The future of newspapers is getting a lot of ink and air time these days.
PBS recently produced a four-part series on Frontline called “NewsWar.” The Washington Post published an article yesterday on the future of newspapers.
And a voluminous report, “The State of the News Media 2007″ was released recently by the “The Project for Excellence in Journalism.” The report paints a scary picture about the decline of newspapers and the failure of online news media to provide a replacement that can sustain itself.
Simply put, the problem is that the business model that has sustained newspapers for decades – a mix of advertising and circulation revenue supporting a successful business – is slowly falling apart. Readers are moving to the Internet and advertisers are following.
And while most newspapers – like The Evening News – have created Web sites to also provide the news as well as other features, they bring in only a small fraction of the same revenue – not enough to sustain a news gathering staff.
So what will happen if newspapers wither away and the online versions don’t produce enough revenue to pay for the news staff? Goodbye news coverage. And what does that mean for society? For democracy?
Of course, many people argue that “something” will fill the gap. It may be citizen bloggers, as I mentioned in an earlier post. Anyone with a computer can report the news – as they see it. It may be that newspapers’ online revenue will catch up in time to sustain their news staffs. It may be that technology we haven’t created yet will intervene, changing the dynamic in ways we can’t imagine.
I’m in the group that sees this as an exciting time to be a journalist. The face of media is changing in front of our eyes, and we get to be part of it. The Monroe Evening News remains a viable business, with a quality community newspaper, a variety of niche products and a growing Web site.
We’re employee owned, so every one of us has a stake in the future. We’re small and flexible enough to adapt to whatever direction the future takes us.
And perhaps most important, we know that we need to listen to our readers. Let us know what you like or don’t like, what information you’re missing or what connections you’d like to make. We’re listening.
I used to volunteer at the museum. I’d file obituaries. And I’d clip articles. Sometimes I’d look at the old bound volumes of past Monroe newspapers. The newspaper has traditionally acted as the on-the-spot historian of the community. It would be a shame if print editions died out.
But I don’t subscribe to any newspaper. I pick up editions on the road. I might buy five different papers in a day and none for the next four days. I am keenly aware of when I am in a particular circulation range. I know that the westernmost extension of the Evening News is a box in downtown Deerfield and the gas station in west Dundee.
On the other hand, I am a daily reader of the Evening News and many other papers online. I think that papers have a big advantage because they go through an editorial process. They have better quality than a simple blog.
But you have to be able to trust a paper. Ever since the strike in Detroit I have not been able to trust either of those papers. Readers have to believe that they are going to get something more credible than on the average blog.