Denmark: paper to attract readers with "lifestyle" inserts

An article on Poynter by Ernst Poulsen links us to a Danish newspaper that is taking innovative strides at integrating news and entertainment in the same package . As of the end of the year, the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten will transform its sections such as travel and sports into magazine-style inserts with "articles that focus on meeting readers' needs." It will continue printing national, international and business news in its traditional first section. The paper's editor explained that lack of time in the morning prevents people from really reading the paper and by the time they get back to it in the afternoon, the news is already a day old and they have probably got the information from the Internet, TV or radio at some point between breakfast and dinner. The logical solution was to add sections that would entice readers to pick up the paper again in the afternoon - and maybe they would even browse through the first section at the same time.

In closing, Poulsen, points out that during the past 10-20 years, they have "moved toward providing more analysis and lifestyle and less 'instant' news. It may be that newspapers survive -- without the news." This is certainly a feasible situation and the move towards tabloid-sized papers may be the start.

Source:Poynter