popular thinking

WHO WANTS A FREE PAPER? Wait. Don't answer that. It's a trick question. Especially since I work for a newspaper, and I'd like it very kindly if you paid for a print copy. Or, even better, subscribe! Or, if you want to see it appear on your computer screens, get the electronic edition! Or, if you really want to help keep my paychecks coming, buy yourself a piece of the pie and become a minority shareholder of the Boston Herald! What a year this has been, which leads us to the current craze: free daily newspapers. My bosses say the Herald isn't going to become a free daily -- not yet, anyhow. But elsewhere, Philip Anschutz has announced he'll launch the free Baltimore Examiner by spring 2006 (he already has free daily Examiners dropped at homes around Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, and trademarks in 69 cities -- hello, Boston?!). And Grade The News weighed in last week with another look at whether free and newspapers were two great tastes that taste great together. My firsthand anectodal evidence around Boston this year has proven that many commuters on the subway, and especially on the trains, are picking up copies of Metro in the morning simply because it's free. By afternoon, many copies of the Herald can be found upon boarding the commuter rails for secondhand free reads. But are the morning Metro commuters picking up another paper when they hit the Hub? That's tougher to track, although I'm sure some polling group could give it a try. As someone directly involved with newspapers, I certainly hope that my stories reach as many people as possible. The Internet helps get my Herald stories to readers who might otherwise not have a print copy. Does it hinder the ability to generate revenues, and in turn, hinder my revenues? That's tougher to figure out, especially in the long-term. Did I mention that there are many different ways for you to invest in the Herald?