Over recent decades there has been a proliferation of special-interest magazines dedicated to astronomy. In spite of the undoubted market for specialist feature articles on astronomy such articles appeal to a restricted sector of the general public and rarely appear in the daily or weekly press. I argue here that, apart from television documentary programmes and series, the general public's main exposure to astronomy- related stories is in the form of news reports, which carry too much information in too condensed a form for the general reader or viewer to absorb. I propose that, apart from education, trade books and documentaries, the only way to engage the serious interest of the public in astronomy is through feature articles published in wide-circulation newspapers and magazines. I further propose a generalized model for science communication and distinguish between outreach (to the general public), midreach (to astrobuffs) and inreach (the raising of awareness of the importance of outreach among the research community). Much of what is currently called outreach falls under midreach.