If you were to visit the website for the Rafu Shimpo, which has been published since 1903 and is the largest bilingual English/Japanese daily in the United States, you would find…nothing. With newspaper subscriptions on the decline, especially for a paper such as the Rafu whose readers (Issei and Nissei immigrants) are growing older, the internet is proving a vital resource in attracting a new audience, though there is mixed opinion on how this should proceed. From RSS feeds to online subscriptions one thing is certain, the internet can be a wonderful thing for photographers.

No longer constrained by the space on the page, papers are more able to publish photo stories and galleries of their staff photographers. An example of this can be seen on the Mercury News Multimedia/Photography page. Here one can find in depth photo stories, photo essays, this week in pictures, audio slideshows, and galleries displaying each photographer’s works. It also gives the public an opportunity to purchase prints and download wallpapers. Hopefully this model, and others such as APAD that utilize the internet to promote the works of photographers will continue to grow and become adopted by other organizations.