So back in July, I threw out a challenge to the newspaper industry. I wanted them to be more bold and brave about entering the online world and push themselves to be thought-leaders in an industry that really, really needs them. You can check out the whole piece here, but the gist is that newspapers have to be smarter when it comes to their sites and especially, their email marketing.

In one of the daily email newsletters I get, my interest was piqued by two articles in particular...

Running The Numbers: Why Newspapers Are Screwed: this is a piece by Silicon Alley Insider Henry Blodget on what would happen if the New York Times went completely online. While this paints a bleak picture for doing so, it's an interesting read into the potential cost savings if someone did go 100% into the online space and forego the printed word. Unfortunately, this doesn't take any email marketing practices into mind, which is a bit confusing to me and an indication that we still have a long ways to go in continuing to legitimize what we do. Regardless of your opinion of this column, the overall theme is reflected in the headline.

To Be Free Or Not To Be Free: The WSJ Question: This deals with the impending purchase of the Wall Street Journal by Rupert Murdoch and his recent ponderings of whether to convert the WSJ's paid online subscriber site to a free one, foregoing $65 million in subscriber revenue. Wow - only a move a multi-billionaire could ponder! This article illustrates the power of online newspapers and their increasing ability to generate revenue (NYtimes.com is generating $175 million in online revenue alone this year). Yeah and NONE of this could be translated over to emails? C'mon.

Thus, my plea to the papers continues....