Staff reports
While other newspapers have jibber-jabbered for years about dropping the printed page for a total digital delivery, Street Roots is actually making the leap!
As of April 1, Street Roots will be ending its printed publication in favor of an enhanced online media outlet.
Hormuth Williams, head of the SR vendor union, says it’s a major step in the evolution of the newspaper, which has grown from being a small niche paper into a backbone publication in Portland’s media landscape.
“Our circulation has actually been on the rise,” Williams said, “Vendors have been doing really well with the public’s support of the news and commentary we provide.”
When asked how he thinks the street paper model will translate online, Williams said, “That’s a good question. That’s a really good question. But online news sources are the perfect vehicle for economic justice in the 21st century.”
Vendors will still be out on their turfs, but instead of heavy bundles of newspapers in their arms, they will have a scannable code around their necks that will link readers directly to the Street Roots website. From there, readers can make a donation toward the purchase of the paper.
Currently, vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell it for $1, keeping the profit. How that will work with a strictly online product is not clear.
“Yeah, I don’t have the answer to that,” Williams said. “Maybe we should rethink this.”
Sue Masters, who is a regular buyer of the paper, says she’ll miss having the printed page, but says she admits it had cut into her smartphone time. “The app is awesome. I don’t even have to stop walking to download the entire paper!”
It was long ago when the Portland Tribune made the move to being an online media outlet over the printed page. No word on how that’s working out.
Advance Publications, the owner of The Oregonian, has reduced the publishing schedule at several of its newspapers, including The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, in favor of an online delivery. The Times-Picayune and several Advance Publications in Alabama now only publish three times a week. It is speculated that The Oregonian will make a similar move in the future.
“You know, we only publish every two weeks as it is,” Williams said. “We should at least be printing once a week before we cut back to nothing at all, right?”
This article is part of Street Roots' annual satire edition released each year for April Fools Day.