Iom Newspapers - Get £2 Million Of Our Cash

[Addie]

Fine. But the number of flat-cap-wearing, middle-line-hugging, Morris Minor drivers who have access to the Internet is....?

OK. I give in.

 

How many of you are there?

[sarahc]

Jobs only appear in 2 papers.

Not that I spend my time checking them out....

[Pragmatopian]

Fine. But the number of flat-cap-wearing, middle-line-hugging, Morris Minor drivers who have access to the Internet is....?

 

Exactly... it's the best incentive I can think of to encourage more silver surfers!

 

I would be happy for the government to provide free internet access in convenient locations island-wide for use by those without access at home, work, school or elsewhere. The reduction in the cost of newspaper advertising and direct mailing would more than offset the cost.

[Mission]

There is a UK initiative to get everyone online by 2012 isn't there? Does the island have a similiar initiative?

[Lonan3]

There is a UK initiative to get everyone online by 2012 isn't there? Does the island have a similiar initiative?

You must be kidding! They're just hoping they'll be able to fill all the Legco seats by 2012!

[Albert Tatlock]

You also have to remember that a lot of people are old, infirm and don't get out of the house much, so notices in 'free' newspapers are probably the best solution and will remain so for many years to come. I think most of the people who are likely to go onto the Internet are on already, and that the internet (in terms of no of users) will soon reach saturation point, probably with the death of a couple of local providers when the next 'price-war' starts. A generation of 50 - 90 years old non-computer users have yet to die off and be replaced, so we are talking many years before we even get to the 80% mark.

 

Spreading the advertising revenue to another paper might help to support a new newspaper on the island, which wouldn't hurt.

[Lonan3]

You also have to remember that a lot of people are old, infirm and don't get out of the house much

 

That's the second reference to MHKs on this thread!

[Pragmatopian]

You also have to remember that a lot of people are old, infirm and don't get out of the house much, so notices in 'free' newspapers are probably the best solution and will remain so for many years to come.

 

You underestimate the power of necessity. Take something old people love (having a good skeet) and encase it within a new technology (the internet) and count the weeks before they all become net junkies Everybody wins:

• we keep old people mentally active: learning new skills and gaining a new source of interaction with the world; and
  
• we cut government advertising costs, and the number of trees that are pulped in vain.
  

[Albert Tatlock]

You also have to remember that a lot of people are old, infirm and don't get out of the house much, so notices in 'free' newspapers are probably the best solution and will remain so for many years to come.

 

You underestimate the power of necessity. Take something old people love (having a good skeet) and encase it within a new technology (the internet) and count the weeks before they all become net junkies Everybody wins:

• we keep old people mentally active: learning new skills and gaining a new source of interaction with the world; and
  
• we cut government advertising costs, and the number of trees that are pulped in vain.
  

I think you are deluding yourself.

 

There are still a number of major hurdles to overcome for getting people on the internet. These include class, race, cost, confidence, and people who just aren't happy with the relative complexity of PCs etc. Many people simply haven't been trained to use computers, as computing courses were only adopted in schools (Douglas High School for example) in the very late seventies, and the chances are that anyone under 47 years of age on the island did not have an opportunity to study computing at school - and even then only a minority took up the option in the early years as computing was overly complicated then. The eighties were all about Commodore 64s, Amigas, BBC Micros etc. which were holy different computers compared to PC's of today - so the reality is that only people under 30/35 were taught anything about computers at school that has any relevance to computers in use today. Even Ballakermeen were using Apple Macs at least till the late 1990's when businesses used Dell/IBM etc. type PCs and predominately used MS Office.

 

Besides, if it were that straightforward the government could just have easily stopped newspaper advertising already, and e.g. displayed all of its notices in Post Offices for many years now - but that hasn't happended either.

 

Just because a target is set to get 'everyone access', doesn't automatically mean that all people will have the desire or ability to take up that opportunity.

[smooks]

The point all you folks seem to be missing is that so long as Johnson Press is kept going by state handouts it'll never report, or comment, on Government activity objectively.

 

Funny isn't it the way it's good for business to profit on the back of handouts yet those poor unfortunates forced to rely on state aid, for whatever reason of personal circumstances, are pilloried by the hypocrites at IOM Newstraitors and on this forum.

[Mission]

Not another conspiracy theorist nutjob - don't we have enough of those already?

 

Take a good look at a local newspaper sometime, try and work out the percentage of adverts paid for by businesses compared to those paid for by the government.

[Albert Tatlock]

...though it would be nice to see a bit of investigative journalism take place - instead of the usual relatively unquestioned quotes from politicians and 'cat stuck in tree' and 'mayor wears a toupee' headlines.

 

If anything is to force changes on newspaper reporting on the island, I think it may be by forums like this 'breaking' a story (with evidence of course) that will make such reporting unavoidable.

[smooks]

Not another conspiracy theorist nutjob - don't we have enough of those already?

 

Take a good look at a local newspaper sometime, try and work out the percentage of adverts paid for by businesses compared to those paid for by the government.

 

 

You consider that the government undergoes thorough scrutiny from IOM Newstraitors then?

 

Probably, I sniff yet another comeover (immigrant).

[Grumble]

Vive le difference, Smooks - we comeovers DON'T usually smell. Is that why you hate us?

 

Look at any local paper worldwide and you'll generally see (local) Government and/or legal/statutory advertising, and as Gladys said earlier, much of it is paid for by an organisation or individual as part of a legal process.

 

I do think it could all be run in the Courier though. And nobody has mentioned the hypocrisy of the papers - a couple of years ago EVERY radio story they ran had the words "which is supported by Government grants of hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money each year" immediately after the name Manx Radio, as if by default in their spell-checker.

 

Doncha just LOVE pots and kettles and glass houses?

 

Edited to add: And as for investigative reporting - in an age when even passing comment costs money, that would only be possible if we had fewer billionaires here and free speech was available to all, and not just those with deep pockets...

[Mission]

Not another conspiracy theorist nutjob - don't we have enough of those already?

 

Take a good look at a local newspaper sometime, try and work out the percentage of adverts paid for by businesses compared to those paid for by the government.

 

 

You consider that the government undergoes thorough scrutiny from IOM Newstraitors then?

 

Probably, I sniff yet another comeover (immigrant).

 

Aha - all is clear now.

 

I feel for you.