I’m usually all in favour of newspapers developing a digital future. After all, it’s what I preach about in education.
So it might surprise you that I have (some) reservations about The Enfield Gazette’s decision to go online only after 130 years of print history.
Good luck to Tindle Newspapers, after all it is a bold thing to do, but I can’t help but think they may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater on this one. The really worry is that what seems like an innovative move, could just be another knee-jerk reaction by a regional publisher.
A worrying sign of this came in the last line of the Holdthefrontpage report:
It is understood that the print edition of the Enfield Advertiser will now be rebranded the Enfield Gazette and Advertiser, although the Gazette will continue as a standalone digital publication.
Why confuse your readership? The Enfield Gazette is going digital, but it isn’t? If you think online is the future be bold about it, don’t come up with a halfway house that suits no-one.
The Google listing for the new digital edition of The Enfield Gazette
Looking at the digital edition, things don’t look much brighter for this new-look webpaper. Even on a Google search you get told that iPad and iPhone users won’t be able to view it as it should be. But if you can see it things aren’t much better. You essentially have a website you can’t comment on and doesn’t contain links. It’s actually a glorified noticeboard. Why can I not explore a story by seeing background information? Why can’t I go inside the issues and be pointed to more rich, relevant content?
Why? Because re-inventing the wheel has actually been dressing up Dolly as Polly. The problems newspapers face won’t be solved by simply porting a print product. Greater thought should have been given to the power of the internet as a platform.
There’s no doubt that the Enfield Gazette’s move is a bold one. But with a little bit more thought it could easily have been a brilliant one.
Discussion
No comments yet.