James_Jan-Feb_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 90
Print Will Be a Big Part of
Modern Media, but . . .
What really hit home to me is
when the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ended its print edition at the end
of 2025. It decided to go all digital,
yet I believe print will be relevant
and will still be a big part of the
modern media world. I read a piece
by David Greer of Gwinnett Magazine
which emphasizes this point. “Print
does bring some unique strengths,
still. It is tangible and memorable,”
he writes. “A magazine sits on a desk
or coffee table. It can be shared, gifted, and kept. Nostalgic for some, yet
surprisingly fresh to younger readers
who are discovering it almost as
something new.”
I can relate to this as the publisher of James. Our statewide print
magazine has become a successful
niche publication with our writers
and contributors covering Georgia’s
business, politics and culture. You
don’t have to search for its content or
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scroll it; the print magazine is simply
delivered to your mailbox. You get to
read many in-depth articles and interviews that the mainstream media
often ignores or slants with a blatant
bias. (Of course, we also publish
James Magazine Online, and subscribers get a daily morning email
with timely content.)
People also see advertising as
part of the same reliable package
as the content. For a small business
competing with national chains and
online platforms, no other product
can deliver the same impact. I’ve
found that with James, when readers
trust and enjoy their preferred publication, they trust the advertisers that
support it.
Jaillene Hunter is the executive
director of the Georgia Press Association, and I asked her what she
thought about the future of the industry in our state. She gave a pretty
succinct reply: “Georgia’s newspaper
industry is strong and evolving. By
pairing trusted print journalism and
growing digital platforms, newspapers are reaching more readers than
ever before--- from metro communities to rural towns across the state.”
This suggests journalism will be
alive and well with such a “pairing”
that she describes. In this context, my
aforementioned friend King notes the
threshold of entry for internet publishing is low. And he muses that adding
a pay-per-view content along with a
paywall business model would establish a new golden era in which skill
and talent would carry the day and
where the right content would propel
its authors and the publications to
success. Maybe so.
In any event, it will be interesting
to witness how the future of media
unfolds— as well as to write about it
and record it for history.
Phil Kent is the CEO & Publisher of James and
James Magazine Online. He is also a regular
panalist on Fox 5 Atlanta’s Sunday TV show
“The Georgia Gang.”
