By: Staff Reports Newspaper Created Free-Standing Section In 1994
Perhaps the first newspaper to launch a free-standing technology
section, The Toronto Star, is now shutting it down. The
section's editor, Robert Wright, wrote a letter to readers
Thursday explaining the decision.
"Although the 50 cents you put in the blue box covers some of the
bills, in order to survive, a newspaper must sell ads," Wright
wrote. "Lots of ads."
A spokeswoman for the paper attributed the closing to the decline
in the economy, particularly in the technology sector. She said
Wright would remain with the Star.
The Star launched the weekly "Fast Forward" section on
April 21, 1994. During the next seven years, the section covered
the Internet, computers, software, wireless gadgets, and just
about anything related to high-tech.
In his note, Wright said the Star covered many
technologies, such as DVDs and digital cameras, long before the
public knew what they were. "Now that these subjects have gone
mainstream, the Star will be covering them in articles
throughout the paper," he wrote.
Many newspapers started weekly technology/new-media sections in
the last few years, but those sections have suffered especially
hard during the current advertising drought.
Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here