From The Editor’s Desk

(Editorial)

Reprinted from Amboy Beacon, Aug. 11, 2010

I’ve got to admit that I’m not a person who readily adapts to change, but even I have had to modify my outlook on the new technology somewhat. One habit I haven’t been able to break, though, is HOW I read newspapers, both my own and others. I just haven’t been able to get-used-to reading a newspaper on-line. My personal preference is to hold a newspaper in my hands so that I can readily turn-back to something I want to re-read. I want to have access to newspapers without having to turn my computer on, and I suspect that there are many of you out-there who feel the same way I do. I was approached by a young couple about 10 years ago who predicted then that there would be no physical newspapers in just five years. Well, despite the massive increases in costs for newsprint (the paper newspapers are printed-on), printer’s ink (which actually is a very-fine paint), plates, film and everything-else that goes-into a newspaper’s production, we’re still here. The daily newspapers are having a rougher time of it than the weekly newspapers because all of their costs are multiplied many-times over. Their numbers are dwindling rapidly, while the number of weeklies is on the rise. I predicted many years ago that New Jersey would eventually have only five daily newspapers, and I stick by that. The point of all this, in a roundabout way, is to let our readers know that we’ve launched AMBOY BEACON BLOG — NOT to REPLACE the newspaper you’re holding in your hands, but to AUGMENT it by reaching-out to an expanded audience which hasn’t heard-of us yet. What we plan to do is to pick-out our major news-stories — and our best editorials — and put them on AMBOY BEACON BLOG each week. We’re going to try to avoid the mistake that “the big boys” made by putting the stuff from the PREVIOUS week, NOT the CURRENT week. We want our readers to continue picking-up our print version. We’re running just text to start-off, but we hope to add photos after a while, and maybe even sell advertising-space later-on to help defray our expenses. We’re also going to avoid another mistake that “the big boys” made, by continuing to cover local meetings and events so that our readers can continue being informed about what’s REALLY happening in their hometowns, not filtered-through some politician with a personal axe to grind. In all of this, we believe that we’re providing a valuable service that you can’t get anywhere-else, so we’re gambling that our readers will mention us to the businesses they patronize for the goods and services they use every day so that they’ll spend their (limited) advertising-dollars wisely. Of course, when it comes-to advertising, we realize that we’re not the ONLY game in town, but we can make a great case for being the only game in town that’s WORTH spending those (limited) advertising-dollars. WHY would a local business in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville or Woodbridge Township spend money advertising in a daily newspaper that goes-to Bridgewater? Does anyone REALLY believe that someone’s going to travel from Bridgewater to Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville or Woodbridge Township to, say, go to a hairdresser? WHY would a local business in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville or Woodbridge Township spend money advertising in a monthly newspaper? Does anyone REALLY believe that someone’s going to remember if they saw your ad in a monthly newspaper? Better yet, WHY would a local business in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville or Woodbridge Township spend money advertising in a quarterly coupon-book? Does anyone REALLY believe that someone who’s interested in what’s happening in their community is going to read your ad in a quarterly coupon-book? And WHY would a local business in Perth Amboy, South Amboy, Sayreville or Woodbridge Township spend money advertising in ANY newspaper that’s tossed in their driveway, whether they want it or not? Does anyone REALLY believe that anyone’s going to read your ad in a newspaper that’s rotting inside a plastic bag in their driveway?