Newspapers as memorabilia, for a few dollars more

Mac Slocum at the Nieman Journalism Lab won­ders why we can’t make a few extra bucks turn­ing out high-quality, memorabilia-class newspapers.

Envisioning a news­pa­per as a prod­uct, rather than a mere deliv­ery mech­a­nism, taps into a mind­set already present in adja­cent indus­tries. Savvy musi­cians and film­mak­ers long ago embraced limited-run exclu­sive edi­tions aimed at the top one per­cent of their fans. That’s why the box set exists: to sati­ate fanat­ics. On the pub­lish­ing side, Sports Illustrated cranks out hard-bound “cham­pi­onship” col­lec­tions for all of the major leagues. There’s prece­dent here. And with some news­pa­pers already grav­i­tat­ing toward a glossy mag­a­zine aes­thetic, it’s not too far fetched to imag­ine big, bold broad­sheets emerg­ing as a high-end option for dis­cern­ing news col­lec­tors and mem­ory seekers.