This isn’t about getting rid of your print newspaper tomorrow. Promise.
I have conducted a half dozen or so readership surveys in the Digital Era. Each stirred the same fear among traditional readers – the survey was a not-so-thinly-veiled plot to get rid of the print newspaper and shift everything to the Internet. Never so. And not so today.
Released last week, the Western News Readership Survey is about getting the university news you want, into your hands, in whatever ways you want to receive it. This isn’t about one platform over another; it’s about making each platform as valuable to you as possible.
Western News is a university news service produced by my team, Editorial Services, in the Department of Communications and Public Affairs for staff, faculty and students. The news service includes Western News, a print product published 36 times a year and circulated across campus and the city, and westernnews.ca, an online publication with stories used across various websites and social media outlets in the Western family, including the university homepage, as well as various faculty and department websites.
For each product and platform, our goals remain the same – provide useful news and information about the campus; publicize and promote across campus and around the world the research, accomplishments and personalities of our community; as well as offer a forum for the exchange of ideas and opinions.
Of course, to some of you, we’ll always remain Western Pravda, an adorably dated reference to the old Soviet media propaganda arm. And that’s OK. I want your thoughts, too.
Results of this readership survey will be used as part of our ongoing effort to improve our news service and keep it as relevant to your lives on campus as possible. Western News has been visually tweaked repeatedly over the last few years, especially as it relates to how we present the news. But we haven’t had a serious review of what we present on a regular basis. That’s why I am turning to you.
With a new Western News website launched this year, and a print redesign on the summer horizon, I wanted to gather data about readership habits, content likes/dislikes, advertising attitudes, etc., to use across all areas of the publication.
Keep in mind, this is our first survey since 2008, so the media landscape has change quite a bit.
When you get a moment, log on and take the survey with an eye toward the future.
Let me close by saying something I don’t get to say enough.
Thank you.
Many campus newspapers have folded across Canada. We are the last weekly print newspaper for faculty and staff, and one of the few remaining print products, period.
I am thankful of the wonderful support we get from our readers and advertisers alike. Because of our advertisers, we sustain the production and distribution of the print product. We are bucking the trends in declining print revenues because of you. Because of our readers, we continue to be a vibrant part of this campus’ story. Without you agreeing to appear on our pages and share your stories, as well as reading what appears on them, we would be nothing.