Bases move back toward print newspapersStaff report
Posted : Sunday Dec 20, 2009 12:04:46 EST
Three years after most Air Force bases ditched their print newspapers to save money and go digital, there’s a steady stream of bases going back to paper and ink.
Osan and Kunsan air bases in South Korea are starting a joint newspaper; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., is launching a newspaper; and Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, and Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, are planning to partner with nearby Navy and Army bases to publish a print newspapers.
“We discovered a drawback to discontinuing base papers is the challenge of getting news and information to our family members and those who do not have routine access to a computer,” Lt. Col. Kenneth Hoffman, a spokesman for Pacific Air Forces, said in an e-mail.
The Air Force in 2006 decided to eliminate print newspapers in part because the public affairs career field faced manpower cuts and no longer had the resources to produce the papers. Most of the new papers are being produced through civilian enterprise contracts, in which a private publisher undertakes the production expenses and makes money by selling ads in the paper.Article at:
http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/12/airforce_newspapers_122009w/