Newspapers Don't Get It

I barely get it myself, but newspapers sure don't get it. Of course I'm making an assumption here, which is that the newspapers want to inform us of whatever it is they write about.

I recently discovered Google Alerts, and have found that they are perfect for keeping up with whatever topic you care to follow. You can set up an alert and you'll get emails whenever a pertinent story pops up.

A few months ago a friend killed himself and his wife in a small plane crash while traveling to visit their family. The event upset me and I got to wondering how often this happens because it seems like you don't hear about it all that often.

I set up a Google Alert for "small plane crash", which is the phrase most used by newspapers. I was surprised to learn that people are smashing these things up at a rate of over one a day.

Anyway, my point comes from these newspaper reports. The lack of facts is one thing, and seems epidemic, but the most glaring omission I've noticed is lack of location.

Newspapers all over America think they are the only newspaper in the country and that nobody beyond their local area could possibly be interested in what they have to say.

This story illustrates this lack of information. Why can't newspapers, at least on their web sites, tell us where in the world they are? Makes no sense to me.

Sure, you can deduce the location from other leads on the page.
"Duluth boy drowns..."
"Itasca County motorcyclist..."
Etc.
How hard would it be to put "from Duluth Minnesota..." somewhere on the page?

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Bozo

I barely get it myself, but newspapers sure don't get it. Of course I'm making an assumption here, which is that the newspapers want to inform us of whatever it is they write about.

...

How hard would it be to put "from Duluth Minnesota..." somewhere on the page?

Hi Bozo,

I agree! I've had the same kind of problem...

I do some "online research" which often takes me to various local newspaper websites... And often, it's hard to tell exactly where it is, from the article or the name of the paper. (I've found a bit of "Googling" can often solve the problem, though...)

Here's an example - from my "archives"...

This is a newspaper article about people who have started websites promoting businesses in their local community... of Whitestone...

"Whitestone sites share niche"
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/201...t_20110120.txt

But, where is Whitestone?

The name of the website - "YourNabe" - gives no clue...

Anyhow, I found out (thanks to some Googling) that it is in Queens, New York - though it's not obvious... ("Queens" is mentioned on the page, but "New York" is mentioned nowhere in the header or the article...)

By the way, there's a potential business opportunity idea in this article - creating a website to promote and advertise local businesses. We have talked about similar ideas to that here before...

If you can succeed in bringing more customers to your local businesses, they're likely to be happy to pay you for it...! The key to success with it would be getting the traffic and eyeballs to your website... (An emailed "newsletter" could be critical to getting repeat local traffic - if I were doing this idea, I would definitely combine the website with an emailed newsletter, with local news and also news of special local deals... If you can grow your opt-in subscribers, that could also be a "persuasion tool" to getting businesses to advertise with you.)

Best wishes,

Dien