Came across this interesting idea. Maybe enough interest from Cincinnati bloggers will result in a test run here?

 

<b>New Media Venture Turns Bloggers Into Print Journalists</b>

By Chris Snyder http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/01/new-media-ventu.html

The Printed Blog: http://www.theprintedblog.com/

 

As old media races to catch up with the Web and figure out how to successfully monetize print content online, one publication is taking a drastically different approach: web to print.

 

The Printed Blog, a startup founded and funded by former business productivity software entrepreneur Joshua Karp, is launching a twice-daily free print newspaper in cities across the country aggregating localized blog posts...

 

 

“Why hasn’t anyone tried to take the best content and bring it offline?”

 

Because it's much easier for people to get it online?  Is this a trick question?

Yeah, this sounds kind of counterintuitive. Don't folks read blogs for the convenience and interactivity? Damn you web 2.0 and your trickery!

I think that people want real news. People don't want news that's mass marketed from a company that owns several other publications across the country. They want home-spun, HONEST, unbiased, unsensationalized reporting. Because so much of the media has gotten to the point that it's all about manipulating viewers for ratings. I think people are so sick of that. I know I certainly am.

 

Also, the internet has really changed things up. I still can't understand why these papers are bemoaning their subscriptions decreasing when they make their articles available online for free to us. I guess advertising is supposed to cover it? But is it making up for the loss of subscribers?

 

Either way, I'd like to read this paper and see what it's like before I write it off, no pun intended. It could be good. It could be pointless and a total waste of energy. But: "With old media struggling to stay afloat, any experimentation with new business models is better than doing nothing." Agreed. Print media won't last very long if it continues the way it has.