the day before on the web, either from another news organization or from someone's blog.
Why waste precious time re-reading what I've already read?
It's just a vital point for me, as a newspaper editor, that I have to keep up to date on local news and make that my ultra-focus.
I can get everything else in the KDH or TDT on the web. And believe me, I think they know that.
While I was in Belton, they slammed us every chance they got with Belton stories on the front page. Belton's city council would be on the front page, while Temple's city council would be in D section.
I don't recall but 2 or 3 Temple ISD school board stories in the 2 years I was there.
Now I see a continued increase in KDH's news coverage in Heights.
So between the two of us, I guess we've realized that people want local news - or so it would appear.
I wonder what would happen if instead of printing our Friday paper on Wednesday night, we waited and printed it on Thursday.
The news would be more timely and up to date. But how would that effect distribution and time in publishing?

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