The Death of Newspapers – Really!
There has been a lot of talk about the death of newspapers as a physical entity. What amazes me about this argument, is the fact that there is any scepticism that this may not happen. The reality is that it is just a matter of time!
Is there any doubt that there will be no physical newspapers in 100 years? I think not. The challenge we have today, is that there is still several generations of people that are used to the physical paper. I am one of them. But as time goes on, I am more and more online to get my news. In fact, these days, rather than listen to the radio or read the paper on the morning, I read my RSS news feeds on my laptop over breakfast. I find that I can get to the more important and relevant articles for me – much more quickly. But sure, I may be an exception.
But what about my kids, that find their computer second nature? They will be the generation that will be alienated from physical newspapers. Add to that, the ongoing innovation that will occur in delivering the news. Who knows what is around the with news delivery; in shower interactive screens, re-usable screen ‘paper’ etc etc. This will simplify the interface for delivery and provide a mechanism for the slow death of newspapers. So it is not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’.
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But still, I just can’t imagine the guys in the roadside market in India picking up their daily news in their handheld PDAs.
Plus, what would they wrap their vegetables in then? [Yes they do wrap their dry groceries in newspapers.]
Methods of distribution of information is changing at a rapid rate. The business models of the capitalist are changing the drive to connect the world to the internet so as to create the information stream to everyone.
The main stream media are loosing ground at a rapid rate and the reason you see such a big investment form them in online media.
No your not the only one who reads the news on thier laptop at breakfast.
It probably is a case of when not if, but I don’t think it’ll happen as quickly as some suggest. It is true traditional media is investing in online, but if they are clever and position themselves as providing in-depth analysis to news stories their longevity may stretch at least a decade longer! Eg. ABC tag of “more than headlines”. I don’t want to read a 2000+ word article online but maybe that’s *so GenX*.
I do think our behaviour will change where only a select niche audience will seek in-depth – so can papers exist as a niche or is it mainstream or bust? Others will want a mix of twitter news discussion, blogger analysis, news feeds etc.
I believe SMH overall readership has grown close to half a mil due to people like myself who read online daily (and throughout day) when I used to only ever buy weekend paper.
(Disclaimer: I work at fairfax but not in print media!)
I was listening to and old Twit podcast today that was broadcast about 4 weeks ago (http://www.twit.tv/184), and they discussed how another large newspaper publisher, Rocky Mountain News, has gone under and is closing its doors.
An interesting stat that was mentioned in the podcast is that it 70,000 trees to publish the print version of the New York Times, which I thought was an outstanding number. In these days of ‘green’ strategy, we must consider this…