News From Net to Paper

The new dogma is that the time of the printed page is over and will be replaced by digital platforms. Some small American newspapers have already given up print to become Web-only. Obviously, the new paradigm for news and communication is digital. But within this digital paradigm, there is still room for paper (see our post "Dans les papiers de Vendredi"). Print must just find its place in the digital world. Paper born again with a new economic model.
The Printed Blog is an illustration of this digital revolution. Launched in major American cities (Chicago, San Francisco, 2,000 copies), it claims "synergy between the tactile newspaper and online content".

• The mode of production is digital (blogs, i.e. user-generated journalism - writers will share advertising revenue). The website is designed as a hub for community input, where readers can submit questions and articles, where advertisers will be able to buy space. A place for interaction, a digital newsroom, maybe even an advertising market place.
  
• The twice-daily distribution and the final product are traditional (paper, newspaper stand). 
  
• Advertising is hyperlocal and very cheap, targeting small advertisers (stores, car dealers, and even households).
  

"Print from the Net" is based on using the Net as a source for ideas, a market place of ideas. And yet readers can still enjoy the traditional comfort of holding a physical paper.
Now it remains to be seen whether this new business model will succeed. To be followed ...