As we all know the entire print world is struggling with readership. But a few newspapers down south have come up with a new way to get readers more interested. Staff members have started digging through photo archives and printing interesting old photographs.
This is such a great idea and a unique way to get readers interested in the seeing the history of a town through photographs. I know that I am very interested in old photos because they are just so fun to look at, I am sure this is the case for many other people too.
‘The Herald’ in Alabama is not only trying to display the old photos but give the audience a look at how times were back then. One employee explained that she will go in there looking for a photo about something and end up finding 3 photos about something completely different but equally as important.
I am so glad to see that they are making use of all the photographs that they have kept for all of these years. It is neat for specific communities to see how they gave grown over the years but still appreciate the past.
Archives are one of the most valuable assets that traditional newsrooms have. They should all be looking for ways to leverage them. It’s not an answer to all the problems newspapers face, but it’s a way to use a resource that has great value to the audience.
This is really cool. I think it’s a good way for some of the print papers to stay in buisness, and teach a little about local history as well. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a picture with a caption for context is worth even more.