It seems like newspaper folks are open to any and all ideas these days, so I’d like to throw something I’ve been thinking about in the mix. That is if the hope is a future with some version of the print product.

Why not have an organization like the Dallas Morning News partner with area colleges and universities to offer the paper at a MUCH reduced rate?   The newspaper and school could get together and negotiate a price that would allow them to deliver the print product at the door of every dorm room like you see with the USA Today and other papers at hotels.

Ideally the newspaper fee could fit into tuition somewhere, but I know that’s a dicey propositions.  Again, this is if there is a will on behalf of newspapers to sustain their print offerings.  If that’s the hope, it’s imperative to bring new readers aboard who may subscribe in some form or fashion down the line.

There’s something about the need to develop a habit of readers receiving information in this manor.  Whenever folks from older generations are asked what they like about newspapers, the story goes something like “I just like to walk out into the driveway, open the paper, sit down with a cup of coffee and thumb through section by section.”  There’s no real business model for that, and it’s a foreign concept for most of today’s youth.

I’ve been thinking about this for a few days, but it became more evident after I bought a 3 dollar Sunday paper on yesterday.  This morning as the family sat at breakfast preparing for the first day of school, I saw yesterday’s paper still on the table.

I thought that maybe if I blinked my eyes and nodded my head, the paper would have new info when I picked it up.  No such luck.  Those pancakes and sausage would have tasted a little bit better if accompanied by a fresh paper on the side.

Without a younger readership, there’s no long term hope for growing the print readership.  Just a thought.