The inner workings of a newspaper have long been a mystery for those on the outside. Now they’ve become a mystery for those of us on the inside too, thanks to the rapid pace at which the world is changing.
Newspapers have always struggled to find that sweet spot that offers readers what they want and, from the newspaper’s position, what they need. Like Canada’s food guide we serve up a bit of this and a bit of that to what’s been regarded as a largely homogenous audience.
But the turbulence the world is experiencing now is forcing a change in the journalistic menu. Fewer of our readers are strictly meat and potato eaters, as more become vegans, paleos, gluten-free, and Keto dieters.
The evolving culture and technology have tested newspapers’ ability to keep up. Where we could once serve a readership that spanned the Greatest Generation to Baby Boomers, more or less managing to hold things together, the world began changing too quickly and dramatically.
The digital age arrived, and Boomers started being replaced by Gen Xers, who by the time they had finished raising their baby Millennials had left journalism in the dust – journalism that was still trying to come to terms with webpages and email.
Social media then arrived on the scene. As newspapers fumbled about with paywalls, Generation Z was sending and getting its news via Snapchat.
When I started out in journalism we were told to write for a Grade 8 audience. Now we’re supposed to deliver content for an eight-second attention span.
In the midst of all this uncertainty and change, the Catholic press has struggled with the same issues as the mainstream media , while riding the disorienting rollercoaster of the Catholic Church. The top-down methods of tradition and the intellectual approach of Popes John Paul II and Benedict have been supplanted by subjectivity, emotionalism, and deconstructionism.
At a recent workshop, we heard young people are inclined to reflect little, judge quickly, and digest abundantly. They also shun tradition, preferring the emotion-laden approach of story-telling.
Into this comes The B.C. Catholic, which is blessed to still be publishing when half of Canada’s Catholic newspapers have folded in recent years. With the support of Archbishop Miller, we know we need to adapt to the needs of our changing Catholic population and remain relevant for a print and online audience that is becoming more diverse all the time.
Our big transformation started in 2016 when the archbishop announced his Priorities and Goals, aimed at focusing our pastoral efforts and mission to help people experience God’s merciful love.
The newspaper’s response was to move away from traditional reporting on the institutional Church – news about Catholic parishes, schools, hospitals, and organizations – and toward an approach that touches people’s hearts and draws them closer to Jesus and his Church.
Thanks to the World Wide Web, readers no longer need to rely on us for their news about the universal Church. The Pope’s general audience is online faster than we can print it. So whereas international news used to take up several pages, our focus is now on local story-telling, sharing the journeys of individuals in the hope they’ll inspire others.
One piece of good news is that in this era of media saturation and fake news, there is growing need for trusted news sources. An established newspaper with a long print history behind it is just such a trusted companion, helping Catholics in the Lower Mainland and the rest of B.C. navigate the waters of technology, culture and faith.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
pschratz@rcav.org
Twitter @paulschratz
