Tough times continue for print media. A story broke today that the 152 year old Stars and Stripes newspaper could be on the chopping block. Ironically, it was the newspaper that broke the story about its possible demise.
For me, this poses a bit of a conflict. As a traditionalist and self-professed champion of the print media, I hate to see this being considered. But as a fiscal conservative, I think it might be time to rethink this outlet for our military personnel across the globe.
The government subsidizes the publication about $7.4 million annually. That is enough of a line item on a budget to be reviewed. The publication is published in print Monday - Thursday, with a special weekend edition for Europe and the Pacific Friday - Sunday. The Stars and Stripes claims over 200,000 readers daily.
When I was thinking about the necessity of a printed edition, I was imagining soldiers at or near front lines who might not have internet access to view a digital version. That vision I have probably does happen, but I'm willing to bet not terribly often. Front line posts for our military often times have Subway Restaurants, so I have to believe internet access is like available some or even most of the time.
It is vitally important to keep The Stars and Stripes around. It does provide a connection for our soldiers that I believe to be necessary. It is simply time to move forward in a different approach and evolve as the industry evolves. Trying to serve a global market is difficult to do in print seven days a week.
Perhaps a weekly print edition of The Stars and Stripes and a beefed up www.stripes.com is the answer? For fiscal year 2013, the website reportedly had nearly 36 million page views while serving over 9 million unique visitors.
Full details on the story and a brief history of The Stars and Stripes can be found at: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/26/stars-and-stripes-forever-pentagon-may-fold-historic-newspaper/
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