With the mass adoption of the internet now over ten years on, up-to-date information on the world of transport has never been easier to find. With Yahoo Groups and other fora (or should that read forums?), it’s little wonder that associations such as the Omnibus Society fails to attract younger members. What’s in it for them, when they can have instant access to all the information they need at the touch of a button.
And the same could be true of Buses Magazine. Buses celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. This month’s Buses features 20 pages packed with fleet news minutiae. That’s exactly one third of its editorial space. With the internet awash with on-tap information, who needs this Fleet News?
The short answer is that the internet cannot entirely replace short, succinctly written synopses and summaries. Neither can the spaghetti-like threads of a Yahoo or Google Group reasonably provide the detail on which to refer in months or years to come. Yahoo has been known to lose old information or make it inaccessible. And neither can you reasonably read the internet anywhere (not quite yet, at any rate). Fleet News may no longer provide the only source of information on operators’ vehicle movements. Instead, it can have a role as a collecting point and repository.
Buses has certainly changed with the times and continues to find ways to evolve. It’s bigger, brighter, glossier, content-rich and over the years its writing style’s become progressively more modern and less stuffy. Using contemporary layout techniques, Buses continues to attract younger as well as loyal readers—some of whom have purchased each month, man and boy.
Over the years, Buses Magazine has continued to hold its own and it remains the biggest circulation and most widely read of any bus-related journal. And if you think Buses is the preserve of enthusiasts, think again. Industry leaders take the views of its various commentators, letter writers and the lead article very seriously. Copy continues to be well regarded and crafted under the editorship of Alan Millar whose watch is 10 years’ old this year. In the space of Buses’ 60 year history, it’s seen just six editors.
Friday, 20 February 2009
Celebrating an Institution
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4 comments:
In the days of the Internet, monthly magazines can no longer possibly hope to break news. As you say, the great strength however lies in authoritative synopses and also in the power of informed commentary by people who know whta they are talking about, have a clear opinion and can clearly put that into words.
The down side of the internet is that everybody has their little soap box and can broadcast their little views into the world. The result is that there is a lot of unoriginal waffle out there, a lot of regurgitating of second hand and uniformed ideas and rumours inspired maybe by televison or gutter journalism. A good magazine can provide the antithesis to this.
It is unfortuante that many magazines are not realising that. Some of the magazines I get that used to be enthusiast forums are now playing at being trade magazines and are regurgitating press releases and publicity material from the industry as if it were fact, while charging the reader for the pleasure of being able to read texts that he can download from the orginal industry webistes for free. Besides the editorial itself, there may not be a single snippet of opinion or commenatry in the whole magazine. The level of research is minimal and factual errors are often propgated from one edition to the next as one's own articles are often the easiest source of reference. Fortunately Buses is not in this category, but many other magazines are. I hope they wake up before they lose their last readers.
Cirdan05 said:
"The down side of the internet is that everybody has their little soap box and can broadcast their little views into the world."
Surely not at Omnibuses, though?????!!!!!?????
:) :) :)
always enjoy Buses but don't think too much of the "free giant maps". What are they all about, then?
To Anonymous 1624
Interestignly the map is designed to show heritage, museums and events but doesn't show nearly enough of them to be useful.
Another example of how the Internet can do this sort of thing so much better
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