Ink Finger
Extinction or Evolution?
What's next for the newspaper
As readership dwindles and profit margins plunge, many newspapers are reallocating costs and resources online. The ramifications of which influence current coverage scope and advertising reach. Given the relative infancy of online media, where these bedfellows land is anyone's guess.
The New York Times takes a close look at the reporter's dilemma via the decline of traveling press on the campaign trail:
For most of the others, the price of admission — more than $2,000 for just one person to travel on Mr. Obama’s charter flights that day — was too steep, in an era in which newspapers in particular are slashing costs and paring staff, and with no end in sight to a primary campaign that began more than a year ago.
Elsewhere, Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog says as advertising revenue favors the Internet, so goes the marketer:
Yet, the industry argues that more people read newspapers now than ever before, thanks to the Web. And indeed, online ad revenues have risen sharply in recent years. However, the economy has even taken a toll there, as Web–based growth slowed down in 2007, reports MarketWatch writer David B. Wilkerson.
In many cases, though, money is being left on the table because concepts and guidelines that are still being established in the online arena after eons in which the relationship between newspapers and their ad clients barely changed at all.
Himself an industry veteran, Yeah I Figured Executive Director Grease feels talk of print media extinction to be premature and reactionary.
"There will always be a newspaper. It just will evolve. Things will be dicey for awhile, but I think a good, new model will be found."
In the meantime he says publications are going through significant content makeovers.
"So the new (fairly new) business model is for small papers to go hyper-local, shifting away from world and national news to tons of community-based stuff that no one else covers. This seems to be working for many."
Yeah, I Figured columnist, Hennessy has written for many print publications but has a less optimistic view on their survival.
"Newspapers are as good as dead. They've been on life support since pushing real, relevant news to the back page. Replacing it with sushi party do's and dont's and the latest on Hannah Montana. Give me a fucking break."
6 comments:
What a surprise, I side with Hennessy.
I can see the newspaper vs. online media fight parallel the film vs. digital movie making fight. As with film, the newspaper will always be available. The question is how dominant will it be? My opinion is that the papers will continue to cater to a specific niche, and that niche is too large to ignore.
I can't stand reading on line papers. If the newspaper truly dies I will probably never read another fucking "newpaper" again.
I like to read the newspaper when I'm taking a shit. When I'm done, I wipe my ass with it.
The great thing about the newspaper is that it's convenient. Unlike viewing news online, the newspaper can be read in the car, in the park, in bed, the living room, kitchen, in space, underground, at Borders, at the barber shop, at work, and at the ball park. For this reason alone, we will all die before the newspaper.
Actually, newspapers are garbage, t.v. news is garbage, and online news is garbage.
All of them are fighting so hard for an audience and advertising dollars that they fuck up the news. Few people actually sit down and read more than one so that they can actually get a variety of opinions.
most of the local news consists of weather and Packer coverage. Nobody does investigative stuff that isn't 90% exploitative.
print media will exist it'll just continue to suck.
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