The end of the ‘Irish Roots’ columnThe Irish Times‘ ‘Irish Roots’ column, which I’ve written since February 2009, is coming to an end in ten days or so, with the last one due on February 8th. The decision wasn’t mine. Apparently the price of newsprint is only woejus altogether, so an entire page is being axed, a page that happens to include the column.
Going overboard with me are ‘Angling Notes’, ‘Words We Use’ and (maybe) the TV listings. I think it’s a mistake – I would, wouldn’t I? – another example of the Times jumping on a business bandwagon just as the wheels are coming off.
Yes, it’s very important for a newspaper to have a digital-first approach. But the paper ‘paper won’t die. It might shrink to a fraction – 20%? 30%? – of glory-days circulation, but a kernel of true believers will remain. Look at what’s happening with CDs and book-shops, which should be long dead if the digital visionaries had been right. Instead, you have to fight through the crowds to get into the last big book-shop in Dublin, Hodges Figgis.
That kernel of true believers will be the basis of the Times‘ survival. Unless they drive them away by axing entire pages.
Enough venting. I’ll continue writing here about the column topics. Only without sub-editors and libel lawyers looking over my shoulder.
Wo-hoo.
Posted on January 30, 20166 Commentson The end of the ‘Irish Roots’ column
Going overboard with me are ‘Angling Notes’, ‘Words We Use’ and (maybe) the TV listings. I think it’s a mistake – I would, wouldn’t I? – another example of the Times jumping on a business bandwagon just as the wheels are coming off.
Yes, it’s very important for a newspaper to have a digital-first approach. But the paper ‘paper won’t die. It might shrink to a fraction – 20%? 30%? – of glory-days circulation, but a kernel of true believers will remain. Look at what’s happening with CDs and book-shops, which should be long dead if the digital visionaries had been right. Instead, you have to fight through the crowds to get into the last big book-shop in Dublin, Hodges Figgis.
That kernel of true believers will be the basis of the Times‘ survival. Unless they drive them away by axing entire pages.
Enough venting. I’ll continue writing here about the column topics. Only without sub-editors and libel lawyers looking over my shoulder.
Wo-hoo.
Posted on January 30, 20166 Commentson The end of the ‘Irish Roots’ column
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