Print still has value

Some students today are viewing themselves as ‘digital natives’ because they are the first generation to grow up with smart phones, tablets and high-speed Internet.

The Academic Journalism Society has been researching the ways humans comprehend information read from paper and from screens and it turns out our minds absorb info from the printed page better for texts that are more than a page in length. Scrolling disrupts comprehension.

That’s really great news for newspaper businesses and the print industry abroad — an industry that’s in need of some good news.

In 2014 a total of 91 magazines went belly up. The year before that 51 closed up shop.

Newspaper ad revenue is 49 per cent lower than it was 10 years ago and it’s been a tough go for everyone.

Look at the Brant News closure that was announced last week. A deal between media conglomerates Postmedia and Torstar resulted in the demise of at least 20 local newspapers.

Staying in business for us at the Two Row Times has always been a creative challenge, but we are thankful for our many advertisers who keep us in the game.

Although everyone is reading information on their phones these days it seems that print isn`t quite dead.

A recent survey in the U.K. says that 88 per cent of readers prefer to consume articles via print if possible, even though half of them do own a smartphone.

Readers seem to prefer the Two Row Times. We have a very low take back rate of three per cent. That means we get back very little returns because people are picking up our paper and taking it home with them.

Indigenous issues are on the forefront of Canadian headlines so many of our readers are from places other than Six Nations!

Print has a great cost. That means our pages have great value.

And we stand by what we print.

The Haudenosaunee Development Institute (HDI) released a 48-page report last week by its Director Hazel Hill.

In the report Hill discloses that hundreds of thousands of dollars of lawyer fees for Aaron Detlor were unaccounted for when professionals at KPMG performed their audit.

This validates the calls by the community for transparency that were voiced through our publication.

Remember way back in May 2016 when Hill took the floor at a HCCC meeting and accused the Two Row Times of being a part of a grand conspiracy to destroy the Confederacy?

These claims weren’t true then and aren’t true now. If anything this report proves the Two Row Times was on the right track.

We have always been proud of putting the truth, facts first, in print — out to Six Nations and beyond. We are grateful for your support and honoured to do the work.

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