Print isn’t dead, it’s just being delivered by mail

Hybrid digital-print combinations, both for-profit and nonprofit, will be a source of earned revenue and create a path to sustainability for start-up local news organizations.

Executed strategically, this approach can also serve as a pivot for legacy newspapers struggling to print and deliver a quality product multiple days per week.

Legacy players in the local news business have a hard road ahead, suffering endless comparisons with what they once were, when they boasted robust teams providing an all-you-can-read buffet of news and ads from near and far.

When it comes to the business formerly known as newspapers, today’s thin packages dropped on a dwindling number of doorsteps are a far cry from the thick piles of newsprint that were the province of midsize, big-city, and even some small-town dailies. While they are, in many cases, successful digital enterprises, both their admirers and their critics compare them to what they were during the long-lost days of robust print papers.

Digital startups don’t have that problem. An often forgotten fact about Politico is that in its early days, most of its revenue came from a weekly print edition distributed in and around Washington, D.C. Print as a content platform and, more importantly, as an advertising vehicle is far from dead.

One example from where I live in northern Ohio is The Portager, a community news startup covering Portage County, a suburban and rural area just outside of Cleveland and Akron. The for-profit organization, brainchild of entrepreneur and former freelance journalist Ben Wolford, launched at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020. Lively email newsletters and a robust website were joined by its first-ever print edition in October.

Another is Mimi Magazine, founded by Mitch Allen, a former ad director at the Akron Beacon Journal. Mimi’s model — a combination of advertorial content and traditional display ads — underscores the simple fact that local advertising is local content. Founded 20 years ago, it’s grown to become one of northeast Ohio’s largest publications and is chock-full of ads from local small businesses — ads that were once the province of community weeklies that have faded from the scene.

What the print versions of The Portager and Mimi have in common is delivery by mail. The Portager’s “Every Door” print edition — what newspaper old-timers used to call a TMC — was delivered by mail to more than 76,000 households. Mimi Magazine’s zoned mail delivery is more targeted and follows the footprint of former weekly newspapers in the suburbs between Cleveland and Akron.

When legacy brands published by news conglomerates go that route, it is seen as yet another sign of the inexorable decline of the industry. But when The Portager distributed thousands of print copies in the same way for the first time, local news aficionados celebrated. While the revenue model is still being constructed, the buzz in the local community is palpable.

Might a similar approach be applied to larger news enterprises? Instead of printing and delivering seven (or six or five) small daily editions, imagine a consolidated weekly newspaper that’s even better than the old Sunday papers of yore: A beautifully designed, lean-back reading experience full of local news and advertising, perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon. It could happen in 2024.