ALLAN BLOCK: DIGITAL DELIVERY IS THE NEWSPAPER’S FUTURE

Last week, the Post-Gazette published a column by Gene Collier critical of the discontinuation of PG print delivery on Friday. The implication was the Post-Gazette was stopping Friday publication.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Post-Gazette will continue to have a full and complete Friday edition. The PG will have a full edition every day of every week of everymonth of every year!

What the PG is doing is not cutting a day of publication. The Post-Gazette is going forward to the digital future — to modern eDelivery (PGe) and away from old-fashioned print delivery.

What we are dealing with is the form of delivery of the broadsheet newspaper product — not reduction or discontinuation. There is no print edition and there is no e-edition. There is only an edition. It is the method of delivery that is at issue.

In fact, it is clear eDelivery offers multiple advantages over print delivery.

These advantages include: • eDelivery goes anywhere in the country or the world — it is not restricted geographically. You can get it on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean.

• With eDelivery, deadlines can be hours later, allowing for late-breaking news and sports scores from the West Coast. Updates and extra editions can be easily accommodated.

• eDelivery is green. Trees in Canada are not cut down. No CO2 is released to transport newsprint or to deliver the final product to your home. And you don’t have to worry about recycling old newspapers.

• eDelivery includes advanced features such as video, e-commerce capability, and the ability to click through to websites.

eDelivery is the newspaper in every actual sense (with pages and sections like conventional print delivery) delivered to an electronic tablet, desktop computer, laptop or mobile device. I personally recommend using a pad device. For those who prefer a conventional (print) copy, there is a very good print function that works with a two-side printer to make a print version. It is superior to a paper produced by a rotary press.

PG NewsSlide and the PG’s website will continue to operate concurrently with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette eDelivery and print delivery.

It is not possible to stop technology and change. For the newspaper business and the Post-Gazette, the future is digital, and I urge everyone to embrace these technological changes. It’s our honor to continue to deliver the best news report in Western Pennsylvania and the best newspaper-reading experience as well.