Building Bonds
I am taking a few days off and visiting my dad in Vermont. There is more than a nip in the air at night that brings back memories of college in New England. But to be honest, I was thinking about college earlier last week after reading a Wall Street Journal story by Emily Steel about campus newspapers.
It is no secret that the under 30 crowd doesn’t read newspapers – especially hard copies -- as the latest Pew Research Center for the People and the Press points out. But don’t tell that to students at universities and colleges where campus newspapers are thriving.
The best I can tell, campus newspapers make news relevant. They are a mouth piece for the college community and create a shared sense of identity that city and national papers don’t provide. (In many cities, and I won’t name names, readers have been known to have some choice words for their local newspaper.) Students have a relationship to their newspaper that most of us lack with our local paper. That’s because the newspaper is about them and written by them.
Of course that connection doesn’t last. Unlike the guy (that many of us can recall) who lingers on campus long after his graduation to avoid the real world, you move on after four years and form new relationships, discover new interests, and gravitate toward new sources of information.
Newspapers, though, should take note of that connection. If campus newspapers are any indication, the issue isn't reading or a lack of interest in news; rather newspapers must compete for the readers’ attention. Campus newspapers on the other hand are sometimes the only source about college life.
For newspapers to be successful, they need to replicate that sense of community and establish a bond with the reader that campus newspapers clearly have. Reader blogs, sites to post pictures and videos, and local news coverage at the micro level are some ways that have been suggested to keep readers engaged.
How to do that is a question for another day. Instead I am going to do some bonding with my dad and take a walk with him and the dog.
Let me get back to you.
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