With The Post sharing its work on a near constant basis through social media — all while dropping off newspapers every Thursday at dozens of stops around Ohio University’s campus and Uptown — it is sometimes easy to forget that if a reporter wants a surefire method of reaching the reader, there is no practice more guaranteed than physically ensuring the paper makes it into that reader’s hand.
So last Thursday, when we produced our first paper of the year, myself, our assistant managing editor and a photo editor stood near College Gate and handed out The Post for about 30 minutes, politely asking passersby if they wanted a copy of our most recent edition.
Many said yes, and a few emailed me to say they enjoyed reading our content, and were grateful that we had sought them out as a reader.
We left College Gate that day with fewer papers, arms covered in black ink (if it’s warm out, our newspapers sweat, too) and a little bit of an extra bounce in our step.
It was a pretty special occurrence, and I felt a tad silly for getting so much out of something that was a relatively simple concept — but it makes sense.
If one were to trust any old-timey movie portrayal of a newspaper and its journalists, they might believe that there used to be such a thing as a newspaper boy, who literally shouted and distributed the news from street corners. Our version of the that would probably be Twitter — and our street corner might as well be our website — but maybe there is something The Post could learn from the cinematic portrayals of our chosen career: If you want yourself (or your news) heard, it is probably best to actually try to tell someone personally. The whole “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” trope.
And even though it is a bit time-consuming, it is also healthy for our Post reporters to get outside and meet some of our readers face-to-face as they walk to class and Uptown.
So from now on, a few of our editors and employees will be passing out The Post every Tuesday and Thursday from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at College Gate, to see who we can meet and what news we can share. Hopefully I will be able to talk to some new readers in the coming weeks — and find another excuse to stand outside — but in the meantime, catch us at our digital newsstand at thepostathens.com.
Emma Ockerman is a senior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. Want to talk to her? Tweet her at @eockerman or email her at eo300813@ohio.edu
