EP touches the community |
Let us assume, for the moment, that The Pilot will be
delivering fresh, quality news to your newspaper, online and to your tablet
(but only if you own an Apple tablet).
Did you digest that assumption?
Let’s move on then, so I don’t waste your time.
EP's goal is to deliver interesting, unique and engaging
content six days a week for our growing tablet market, said editorial cheese, Denis Finley. (The Virginian-Pilot, Sunday, August 4, 2013)
Finley kept up the tenor of his
pitch, which was persuasive, congenial and inviting.
Every weekday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 6:30 a.m., EP will
showcase stories, photos and more that we have carefully selected for the
tablet audience. Look for the same dynamic presentation in EP that you have
become accustomed to in The Virginian-Pilot.
Our world is changing rapidly, and digital news sources are
quickly becoming the norm for a large segment of our population.
That's why we added five city sites to PilotOnline. We hope
you will read The Virginian-Pilot in the morning, check PilotOnline on your
computer or mobile app for breaking news and then sit back and enjoy EP at the
end of a hectic day.
So what’s missing?
The cost isn’t mentioned in the
pitch (which was plastered on the front page of The Pilot, Sunday, August 4,
2013) But, supposedly, existing Pilot
subscribers won’t have to pay anything for EP. (sounds like ET; maybe The Pilot
marketers should have included a cute, wild-eyed and child-like creature with
the article; or maybe they did)
You must own an Apple tablet for
you to get EP. How many people in Tidewater own an Apple tablet? For that
matter, how many people own a tablet or e-reader?
Finley promises (that’s sales -speak for “we haven’t gotten any agreements yet
from the other companies, but we’re negotiating prices”) that EP will be
available on Android and other tablets, sometime.
So if you don’t own a tablet, an
Apple tablet, mind you, you are excluded from in-depth, thoughtful news.
Now that’s serving the community.
So if you don’t own a computer or
a smart phone with web access, you are excluded from breaking news.
Now that’s serving the community.
Go to the library then, fool.
So if you really only have money
to buy a newspaper and not these other contraptions, you won’t be getting the
full portfolio of Pilot news.
Now that’s serving the community.
But I am afraid this isn’t about delivering fresh quality
news as is about delivering the same news, in different iterations, multiple
times a day.
This isn’t about the community.
This is about reaching advertisers on multiple platforms, so
The Pilot can charge multiple prices or a “bundling” of prices. (Cox and the
cable companies started this trend.)
And this isn’t about journalism.
This is about ad revenue.
Published by Indie News Network LLC