Will The New Watchtower Kill Off The Awake?

by metatron 41 Replies latest jw friends

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  BluesBrother

  The same thought occurred to me. The Awake was supposed to be featuring "Scriptural content" in its monthly format.. It seems to be duplication . I guess the dubs would feel strange, after decades of offering "Two magazines" in the ministry.

  I wonder, in these days of electronic communication, why not e mail a text of a monthly Kingdom Ministry to the secretary or the P.O. or nominee and then have the local congregation responsible for printing and providing it ..There might be security issues, but anything interesting gets here anyway. It would work for Europe and N.America.
• 

  metatron

  On The Way Out, I've think you've analysed it very well. I can only add that such a list of potential

  cutbacks is likely because a far flung organization can only be steered like an oceanliner. You don't

  have the luxury of real micro-management because it's impractical and foolish to attempt.

  metatron
• 

  ozziepost

  metatron:

  Good point, I agree with you.

  For some time I can't see the point in having the Public Edition of the Watchtower as well as the Awake, To me it doesn't make sense (yeah, okay, what in the Borg does make sense!) but really don't they duplicate each other? Put another way, aren't they pitching to the same market?

  When the Awake went monthly, the R&F were told that the magazine would pitch a Bible message to 'worldly ones™' as well as having those general interest articles. Now that the Public edition will be taking on much of that role, why have two of them?

  Another thing too related to that is, how will the Witnesses go presenting two similar magazines at the doors?
• 

  Nosferatu

  I could definately see them killing the Awake. However, they run into one problem with that... The d2d ministry will suffer greatly. How many dubs do you know "bury" the Watchtower underneath the Awake while going d2d just to make an easier placement? The public knows what a Watchtower magazine is, but they don't seem to identify the Awake! magazine with the JWs as easily.

  Things will get difficult for publishers if they kill the Awake. Oh well, they cover the WT's ass by paying for the mags they distribute in public anyway.
• 

  metatron

  Actually, all they would have to do is make the public Watchtower just as cheap and stupid as the

  Awake is - then they place one magazine, door to door.

  metatron
• 

  changeling

  I wondered about that too. Whatever they have up their sleeve, you can be sure they will put quite a good spin on it to make the believers shiver in expectation of the next big thing and to correlate their desicion with the imminent start of Armageddon.
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  NewYork44M

  There are two goals of the d2d ministry. Generate cash through the distribution of literature for cash and keeping the r&f busy.

  Publishers no longer ask for contributions and are cheap when it comes to contributing for literature. Thus, the push will be for more tracts and less literature. Tracts are cheaper and give the r&f something to do.

  The natural next step in this process is to do away with one magazine. Thus, the Awake will go.
• 

  steve2

  Great thread title: Will the watchtower Kill Off the Awake? God, over its more than 130 years, The Watchtower's 

  tried to kill off so many things,  including the human spirit and joy, so why not the Awake! as well...? 

  The Governing Body is truly in a bind though: Cut back magazine production and -  regardless of denials - 

  the inadvertent message is: Cut back on the d2d work. From a pressured "motivational" point of view, 

  there's nothing like a stack of magazines sitting on the table that "need" placing/selling to push 

  ambivalent ones out into  the ministry!! 

  Or to paraphrase scripture: 'This high-circulation magazine will be placed in all the inhabited earth 

  and then the end of the organization will come'.
• 

  Gopher

  I believe the "Golden Age" of the Watchtower magazine business will soon be past.
• 

  zack

  They will kill off the public issue of the WT, IMO. That way, you still have the 2 mags and AWAKE, at least in name only, doesn't connect with the WTS. I can see the dubs liking placements of only Awake mags. over placements of WT mags.