I could turn this post into some quasi-intelligent screed about newspapers continuing to scramble for revenue from an old model, or gnash my teeth because it never occurred to me to charge $1 a week to read Buttermilk & Molasses (back when I was posting 23 times a day). And I may well get back to both of those points momentarily.
No, what stunned me about the latest offer from the Times-Dispatch -- more specifically, from an old colleague on the editorial staff -- is just how terribly they screened me for my obvious liberal leanings before inviting me to shell out cash for a weekly political email whose inaugural dispatch leads with a quote from lead Republican weasel Eric "He Whose Middle Name Shall Not Be Mentioned" Cantor. (What is his middle name, anyway?)
For a well-pressed buck a week, the TD will give me a slice of what passes for conservative editorial life in the form of "Political Dispatches," and toss in a printed copy of Saturday's exclusive Insights section -- which is chockablock with all the national and international news I didn't manage to read on the Internet during the week. Even if I didn't have diapers to change, I'd struggle to find the time...
Politics aside, a few interesting notions about this new TD venture.
It's an easy profit center, for starters. The paper has a massive printing operation in search of meaning in Hanover County, and word on the street is that a few thousand subscriptions to the Insights section is a break even proposition for the paper. And detailed subscriber information means the TD can land special sections on any doorstep in the region that hands them a buck.
It's also good to see the TD starting to use technology as a delivery vehicle for their information, and on recognizing that editorials and opinions might well be the cheapest copy in town. I'm sure a lot of people over 50 will jump at the opportunity to get a Virginia-eye view on the resurgence of the Republican monolith. Of course, the reality is that the online newsletter format squeezes extra words from salaried positions at no extra cost.
I've never been among the "TD Must Die" crowd, or convinced that the city's daily paper was engaged in some news conspiracy to deny the Richmond region all the news that is fit to print. I have too many friends and former colleagues working downtown who push boulders up hills every day in an effort to commit good journalism -- fighting a wretchedly outdated business model every step of the way.
I'd love to see the TD -- and its Media General web vehicle, Richmond.com -- figure out ways to not only thrive, but to redefine itself in the community. If my invitation to join the Republican Readers of Virginia represents another handful of spaghetti, I suppose I can be candid enough to simultaneously scoff at how far wide of the mark it hit with me and to encourage the paper to keep trying.
