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| Are newspapers dying?; Is the internet the future? | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 11 2009, 01:07 PM (2,193 Views) | |
| kellyM | Feb 11 2009, 01:07 PM Post #1 |
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If you haven't read it already, there is a great article in the current (February 16) issue of Time Magazine. The article shows circulation down in almost all major dailies, but more importantly advertising is dropping off the cliff. The problem, says author Walter Iaacson, is that newspapers - and magazines - are offering most of their articles for free on the internet via their web sites. When people can get the same information for free, why pay for it? He quotes a Pew Research Center study that says more Americans got their news off the internet last year than from newspapers and magazines combined. He concludes that the future of newspapers may be on the internet under an arrangement where people would have to pay small amounts to read articles or subscribe. Right now, only a few newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal charge for their online editions. With many big US cities already one newspaper towns, the trend may be getting worse. Detroit's newpspaers are moving to publishing just a few days a week, forcing people to turn to the internet for those missing days. Could there be a day when the only newspapers some people read will be those on the internet? And, will we have to pay for them? Not sure I agree that people would be willing to pay for something they're currently getting for free. But who knows? |
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| Alton Lagan | Feb 12 2009, 09:29 PM Post #2 |
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I do think that the morning newspaper is going to go the same way as the milkman. Perhaps someday our grandchildren will give us that same confused look as we try to explain about this boy, who would come around every morning, delivering a paper full of news. While the demise of newspaper was predicted long ago with the advent of radio and later TV, it managed to survive because it offered many things radio and TV couldn't. However, now the internet can offer everything newspaper can and more. However, I disagree with the belief that newspapers should start charging for their web sites. This was tried in the 1990's and didn't work. It is part of the reason the over used term Web 2.0 was created. Internet users will always chose a free site over a pay site, unless there is a strongly compelling reason for the pay site. This is why Wikipedia is far more popular than Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Even though Wikipedia has its inaccuracies, spelling and grammar problems, it is acceptable, and it is free. The second problem is demonstrated in this post. I can link to Wikipedia's definition of Web 2.0. I cannot link to Britannica's. Wikipedia can be linked, quoted and used for all online discussions. Britannica is never part of the discussion, and if you are not a part of the online discussion you might as well not exist. |
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| Ron Higgins | Feb 23 2009, 06:20 PM Post #3 |
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Not sure whether they are dying or not, but the two Philadelphia newspapers are certainly sick. It was reported over the weekend that both are now in Chapter 11. Times are tough out there. |
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| Dstevens | Feb 26 2009, 09:05 PM Post #4 |
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Newspapers may be on life support. I was at a meeting this morning and one woman said her daughter wondered why anyone would subscribe to a newspaper these days. She said it was all so old fashioned when you can get "the same information" off the internet. Surprisingly, only a handful of those at the meeting said they subscribed regularly to daily newspapers. |
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| Kenya Huron | Feb 27 2009, 12:24 PM Post #5 |
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At least one major newspaper is now dead. The Rocky Mountain News, dating back to the Civil War, was dead on arrival at doorsteps in Denver today. Several Denver residents attributed its demise to the internet. The now-defunct newspaper has won several Pulitzers, including one for its reporting on the Columbine school shootings. At one time, Denver had six newspapers. |
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| Steve Wilson | Mar 3 2009, 04:24 PM Post #6 |
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Another sign of newspaper times. The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch announced today that it is laying off 45 newsroom employees. The paper cited declining ad revenues. |
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| kellyM | Mar 3 2009, 04:47 PM Post #7 |
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DeWayne Wickman writes a great piece on the crisis within the newspaper industry in this morning's USA Today. And it points to what he feels is a greater threat to journalism than financial problems. The death of the Rocky Mountain News and the cancellation of the 2009 convention of the Society of Newspaper Editors, he says, was bad enough. But even more troubling, he says, is the fact that the "free press is still being stage managed by those who run our wars." He the Pentagon's lifting of the ban on photographing the caskets of returning men and women from Iraq was "good news," but adds, "The Pentagon's rule-making exposes a greater threat to the survival of journalism than the closing of a newspaper or a canceled convention of editors." For more on the story, go to: http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/03/pentagon-should.html#more |
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| gsymes | Mar 4 2009, 09:13 PM Post #8 |
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Ryan Blethen, a columnist for the Seattle Times, has a good take on what's wrong with newspapers today. Quoting part of his column: "A lot of the recent discussion has been about micropayments and other ways to make readers pay for content. I am skeptical about readers paying to read a story. They have been trained to believe that content is free - a hard habit to change. "It has also been suggested that newspapers be transformed into nonprofits or live off the donations of the wealthy. I also have doubts about such a model. "What I have no doubt about is the good that will spring from the industry being hyperfocused on not only surviving but thriving. "Will any of them work? I have no clue. "What is clear is that there is no killer app for saving newspapers. Some ideas will take hold, others will not. What is for certain is that newspapers will emerge on the other side of this transitional period much changed." |
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| CrisisMan | Mar 9 2009, 04:25 PM Post #9 |
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Sounds as if newspapers have at least one staunch supporter. In an interview with the New York Times, President Obama - the guy who couldn't give up his Blackberry - said he still likes the feel of a newspaper in his hands. He also said he doesn't watch much TV other than basketball. I have to agree, I like the internet, but it's not quite the same as reading a newspaper over a cup of coffee in the morning. |
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| MDeary | Mar 10 2009, 07:58 PM Post #10 |
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I'm new to the forum, but couldn't help notice the "Are Newspapers Dying? discussion. As an avid reader of multiple newspapers daily, I certainly hope not. Unfortunately, however, I believe they are on life support and many won't make it past the next year. I was just watching a segment on CNN this afternoon that reported 10 major newspapers in the US will either die or convert to online versions only within the next year or so. They include such papers as The Miami Herald, The San Francisco Examiner, The Boston Globe and The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The two papers in Detroit, as mentioned earlier in this discussion, are already on their way to extinction, it seems. With so many other papers already in bankruptcy or hard times, it's difficult to be optimistic about their future. Having grown up in a family that felt newspapers were essential to their daily lives, it would be really difficult to give up the newspaper, the crossword puzzles, the comics, Dear Abby, local sports, obits, and of course, the local news. Sitting here reading the news off my laptop just doesn't seem the same. I, for one, hope they somehow manage to survive this crisis, but I believe it will take the skills of a better crisis management specialist than myself. |
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