AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums Belize Life News No more Ambergris Today printed versions, web only

Seems like a death knell to me.

Personally, I think something vital in the experience of "reading the news" is lost when the printed paper goes by the wayside. Mind you, I'm not shunning new technology. I'm also very familiar with the hassles that are involved in the printing world. And certainly Ambergris Today is not alone in their decision. Putting out a printed paper in todays day/age must be daunting (all across the US printed newspapers have been dropping like flies for the last decade.)

...I read an interesting interview that poignantly illustrated the demise of the printed paper... It was with a business owner in San Francisco. The particular business was not a new stand or bookstore, but greasy spoon diner that always drew a crowd for Sunday brunch. "We used to have STACKS of the sunday paper on all the tables" he said... "Each one would be read and re-read, passed around and at the end of the day there would be a huge pile... Now there are hardly any." I guess an iPad allows more room on our table...

...looking forward to the daily news Dorian, but sad to see the printed version go.

Well, I hope it works out for them. I still like to handle a physical newspaper, turn the pages, smooth the paper, use it to wrap stuff in... etc.

I guess my question is if you publish something online how can you keep anyone from sharing it? The text is certainly not sold but only shared. When you print a paper you can not control how many times the paper is shared or read by others. We all search the internet looking for things to share. Dont see how this can work for them. I will continue to cut and paste and publish on line anything I feel is significant from any site I find. If they dont want people reading and sharing the stuff they need to make theirs a paid site or somehow control access. See how much business they get then. LOL. It would have been better to make the paper better. If people dont read it in print they certainly wont read it on line.

I am a huge fan of the printed word. Magazine sales have consistently gone up despite the fact that much of the content can now be viewed on line. There is something about holding the paper, smelling the ads and leafing through the pages that I for one am not planning to let go.

I wish the Ambergris Today good luck in their bold move, but I am sad that we are back down to only one newsprint each week that focuses on San Pedro. I have loved the San Pedro Sun since day one (Coconut Wireless days) and I continue to look forward to receiving my copy fresh and crisp, hot off the presses each thursday - despite the fact that I may have already read the "news" on line during the week.

I'm sad about the change too. I watch when I am out and about, in a restaurant or local pub when the paper hits the pavement. One of the things I see is local Belizeans avidly enjoying reading the paper. As much as I love my internet connections, in a third world country it is elitist to think everyone has access to news via electronics. I think there is something wrong when they don't get it that news is supposed to be for ALL of the people.

I suspect that the change is an effort to try and become somewhat profitable. I can't believe that if the paper was making money they would have made this drastic change. What is puzzling to me is that they would say they are getting so many hits. Maybe they simply don't understand the statistics. I wish them luck but suspect that this is the beginning of the end.

Sitting on the loo with a laptop just doesn't have the same "feel" to it.

You know, I have seen entities here putting up sites on facebook and web sites. They really don't understand the media and the statistics. There is a local business supported site on facebook that always prints chipper upbeat PR comments. Last that I looked, they had big number of business related "friends" and almost no personal "friends". Obviously everybody saw through it, unfriended them, and they are now "preaching to the choir". Funny!

I'm an old newspaper and magazine reporter, editor and publisher, and I especially love the newspaper business -- there's nothing else like it in the world -- but IMO printed newspapers are on their way to extinction. It may take a couple more decades, but eventually they will go the way of the telegram and will exist only in electronic form. More's the pity.

--Lan Sluder