Friday, February 5, 2010
The Future of Newspapers
As a Journalism and Mass Communication educator, I am often asked about the changing media technology landscape and its impact upon newspapers. My answer is both direct and reserved. Media are evolving into forms that appear to change everyday with myriad applications that even software designers did not foresee. The user, more importantly, is the key to any debate about a medium and future importance. Newspapers are no different than any other form---television, radio or movies. The user, viewer, listener or reader has the final say in success.
The need for comprehensive coverage of local, regional, national or international events has been the driving force behind the historical success of newspapers. The alternative or companion to other news media outlets has given the newspaper business both status and influence. Will the next generation of media consumers require what a newspaper can provide? The answer is yes. That yes, however, must be framed within a future that includes innovative adaptability by all types of newspapers. Innovation must meet the current, and long-term, demands of a shifting consumer. Success will be seen by creativity and collaboration.
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I believe that as technology becomes more advanced and more widely spread than it already is today that the way we become informed. Objects like the ipad or other larger sized tablets that have the capability to always be connected to the internet. this way everyone will always be connected with what is going on in the world. the question then becomes how will the news organizations make money. i still believe their traditional strategy will still work. Advertising will be there biggest source of income but just as papers have a monthly subscription fee "apps" on these tablets would have a monthly subscription fee. Now we have the power to send music video and allow followers feed back though comments that news papers could never. I personal see the paper aspect of newspaper dieing out but news will not. it will simply be shipped out in a different form. a form of zero's and one's.
ReplyDelete~Ryan Peticca 9:15am Mondays and Wednesdays Media power and culture.
The question of newspaper's survival should be extended to all print medium like that of magazines and books also. Now that technology makes magazines have online versions avaliable and technology like the ipad allows entire books to be read. There is no longer a physicall need for a print magazine or book, but will they stay around? Do the readers and subscribers prefer the feel of the book in their hands, do they like the feel of the glossy magazine pages? These are questions that will determine if physical books and magazines, along with newspapers continues to be printed. I completely agree that medium's survival is entirely dependent upon the consumers desires and needs.
ReplyDeleteI come from a very old fashioned background. I lived with my grandparents when I was younger and am now currently living with them again. Living with my grandparents I have adopted their way of viewing media. I grab a U.S.A today everyday and read it and then take it home for my grandparents to read. On the weekends we recieve the Akron Beacon Journal in the mail. Every single day I am reading the newspaper. This also goes along with watching the 6:30 world news with Diane Swayer(sp) every night. This has been a constant in my life since i can remember. Coming into media power and culture I found it baffiling that the newspaper and televison is, in a way, going south. I knew about the new technologies out there and the influence it had on my peers, but I had no idea how MUCH of an impact it had. I still like to actually hold the newspaper in my hand and read paper. Just like I would rather read a book than read it on a Kindle. With the way we view types of media I am afraid that the actual paper copies of things are going to become extinct. Im hoping that they wont but I know my way of viewing media is very different than the way most people my age view thier media.
ReplyDeleteEven more in-depthly speaking, the necessary points of a newspaper cannot and will not ever have the ability to be replaced. My name is Matthew Schitkovitz and I am in your MPC 9:15 class. There lies a point in which many people will question the lifespan and the usefulness of such a "in time" ancient source of information. The best part about the newspaper is not that it has information and variation of information, but rather that all type in a newspaper has gone through a long line of editorial stages to insure its authenticity. Writing discourses and thesis's would not be able to be intellectually crafted if it was not for the newspaper and the processes that comprise its appendages. To say that a medium that in any argumentative case created the business world and the individuality of the world is being outsourced and outdated is mere laziness of a mind to realize the significance that is pressed onto its fibers. A picture is worth a thousand words...but without words to help organize the mind in its objections on something the mind cannot make assertions of validity. The newspaper gives validity to everyday occurrences and life. The Internet, granted it is formulated much like businesses in tangible life, the amount of processes is decreased. Blogs, and twitter have popped up giving common tongue validity. Ask.com, answers.com, and other sources of this stature are just human processes of hide and seek or logical explanations or theories that sounds plausible to a mass media. The Paper on the other hand, went through rigorous investigation and corrections and research to propose something that ended up being written for the common folk to read. In saying that it is the consumer's choice to out-date newspapers, I agree. In saying that innovation for newspaper is needed for continued success is false. In my eyes you cannot innovate something so unique to its form. It needs more regulated requirements in academic place settings to make it a challenge for the fast paced world to take a back seat and to relax and take the time to inspect and involve a source of the up-most value to the human and learning about the world. Nothing does a better job then magazines and papers in regards to information. But this is all a personal opinion.
ReplyDeleteI honestly believe that newspapers are dying and becoming a dead medium. If you look at every new technology medium that is created today, you will see a section for news. If you go on your internet homepage or on your email provider homepage, you will see all the current news. You can turn on the television while your getting ready in the morning and get all the news you need. You can buy an app for your smart phone that will collect all the news you prefer. I feel that newspapers are only necessary for when you are in a quite place and want the news or if you are traveling. Also I think everyone appreciates a brand new paper but, as we are becoming more technological evolved, newspapers will eventually die off.
ReplyDeleteI am a very unorganized person. I lose everything, and if I don't write down what I need to do..it completely escapes me. That's why for me, ipads, internet, and other technological advances are far more convenient. Papers cause a mess and are unorganized. Also, I always have my books laying everywhere and getting mixed up. I would love to have a kindle. In addition, with the new smart phones sending notifications saying when you need to do something..there truly is no need for newspapers and books. They are a medium for an older generation. For example, my grandpa gets all of the local newspapers and his day is incomplete if he doesn't have them. I, on the other hand, haven't read a newspaper since my picture was in it for my birthday. Thats just my opinion though.
ReplyDeleteI think that newspapers are obviously still of some worth - otherwise, they wouldn't be sold and read on a daily basis. The demand for news on paper has definitely been dwindling, but I don't think it will ever die completely. While most things are convenient and portable online, I think there is still more value in a hard copy because it feels more concrete.
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, newspaper companies will have to adapt to our changing society, and in some ways, adapt to new technology. What they contain and what is written and printed may change, but I don't believe the medium will change drastically as most people think it should. Even I prefer to read magazines and newspapers online, but when something really interests me, I pay the fifty cents or dollar for the actual paper. Something just seems more "homey" and "cozy" about sitting and reading a newspaper instead of reading a computer screen.
- Carolyn-Pearl Ebie; Media, Power and Culture MW 9:15-10:30am.
The decline of newspapers is the result of multiple bad business decisions made over the course of the 1980s and 1990s. First, the transition of the newspaper from individual family ownership into publicly traded conglomerates such as Knight-Ritter and Gannett led to the running of newspapers on a profit margin. This eroded staff and caused newspapers to narrow their focus and skew their coverage toward chasing a shrinking demographic of mainly white affluent customers at the exact time the internet started to supply a great deal of news content to the same demographic for free. This decision was done in the name of pursuing more advertising at a lower cost, and was the same thought process that caused radio owners to concentrate their AM stations on the white male 25-54 demographic.
ReplyDelete(Continuing, because the comment was cut off)
ReplyDeleteWhat shrinking readership and parent company debt load started to do to newspapers, Craigslist and eBay compounded by killing the bulk of classified advertising revenue.
It's also important to note that in today's highly polarized, hyper-partisan environment, perceived bias in coverage is likely to alienate a significant number of potential readers. Invariably, political candidate endorsements cause cancellations by readers, and in this day and age, a lot of those cancellations are permanent.
So to stay competitive in the new media environment, newspapers have to do the following:
Get Mobile - Mobile apps are the future. A web presence matters, but to really deliver news to people, you need a standalone mobile app that has a local news content focus.
Get Local - A newspaper whose front page consists largely of AP wire copy is basically useless. Users can get this from the homepage of their preferred portal. In fact, AP should be downgraded or phased out in favor of more regional wire services that help papers economically focus on state and regional issues.
Stay Local - Staff matters. Quality local reporting matters. Readership is impressed with investigative journalism. The problem is, investigative journalism is time consuming and expensive. Investing in this is paramount to surviving locally, however.
Clean Up Your Web Presence - Most newspaper front pages are poorly organized and sloppy. Cleveland.com in particular is awful. Gawker Media's sites set a great example for content and organization.
Get Out of the Endorsement Business - Though traditionalists find this abhorrent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has actually increased it's readership by eliminating the editorial endorsements of political candidates. This is an important step in any attempt to establish your paper as an impartial arbiter of news.
Think Smaller - As the collapse of Clear Channel and the bankruptcy of the Tribune Company illustrate, the idea that newspapers and other non visual mediums can survive as conglomerates is simply not sustainable. Newspapers work best by working small and being locally owned. The fundamental ownership model of newspapers needs to be re-examined.
Rethink Demographics - The demographic narrowcasting of the 1990s that plagued newspapers needs to be abandoned. Only be examining issues that impact the wider community with depth and detail, at the expense of a failed marketing plan, will readership numbers start to rebound.
Ariane Peck;Media, Power and Culture MW 9:15-10:30am.
I beilieve as we move further into the 21'st century, we are going to see more and more Newspapers become digitalized. The benefits of this out-weigh the negatives heavily. A more readily available source of information, cut of manufacturing of the paper, the use of paper will be decreases and the ability to hear and view, video and audio that goes along with the story that is being published.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers i think have to capture the local medium more than try to incorporate both. As technology improves and new ways to obtain national news on a personalized level come about, the newspaper can still cover local news better than any other source. The advantage of a digitalized paper would be a much cleaner and appealing display. More interactive and the paper can create revenue by charging a small amount per article. Allowing the consumer to read what he wants, when he wants.
I think that newspapers are slowly turning into a dead medium. They are costly to manufacture with all of the machines, ink, paper, and the transportation of the papers to get to the consumers. That in whole is very expensive. Newspapers, however, could be saved as a medium. They can be changed to become digitalized. They could be found on the internet in spreads of papers like they would look in a regular newspaper. They could also be available in article by article, rather an entire section. The way these newspaper companies would stay in business is by charging a subscription rate, charging for each article the user chooses to read, or having advertisements being displayed on the sides of the website or something like that. I don't see newspapers and the industry of news going out of business. They can change how they work though. They will need to do this sooner than later because everything is becoming digitalized.
ReplyDeleteI agree when you wrote the "The user, viewer, listener or reader has the final say in success." The future of the newspaper is looking bleak because it is easier to receive world or local news to a portable device (i.e. Smart phone) or look up the news on a computer instead of purchasing a newspaper.
ReplyDelete-jbonner1 (mw 9:15am class)
I feel that the newspaper is going to be facing a great threat as time goes by. Just like every other form of media there is today, the newspaper as well will be dominantly online or in the mobile world. Right now the choice is, like you said, in the end given to the consumer. But I don't see that remaining in the future because it will most likely all be online. It's just the truth of the future. People want the quickest way to get their news as possible.
ReplyDeleteGoing to the internet will also save money. But the news companies will need to get their money somewhere. Either way the news will be completely digitalized, even if we end up paying to download it. We're consuming much more news in such little time as time passes to go along side with the fast paced lives we are living. The old fashioned newspaper just can't keep up with these daily lives. I personally enjoy reading a newspaper but I just don't see how it will survive society as years pass.
-megan sauers MPC MW 9:15
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the newspapers will some how not be around to much longer because, now days people are trying to save more and more everyday. and because people have internet on their lab tops and phones, it is much easier to access the information you want to know that way and most web sites are free.
ReplyDeleteBrenton Green
MPC
I have to agree with the comment posted by Chynna, because until Media, Power and Culture class I did not realize how much the popularity of newspaper has gone down because I still frequently get the newspaper. In high school, I always looked at the newspaper after school to see what was going on in the community and see if there were any articles about people I knew. I would prefer to get my news about the city I lived in through the paper rather than watching the local news channel. With newspaper I can skip to exactly what I want to read without the hassle of commercials and waiting for the news anchor to get to the story I want to here. At Kent, I get the USA Today and New York Times at least 2 to 3 times a day. I think that even though newspaper is growing less popular it will still be around for a long time. There are enough people still interested that the newspapers will make money. Also, I know a lot of people who still rely on the newspaper classifieds to find garage sales, for sale items, local businesses, and more. Say you are looking to buy nice, used entertainment center, it is easier to look in your local newspaper first and see if anyone is selling one near you rather than getting on Craig’s list and finding one several states away. Also, most adults I know still prefer the newspaper and television for their source of news rather than the internet and technologies such as the Ipad. And even though many teenagers including myself are on the internet daily for news, I know plenty of teenagers using the newspapers. I still like newspapers because to me they are more reliable and believable. Anyone can post something on the internet but newspaper writers are professions and have been hired by a company, so I trust what they write more than I do many of the articles I read on the internet or blogs. –Nicole Harpster (MPC MW 9:15-10:30)
ReplyDeletei agree with every thing you are saying but i think that the news paper market is dead with the innovation of the iphone and the ipad. people now in days dont want to have to go out of there way to go and buy a news paper where they can get it for free on there mobile device. people dont want to have to find a news paper stand to get the new york times and have to pay for it just to read two sections where they can get it free on there phone
ReplyDeleteIn today's society, newspapers just don't offer the same excitement, visuals, and convenience that other sources of news provide. More and more people are receiving their news online, on their phones, or are just not that interested in news period. Newspapers provide daily coverage of events happening locally and worldwide, but in reality, a large amount of people are only interested in major current events. Newspapers are soon to be obsolete with the availability of free, more convenient news sources.
ReplyDeleteI believe that newspapers will always be around in some form. The nostalgia of newspapers is something that can never be recaptured by any other medium. The smell, touch and feeling of holding the days news in your hand is something you cant get from reading a tiny computer screen then closing the application. Even though many newspapers may be out of business, some like the New York Times will always have some type of following.
ReplyDeleteI believe the future of the newspaper depends on the older generation. I feel that they are the prominent consumers of the newspaper. The younger generation is adapted to technology. Not even adapted, its what we grew up on & everything we know, just like the older generation and newpapers. I think that we've realized our alternative to recieving information is the newspaper, yet still, technology is preferred. It's just more efficient than buying a newspaper everyday.
ReplyDeleteAhyiesha Sarnor,
Tuesday & Thursday Class 9:15 am
In a world that is constantly evolving and pushing it's technological limits I would say that the newspaper is not dead but rather has a deadline to evolve. The newspaper industry is currently dropping significantly in the print media world however they are seeing extreme rises in web traffic and online readership. The obvious question here is how do they capitalize on this new loyalty of accessing information online rather than holding a physical paper in their hands. Some suggestions are to pay per article and other (I say unproductive) methods. If you are going to charge a reader to do the only thing they are going to your site to do, well than you are going to be loosing massive amounts of customers.
ReplyDeleteI think the solution to their problems and the key to their survival is too change their distribution track. To embrace the social movement to the online platform. Charge a slightly raised yearly subscription to anyone who wants to keep the regular paper format and they would also have access to the online articles. This will still leave the option open but also allow you to cut production costs, employees, and worker hours. They would then move to the mobile media and invest in developing an integrated system for the new technologies such as the Kindle and smart phones. Without this evolution and consideration for those who want both forms, the newspaper industry will not only continue on the path of endangerment but also face extinction.
I think it is obvious to everyone that it is only a matter of time before the printed form of newspapers becomes a relic of the past. But what will happen to local newspapers? It is my prediction that local newspapers will be dissolved into larger regional newspapers. For instance the local newspapers of the Canton Repository and Massillon Independent will more than likely be replaced by the Akron Beacon Journal. As of recently the larger newspapers such as the New York Times now charges individuals access to electronic content. This has potential to cause many problems for newspapers because many people would rather not pay just to access news content. Traditionally the internet has been a domain without restrictions on information it will be interesting to see how consumers will react if more and more newspapers charge individuals to view articles.
ReplyDeleteI think it will be a really long time before printed newspapers no longer exist. A lot of people prefer actually holding the physical medium instead of just reading it from a computer screen. Another reason I also feel like local newspapers are really important to certain areas. For example, I am from a small town in Montana. We have a county newspaper and our county only has 5 schools in it. The largest one has about 160 kids. This means that a lot of the articles in the paper have articles about and pictures of these students. A lot of parents love cutting out these articles and pictures and saving them because you can create an entire book of articles if your child is involved in enough things. It is a part of the small town life. The newspaper comes out once a week and almost everyone in the family enjoys looking through at least parts of it. I honestly think there would be a riot if our local newspaper went to digital, It just isn't the same feeling. That is why I think it will take a long time to completely kill local newspapers at least.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers will definitely survive in their paper form. They offer information on a variety of topics located in one convenient place. While the internet offers many of the same things, people don't have something tangible to hold on to, to turn the page, or to save as a memory of an important event with newspaper clippings. Many people only look for certain information in their internet news sources, like finance or the weather, while a tangible paper newspaper can catch your eye with something you may not even have read, thus giving you one more conversation piece when you see an old friend walking across campus. Newspapers, if killed by the internet news sources, will truly be a lost art. What ever happened to a relationship with the mail man anyway?
ReplyDeleteI believe that teens and college students should read newspapers as well as participate in a newspaper. Participating in a newspaper is a nice way to voice your opinion in the local community and keep up on your writing and grammar skills- an essential part of having a well maintained college career.
ReplyDelete