Scaring Up Subscribers

“By Sunday, The Press Herald had doubled its goal, with about 200 new subscriptions in less than 48 hours, said [publisher] Lisa DeSisto. . . . The newspaper pledged to continue the reviews of books about Maine or by Maine authors. ‘It’s a Stephen King story with a happy ending,’ DeSisto said.”

BUT . . .

“‘It’s encouraging many Mainers & others have subscribed to help save local book reviews. But, seriously, folks, the chief reason to read your local newspaper is you need local news,’ Steve Collins, a reporter for The Sun Journal, a newspaper in Lewiston, Me., tweeted.

“‘Imagine a Maine where you know nothing about anything that goes on,’ he said. ‘That’s a real horror story.’”

—Sarah Mervosh, reporter, “After Stephen King Tweeted at a Maine Paper for Cutting Book Reviews, It Gave Readers a ‘Scary Good’ Offer,” NYTimes, Jan. 13, 2019.

• Editorial Comment: Echoing silence.




PeezPix

2018 Women’s March, Eureka, California

FREE! Get TODAY'S WORD ON JOURNALISM in your email This free “service” is sent to 2,000,000 or so subscribers around the planet more or less every weekday morning during WORD season. If you have recovered from whatever illness led you to subscribe and don’t want it anymore, send “unsubscribe” to ted.pease@gmail.com. Or if you want to afflict someone else, send me the email address and watch the fun begin. (Disclaimer: I just quote ’em, I don’t necessarily endorse ’em. Don’t shoot the messenger.) 
 
Ted Pease, Professor of Interesting Stuff, Trinidad, California. (Be)Friend The WORD

“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard