Newspapers are having their share of readership challenges, but the Guelph Mercury is bucking the trend. It’s carrying a story today about readership being up more than nine per cent for its print edition, and 10 per cent for the online version. That’s encouraging for anyone who believes that when it comes to news, good content is as important as the medium in which it appears.
Owen Roberts is an agricultural journalist and communications instructor based in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. He is a trustee on the Global Foundation for Agricultural Journalism and an associate editor (communications) for the Journal of Agromedicine. Previously, Owen was president of the International Forum for Agricultural Journalists, an agricultural communications faculty member at the University of Illinois, and research communications director at the University of Guelph. His programs and research papers have been recognized through awards from the Journal of Applied Communications, the National Agri-Marketing Association, the Association for Communications Excellence and the Canadian Farm Writers' Federation.
