Wollongong's daily newspaper - the " Illawarra Mercury " has embarked on an interesting experiment. From today, the racing pages no longer form an automatic part of the paper. They are now " optional ". For those subscribers who have home delivery it is necessary to " opt in " to have them included. For those who buy at a newsagent, garage or corner shop the racing pages will be available on demand - but in a separate pile from the main body of the paper.
There are obvious advantages. For those with no interest in horse racing there is no loss, but a huge gain for the ecology. How many trees face the chainsaw to provide wood pulp for newspaper pages that nobody reads ?
But - it opens up a Pandora's box. Why should horse racing be any different from other areas of interest ? How many people buy a newspaper to get the latest news - but have absolutely no interest in sport - in any of it's many forms ?
And then there is " the Weekender " - a supplement as big if not bigger than many entire newspapers which is entirely given to advertising houses and property for sale. This may be dumped in the recycling bin by many and only of interest to those considering entering the buying or selling aspect of the home market.
Then there is the little matter of selling price. If you voluntarily forego the racing pages - and therefore save printing costs to the newspaper's owner - why are you not offered a cheaper price for making this sacrifice ?
And if " optional " becomes the norm - and your basic newspaper is simply the local and overseas news pages - with your choice of what other areas of interest you wish to subscribe - then price becomes a whole new ball game.
This experiment in making the racing pages optional will be welcomed by conservationists but it certainly opens up an interesting can of worms. This is where it starts - but where does it end ?
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