Boston & Maine Connection: The Eyes of March Blurring the Line between Digital & Print.
Who defines breaking news? And what dictates what a newspaper prints to be important enough to present to the reader? Shouldn’t the community take hold of the narrative of what is important to community and what matters to us most?
“Beware the Ides of March” goes the saying and on March 15th we will have been in various forms of isolation 369 days since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, March 11th 2020. The power of print to engage deeply has never been higher and the transformation of The Cryer, a monthly Maine newspaper took its next step toward transformation of news and communications to becoming a real partnership between reader and advertiser.
If you had the 24 page paper physically in your hands, you would feel how it transmits sensation and texture to your fingers. When you opened it to the center page, your eyes would have taken in a two page spread (known in the newspaper business as a double truck) of photos and text. Context would have registered instantaneously. There is no Doom Scrolling. Nor annoying interruptions, nor capture of your personal information to be bundled up and sold off to the highest bidder. No coy attempt to drag you deeper down the rabbit hole of lost time and forgotten queries. No clickbait. You could take a breath and not worry about who or what is tracking what you consume there. A chance to enjoy the photos, the stories and try your hand at a word search puzzle donated by Lamey Wellehan Shoes. They are celebrating , 107 years of service to the community and they invited readers to be their guest. No tracking of number of views or basic analytics which I might get here. There’s a strong measure of trust between the reader and the advertiser and it is the role of The Cryer to facilitate and strengthen that trusted connection. News that community wants to read.
This comparison of digital and physical worlds takes on new importance in this time of Covid. While digital can reach nearly anywhere that can pull in a wireless signal, this newspaper must be physically transported to your home or picked up at your favorite store. If you found your way to this article, you’re flipping through physical pages because you are looking for good things to draw your attention. Old style news preys on our human instinct to be on the lookout for danger. The Cryer doesn’t contain the bad news of Doom and Gloom and we constantly invite readers to engage with the good things happening in our community.
In building a team of Cheerleaders, Ambassadors and Advocates for The Cryer, we transformed page17, our monthly Front and Centre photos page into an art prompt inviting readers to follow the directions and then tear up the physical page using it as a starting point for a 3-dimensional collage.
I am inviting my readers here (in this digital blogpost) to also be creative with your hands and your imagination and create some physical piece of art and share it here. It’s a bit less dramatic than being able to tear apart a newspaper page and reconstruct it into something that pleases you fully. Many people use the term “in these unprecedented times” as a reason to pivot and if that is the motivation you need to walk away from a screen for just a little while and be creative, so be it.
I invite my readers to create & share your original artwork on the theme of Eyes of March and I offer a reward for those who take the time to share it with me online. Use the hashtag #eyesofME (deadline March 9, 2021) Use Twitter or LinkedIn or email me a photo of your completed work. In return I will send you a code giving you a discount to one of my business building workshops. In addition, we will select one creator who shares their work to receive a 30 minute “Ask me Anything” session about business, planning, communications or outreach. Jump start your dreams.
Many thanks to the publisher of the Cryer and First Federal Savings and Loan who go out of their way to put the human touch on everything they do to support community. And a special recognition to Artvan (I am on their board of advisors) for being there for the youth who need connection and use art as just one of the ways to visualize their fears, dreams and hopes through these dis-embodied times.
