Staff reports
While other newspapers have jibber-jabbered for years about
dropping the printed page for a total digital delivery, Street Roots is
actually making the leap!
As of April 1, Street Roots will be ending its printed
publication in favor of an enhanced online media outlet.
Hormuth Williams, head of the SR vendor union, says it’s a
major step in the evolution of the newspaper, which has grown from being a
small niche paper into a backbone publication in Portland’s media landscape.
“Our circulation has actually been on the rise,” Williams
said, “Vendors have been doing really well with the public’s support of the
news and commentary we provide.”
When asked how he thinks the street paper model will
translate online, Williams said, “That’s a good question. That’s a really good
question. But online news sources are the perfect vehicle for economic justice
in the 21st century.”
Vendors will still be out on their turfs, but instead of
heavy bundles of newspapers in their arms, they will have a scannable code
around their necks that will link readers directly to the Street Roots website.
From there, readers can make a donation toward the purchase of the paper.
Currently, vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell it
for $1, keeping the profit. How that will work with a strictly online product
is not clear.
“Yeah, I don’t have the answer to that,” Williams said.
“Maybe we should rethink this.”
Sue Masters, who is a regular buyer of the paper, says
she’ll miss having the printed page, but says she admits it had cut into her
smartphone time. “The app is awesome. I don’t even have to stop walking to
download the entire paper!”
It was long ago when the Portland Tribune made the move to
being an online media outlet over the printed page. No word on how that’s
working out.
Advance Publications, the owner of The Oregonian, has
reduced the publishing schedule at several of its newspapers, including The
Times-Picayune in New Orleans, in favor of an online delivery. The
Times-Picayune and several Advance Publications in Alabama now only publish
three times a week. It is speculated that The Oregonian will make a similar
move in the future.
“You know, we only publish every two weeks as it
is,” Williams said. “We should at least be printing once a week before we cut
back to nothing at all, right?”
This article is part of Street Roots’ annual satire edition released each year for April Fools Day.
This article appears in 2013-04-01.