COMMENTARY: LNP caught in a marketing dilemma

NewsLanc's publisher is vacationing in Ocean City, NJ this this week, so he has to rely on LancasterOnLine to keep up with the news (and at times inanities) of the Lancaster Newspapers.

By the early Sunday morning, most if not all of the major articles, columns and editorials are readily available at www.Lancasteronline.com. It's a great service and convenience.

The LNP face the same Hobson's choice of all publishers today. The days of the print media are numbered, with circulation plummeting (but not necessarily in Lancaster) and advertising dropping rapidly (have you noticed how thin the daily newspapers are these days?) Meanwhile, costs of printing and distributing are sky high.

While newspaper advertising is dropping, online advertising is soaring. So publishers of newspapers and magazines recognize that their future lies with the Internet. And if they don't provide good content to attract the public to their web sites, someone else will.

(It is a good thing that LNP makes its money from coal mines in West Virginia! It's unlikely they are earning much if anything from their Lancaster publications.)

We like reading the Intell and the Sunday News with breakfast, so we continue to subscribe. But we no longer purchase the voluminous and environmentally challenging New York Times. We read it on line.

However, our fraternal companies have just reduced their classified advertisements in a dozen newspapers (including those of LNP) by about 60%. Web sites and paid advertisement on the Internet take up the slack.

In the imortal words of Buckeroo Banzai, "Where ever you go, there you are!"