The Peoria Journal Star was really starting to slide downhill fast when I started my blog, but now it’s reached the bottom of the hill. It’s tiny. There are hardly any reporters. They don’t cover critical government meetings. Their sports scores are printed two days after the game. They don’t cover the arts. I could go on and on, and so could you.

I have many questions, many of which I probably asked before, but I’m too lazy to look back through my blog and try to find them.

1. Would a startup local newspaper be viable in this day and age? Is there a market for it?
2. Would you subscribe to a newspaper if it were a full-service newspaper like the Journal Star used to be back in the day?
3. Could it survive if it were subscription-only (no ads, higher rates)? Or would it need to be traditionally subscription- and ad-revenue-based?
4. What if it were only offered in printed form (not online)? Crazy idea, I know, but it would mean no content being stolen by news aggregators.
5. What if it were only offered online? Does that diminish it? Make it seem like a glorified blog?

Going back to question 1, we know that newspaper readership and subscriptions are down, but there’s a chicken-or-egg question I have about that. My parents would still be subscribers if the Journal Star offered any value. When you cut the content and outsource your customer “service” (I use the term loosely), naturally you’re going to lose subscribers. I wonder if a good newspaper would still be viable, even in 2023, because it would offer news that no one else is covering.

What are your thoughts? Both of you who might stumble across this post–what do you think? Please let me know in the comments.