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major Zimbabwean newspapers. There are numerous possible reasons for this, but the most obvious is the availability of free news offered by the same newspapers and others on the Internet. Most readers with Internet access at work or home are increasingly finding it difficult to go to a street corner to purchase a product whose contents are available for free online.

It is a unique problem that today’s newspapers face – they have to embrace technological advancements while trying on the other hand to remain viable.
Online advertising is still a new phenomenon and most companies appear unwilling to invest in a venture they admittedly are not experts in. What is clear in today’s Zimbabwe – judging by the amount of feedback on online editions, the “traffic” in Internet cafes and the number of users log onto social networks at any given time – is that the Internet is fast becoming a permanent facet of our social lives. The heavy presence of Zimbabwean readers online means the old newspaper communication model of “from us to you” is becoming blurred.

The concept about the newspaper being the sole source of printed data, and the readers being simply consumers waiting to “digest” its contents has now been replaced by the ‘Us to Us’ model, where readers assume part control of the content.
The interactive model ensures that readers can “speak” with authority through responses to stories, blogs and forums.

The debate on whether the increased reader involvement in news products enhances report had not yet been won, but what is apparent is that that the practice is not likely to go away. If anything, more and more newspapers are likely to join the bandwagon.
So what can newspapers do in an environment where what is most popular is free? There is need for newspapers to rethink their whole business model so that they integrate the Internet as part of their plans for the future. It is important for publishers of printed news to view themselves as media companies rather than simply as newspapers.

Newspapers are in business for two main reasons – firstly to create a viable business model through distinctive branding and marketing, and secondly, to make news as widely available and as easily accessible as possible. As media companies, news organisations may take advantage of the popularity of their online version to realise both of their objectives. At present, most newspapers offer their online readers every article that is in their printed versions.

This defies logic if one reader gets the news free of charge while the other gets it for a dollar (or fifty cents!). That way, it would appear readers of the printed version are paying for the newsprint the words are printed on.

Media companies should be more creative with both models of their paper if they want to attract more readers, more advertisers, and by extension, more revenue.
The online versions need fresh, creative ideas.
The unique characteristics of the Internet that distinguish it from the traditional newspapers must be fully exploited. Showing video recordings related to data presented in word form for example is a sure way to attract readers. Should one media organisation in the country show video clips with highlights of weekend soccer matches and post-match interviews of coaches and goal scorers, the number of their internet users is likely to increase.

Use of other Internet-based forms of communication such as voice recordings, animation, statistical and information presentations in the form of graphics and other visual communication tools is likely to drive online visitor numbers upwards too.
The use of these numerous techniques enables the online newspapers to communicate with their audience in several ways, helping to capture the imagination of their readers in a graphic and direct way.

The first objective should be attracting as many online readers as possible, and the second would be to enable the users to be involved in various processes involved in news making and reviews.
The final objective must be marketing space around the stories for advertising. A media company with an art department may then generate money by creating adverts for the website, and by posting the marketing messages on their popular sites.

The Internet is here to stay, and the number of users continues to grow. For the print media, using the web should not be because “everyone is doing it, so there is no other choice”. Instead, creative use of the newspaper’s online site has the potential to draw audiences to it and help the company remain viable in today’s technology rich society.

For today’s media companies to flourish, they should view the internet version of their newspaper as a completely different product that requires its own commercial strategy. The more popular the online version gets, the more money it is likely to make for the company.

• Knowledge Mushohwe is the editorial cartoonist for H-Metro and Head Designer for the Herald.