The Guardian | Where Do They Go Next? (February 09 2008)
Nigel Armstrong posted a link to a UPEI Blog regarding the future of our local newspaper, The Guardian.
Kate goes onto say that the The Guardian hasn't been tossed away yet because of the online world.
Nigel Armstrong said in his blog post that The Guardian will slowly become more of a multimedia company and not solely a print based news system. The Guardian's website already does a bit of multimedia however there is much lacking before they take the cake.
The Guardian needs a overhaul of their website, as it gives off the appearance that things are just being thrown all over the place and it makes a lot of it non-appealing, such as the web poll. A lesson to be learned from Halifax's Chronicle Herald website. The Chronicle Herald keeps the reader interested with their layout and notice how they make their ads tie in with the site?
What I like about The Guardian's site is that it is semi-constantly updated with new news, if the event is big enough. While this is the new way of life for media, it takes a chunk out of their revenue as well as people don't need to purchase the Monday copy of the newspaper when they already know what happened on the weekend.
I know that I haven't purchased a copy of The Guardian for a long time, but have read it in local coffee shops or where ever it may be. But then again, I've probably only ever purchased a handful of copies in total.
What I would like to see is, The Guardian Video. Actual video competing with CBC News as it occurs, with perhaps a short advertisement at the first of the video. After all, they do need to make revenue/profit.
For all media, I think online video is the future. While The Guardian currently has a Video-On-Demand option, it makes it feel more like a Youtube then actual local content.
Watching a video on local news is much more appealing to me then reading the newspaper on my computer. Therefore, I can only hope that The Guardian will do more local video content.
