Beacon Journal runs same stock listings two days in a row

And guess what? The Akron, Ohio, newspaper only got two complaints. I have to admit that there’s a good reason here why newspapers are cutting the stock listings from the printed newspaper and directing their readers to get the information on the paper’s Web site.

Publisher James Crutchfield writes, “Some of our readers worry that we’re taking information away from the newspaper and putting it on the Internet. Mostly, that’s not true. We’re taking out information if we think it’s no longer useful to many readers.

“In one of the freak occurrences that newspaper people fear as they go about their breakneck pace to publish daily, the Beacon Journal made the mistake of running the same stock listings for two consecutive days. We got two complaints. That tends to confirm what we thought — most stockholders are getting their listings online, not from the newspaper. We can use the stock listings space for more useful information readers can’t get elsewhere. The New York Times recently made the same decision.

“For the most part, we’re simply adding information online, where we don’t have the limitation of space. The Internet provides more opportunity for our customers and us, not less. We’re trying to be the best providers of local information.”

Read the rest of his column here.