Newspapers still strong: Inland Press Assn.

Adolfo Mendez in the new issue of Inland Press Association's Inlander has a news feature with some perspective on the newspaper industry's health and future.

Titled "Stop the presses: Newspapers have a future," the piece puts into context the strengths of newspapers even in financially challenging times.

"Although our industry is evolving, the foundation of our business is very strong,” Mendez quotes Illinois newspaperman Larry Maynard. A newspaper has “one of, if not the, strongest brand equity” in its local market, Maynard continued. “More often than not, nobody is more familiar with the name of any media than they are with your company.”

Newspapers "have the strongest and longest relationships with advertisers — some of those go back 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years,” he said. “Nobody has longer advertising relationships than the newspapers do.”

Other media don’t come close, he added.