How bad are things for the Hodel's Kiwanis Club? Bad enough that they were compelled to bring me in as a luncheon speaker on Monday. They asked questions about the future of newspapers and I was compelled to give them straight answers.
A couple of older members (70 plus, I expect) were not pleased to learn that things are going in a digital direction. Neither of these gentlemen know how to use a computer. Newspapers won't be happy to lose their readership -- that demographic is a faithful customer.
They posed this question: How about printing something (now, soon,whatever) on how to use a computer? While I'm not sure that's the best use of limited newsprint, it does raise an interesting point: What are newspapers doing to bring along these older readers? Are we just giving up on them? Or is there a way to connect them to our digital future? Should newspapers be offering computer literacy seminars at senior centers, or it that too far outside our central mission? Should we be partnering with retailers to put laptops into their hands? (Yes, that stuff is outside the central mission, too, but maybe we should be thinking about that sort of thing as well.) These are customers who WANT to stay with us.
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