story here Baptist Times closing
I must say I felt a bit guilty when I read this because I have rarely read it and actually bought it even less frequently. I do hope the hard working staff who appear to have tried everything to increase circulation in recent years will find new jobs soon
The reason given for the closure was the increasing amount of subsidy from the Baptist Union neeeded to sustain the paper
In my experience of the last 25 years the BT tended to be read by mostly older people and I guess when they died these loyal readers were not replaced by younger ones who rightly or wrongly tend to feel less attachment to a particular denomination
The competition from the web must have been a huge factor too
There is an enormous amount of Christian stuff to read on the web for all tastes and views.
It is true there is some stuff of dubious quality but there is also some excellent stuff most of which is free to read .It is hard for a weekly paper to compete with that!
I am delighted that the title will continue to exist in another form
see below
Amanda Allchorn, Head of Communications at the Baptist Union of Great Britain, has confirmed that The Baptist Times brand will live on as a new online resource (www.baptisttimes.co.uk) to be launched in the spring of 2012. This will be run by the Communications Department and the new site will offer news, opinion pieces, features and a downloadable weekly news digest for individuals and churches to print off.
I must admit I tend to read most stuff on the internet now and very rarely buy a newspaper etc - it's the way of the world now if you want to survive you need to reinvent yourself on the net - glad that is what the BT are doing and they will attract a different audience :) like more for example :)) lol
ReplyDeleteYou are so right Judy!
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