We used to find ourselves in bars in the morning drinking a coffee or cappuccino and reading a newspaper or a weekly. The sound of the pages flipping through merged with the shouting of people, the rattle of cups and the sound of the coffee machine.
All this is now a distant memory. Like every year, Aostaoggi.it has carried out a survey by interviewing more than twenty newsagents in the city of Aosta and its surroundings to find out the sales numbers of the weeklies and the only newspaper that dedicates an insert to the news of our region. After reading the interview numbers, I chose not to publish the piece. The collapse in sales is gigantic and the coup de grace came from the ban on reading newspapers in bars.
As far as print media is concerned, publishing had already been hugely penalized by the rapid growth of online information and the now widespread use (also thanks to the pandemic) of smartphones. A few years ago inside newsstands and tobacconists there were bulky packs of newspapers available to readers. Now those packages are limited to a few dozen copies. And so the real newsstands are less and less and in the tobacconists the printed paper and magazines are withdrawn in a corner to make room for other services: “scratch cards”, lottomatica, bar corners.
In the Aosta Valley, the newspaper with the insert dedicated to the Aosta Valley and the two best-known weeklies have attempted to remedy the collapse in sales with alliances with online information sites or by creating their own. The results are disappointing and can be seen from the collapse of advertisements published in print and online. This is because the sponsors have also increased their knowledge of the web and know how to distinguish between a news portal that really gives visibility and one that few people read every day.
The reason why I wanted to write this article today, just today, arose from what happened to me this morning. I entered a newsstand in the historic center of Aosta at around 11 to buy a copy of the newspaper with the Valle d’Aosta insert, and I discovered that there were no more copies. I said to myself: “At last we have a recovery of interest in printed media”. But no. “This morning they gave me only 30 copies. Now they are distributing less and less,” the newsagent explained to me.
I hope as soon as possible to return to enjoy a good coffee reading a newspaper sitting at a coffee table, feeling the texture of the paper in my hands. But above all, I thank all of you fellow readers who follow us every day in very high numbers. As for us we will continue, against all the difficulties of the moment and certain sad characters, to inform you every day and every hour for free.
Marco Camilli
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