We Want Media

Many newspapers are beginning to electronically publish their stock pages in an effort to cut costs. The Rocky Mountain News is one of the most aggressive among them, moving nearly all its financial listings online with the exception of one page of finance. Although the article mentions that it will affect readers who are accustomed to checking their stock prices over coffee, it seems like a very efficient and even unavoidable step.

For one thing, the stock market is not the measure of an actual economy . The stock market also does not interest or concern most citizens. It only has immediate impact on the top 10% of wealthy people, who own 85% of the stocks. In fact, most papers often have only business sections instead of economy sections. So the majority probably will not even notice the difference should the papers eliminate their stock pages.

For the few that do own significant stocks, the paper editions probably won’t suffice. As the article points out, investors are likely to be after up-to-the-minute prices that can be found exclusively online through websites such as the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq.com. The websites even add an extra feature by not only updating the current stock prices, but by letting people set up their own stock portfolios. With this technology, newspapers are accommodating the needs of both their companies and their readers. Why shouldn’t they take advantage of it?