Miami Student

Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Editorials

Eric Frey/The Miami Student

On New Years Eve, The Cincinnati Post was printed for the last time after its 126 years of reporting on community stories around the southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky area. In what has been a growing trend of newspapers across the nation, simple economic demands overcame the ability to produce the news and the paper simply became no longer a viable business decision. Hoping to salvage a portion of the paper's news team, what was once a print publication covering the greater Cincinnati area is now a strictly online production that focuses on the northern Kentucky area.

The editorial board of The Miami Student is saddened to see this newspaper succumb to economic pressures, and is discouraged by another market that has lost competition in the newspaper business-now relying only on one publication for a hardcopy of the news.

While we admit that the power, prestige and coverage of the Post was hardly on par with that of The Cincinnati Enquirer, competition has historically been essential to healthy journalism. In an inherently difficult position as an afternoon publication, the Post's fate seemed almost inevitable after similar industry losses in Cleveland and Columbus.

Unlike the stories of those closings, however, the Post will hopefully be able to capture new audiences by using a convergent strategy that will seek to combine its online reporting with a partnership to the local TV station WCPO-TV. We see that this decision to move to an entirely online format may offer a model for small newspapers that are looking for sustainability in the wake of diminishing newspaper subscriptions and rising production costs. With any luck, this new strategy will allow the Post to maintain and improve its history of investigative journalism by utilizing the near-instantaneous nature of the Internet. Faster turnaround time between reporting and breaking a story, as well as relinquishing concern over distribution costs and logistics, should at the very least be beneficial for the struggling newspaper-allowing the a part of the paper to stay competitive in its overlapping markets with the Enquirer and ensuring the high quality of reporting that the region deserves.

Regardless of how the consequences of this decision for the Post ultimately plays out and where one stands on the current plans for reinvigorating their brand of news, it is difficult for us at The Miami Student to see Cincinnati become a town dominated by only one newspaper. Numerous big city markets have collapsed from multiple competing newspapers down to a singular voice in the hands of readers. There is a special aura that surrounds newspapers-the feel of the paper and the ink on your hands, the smell of freshly printed pages.

We are at a time when these traditions are heavily threatened as national and local papers alike are coming under intense pressure to turn a profit. It is a sad day when a publication is lost, but there can be hope that reorganization and major adaptations will eventually lead to the strengthening of the news media in the future.

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