DAILY NEWSPAPER the Oxford Mail (84) is a lively read, but reading it at 5:30PM on the day it’s been delivered is a bit of a problem. Not having it delivered at all on the day it is printed is a bit of a problem, too.
A few weeks back, I decided to take advantage of an offer to have it delivered daily but the distribution is obviously awry, because it is hit and miss whether it arrives at all, it appears. Distribution is a big problem. As a channel journalist and, according to the Daily Jellygraph the 35th most important IT influencer in the UK cosmos, I am well aware of the problems of print.
The problem of print journalism is one with which I am very familiar. The group that owns the Oxford Mail also publishes a very thick tabloid on Thursdays called the Oxford Times which is packed to the gills with adverts from estate agents but adverts are a bit thin in the daily. It also publishes a magazine called the Banbury Cake, but we won’t go there.
I was, when I took out the subscription to the Oxford Mail, going to pub a little thing every day summarising the daily news in this strange corner of the universe. But as its distribution is so hit and miss, that hasn’t proved feasible.
The news group is just about to put the price of the daily paper up to 45 pence from its current 42 pence. But given the fact it can’t even deliver daily, I am seriously pondering whether this printed newspaper really has a future at all. I fear for the journalists, based just a five minutes walk away from yours truly. 
If nobody can read their stuff, what’s the point of writing? ♠
