It’s Alive!

What do newspapers and zombies have in common? No, it’s not their insatiable hunger for knowledge—it’s the fact that despite reports of being dead, they’re very much alive.

That’s the message Cecile Krimm, president of the North Dakota Newspaper Association and editor and publisher of the Journal in Crosby, N.D., wants to spread with “It’s Alive,” a zombie themed newspaper contest. The goals of the contest include generating subscriptions, connecting with a younger audience and helping dispel the myth that newspapers are dying.

The contest offers readers a chance to win a grand prize package valued at $5,000 with a trip to Washington, D.C. during National Newspaper Week.

“It’s funny, there’s a whole lore with zombies. Young people can recite to you all the ways you can kill a zombie... Similarly, newspapers have developed a lore,” Krimm said.

From radio to television and now the Internet, Krimm said people have been predicting newspapers’ demise for decades. However, she said newspapers shouldn’t be afraid of the Internet because it isn’t killing newspapers, rather it gives papers a way share their content with a broader audience.

The NDNA reported that in a recent survey conducted by the association, 73.3 percent of 18 to 34 year olds and 83.4 percent of adults read their local newspaper.

“What the Internet is doing is impacting the way readers access our product, but it’s actually enhancing our delivery to younger people,” Krimm said.

It's Alive Journal

In order to promote the zombie themed contest, the NDNA partnered with almost half of North Dakota’s 89 newspapers, with nearly 40 weekly papers and five dailies participating in the contest.

Each newspaper offered additional prizes to subscribers including digital cameras and tablets. Krimm said the NDNA paid the local newspapers $100 for running a quarter-page size ads and for sponsoring the grand prize trip.

The key to warding off the myth that newspapers are dying is to continue putting out quality local content for readers, Krimm said.

“We have a monopoly on local news. We can’t compete with the New York Times and people in my community don’t want that news,” she said.

Another solution all publishers should work at is to continue to combat the false message that newspapers should be laid to rest.

There’s no need for newspapers to rise from the grave because we never were dying,” Krimm said.