How soon they forget

Newspapers are mad that Google’s new AI has stopped linking to them, because Google links were a main source of subscribers.

Before the web, papers didn’t rely on the Yellow Pages to gain subscribers. They CERTAINLY didn’t rely on competing papers! The Bugle didn’t wait for the Gazette to mention it.

Newspapers sold their own product using all the classic methods of sales. Distribute free samples, sell in the streets, sell in grocery stores, sell in vending machines. The Extry Extry boy wasn’t working for Bell Telephone, he was working for the Bugle. And the Extry Extry boy didn’t insult customers. He didn’t call them stupid low-information rednecks. He just sold the product.

Later: This small town paper is doing it the right way!! Sending out free copies on a rural mail route, bringing in subscribers who had forgotten that the paper exists.