Meet Michael Jones, the guy who has the name of the St. Paul Pioneer Press tattooed across his forehead. The reason for the name-check is rather unclear–“It’s like a story,” Jones tells the Pioneer Press‘s Tad Vezner of his tats, by way of pseudo-explanation–but the rather heart-warming move suggests that newspapers may still leave a mark on their communities that is, er, indelible.
But…not one that pays well. “He’ll even ask for a quarter from the gawkers,” Vezner points out. “‘I’ll ask for it,'” Jones says. “‘Probably won’t get it.'”
So, yeah. Even a guy with a newspaper’s name tattooed across his face hasn’t found a way to monetize the content.
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.