Independent work theme: the future of print media

A media with a expiration date

There is no need to be a specialist to notice that newspapers are in decline since the advent of the internet. New generations are not buying newspapers anymore, and old readers are deserting (Can Newspapers Survive?: A Farewell to Print, 2007). The main reason for this is that web is now a key source of news and information. With a twenty four hours plugged society it is difficult for a static media like newspaper to follow the velocity that news spread through the web. Even with a presence online, traditional newspapers are having difficult to continue strong as they were before the internet dissemination.
In the past, journals just have to compete nationally, with three or four major companies dominating the readers interests. Nowadays, a big journal like The New York Times compete not just with other worldwide newspapers, easily accessed through the web, but with every user who uses social media to spread their thoughts, opinions and, of course, news. Emma Duncan, deputy editor for The Economist, in a interview given for a BBC Radio 4 series, explains that when the newspapers was originally putted together, it was a lot of different services that you provided to readers in order to sell them advertising. And that was the problem. When you put, for instance, stock prices in the internet, the hole group of services that is not newspaper began to come to pieces. (Can Newspapers Survive?: A Farewell to Print, 2007). The newspaper incomes always came from two sources: 50% from sales and 50% from advertisement. Web advertisement is cheaper, so do not generate the same earnings for journals with online presence as the print one does. The problem is how the newspaper industry structure itself as a business.
Simon Calder, from The Independent, believes that newspapers have to have another approach. What people want in a newspaper today is a place where they can make sense of ‘all the noise’ they get through different sources during the day. In other words, is analysis, opinions, interpretations, explanations and the news itself working as a ‘back bone’. (Can Newspapers Survive?: A Farewell to Print, 2007). On the other hand, Allen Rusbridger, editor of the British journal The Guardian, thinks that mobile phone is the future. Having a journal multi-platform give the possibility to deliver news in different forms and ways at anytime and anyplace (Can Newspapers Survive?: A Farewell to Print, 2007). Following this thought, either smartphones or tablets may be the savior of the newspaper industry, even changing the concept of what we know as newspaper. (Page One: Inside The New York Times, 2011)
Newspapers are in a transitional period, just like what is happening with the book industry. In the past, news always had to be paid for, however today is available without charge. Publishers of traditional journals are still looking for a way to efficiently charge for news and information on the web or mobile applications. The problem is not just been print, but journalism and business structure too. Tablets and smartphones are being good ways to delivering paid information, but it might be just the first step in the transition.