New York, March 11, 2007
Have Newspapers Reached Their Deadline?
Readership For Print Media Is Declining, So How Will News Coverage Change?
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"We will progress way far ahead, no doubt about it," he said. "But I'm not predicting there will not be ink on paper. I just don't — I mean, I don't know."
There is uncertainty about the Internet, too. Griscom said the paper hasn't started making much money off their Web site yet.
"We make some, but it's not gonna be anywhere near the print product," he said. "We're understanding a little bit better how the Internet works, how it interacts with what we're doing."
Samir Husni, chairman of the journalism department at the University of Mississippi, is a world-renowned expert on print journalism. He says that what is killing newspapers is not that people have forsaken print, but that papers have become too predictable. He cautions newspapers against putting too much faith in their Internet operations.
"Every couple of years we seem to go through a cycle — print is dead, print is dead," he said. "Anybody who is realistic will know that we will have printed paper products from now 'til eternity."
"When was the last time you were surprised by a front page story in a newspaper?" he added. "When was the last time you said: 'Wow!'? Let me give you an example: Sunday, few weeks ago was the Super Bowl, everybody knew the Colts won. What were the headlines, almost no exceptions? 'Colts win Super Bowl.' Big surprise!"
"If I read the newspaper, if I pick up the magazine, what's in it for me?"
Husni says that newsmagazines are suffering even more than newspapers. Each of the so-called Big Three are seeing decreases in advertising and steady circulation drops over the past 20 years, and staff reductions. It is easy to see why, talking to Husni's students.
"It's not as immediate," Jason Katavitz said. "They come out weekly at best."
Husni says that whether in print or online, traditional newspapers and magazines have to do a better job of showing how their stories relate to readers.
"We are seeing an upswing in terms of the alternative newspapers that are coming to town, in terms of the alternative magazines that are coming to town they can relate to. They feel, 'It's my grandfather's newspaper, my father's newspaper, I'm not going to relate to it — I want something for me.'"
The editors of The Politico, dedicated to intensive political coverage, agree. John Harris and Jim VandeHei think they've found the new way. They both left top jobs covering politics at the Washington Post to found Politico, which launched just last month. It's a hybrid: There's a paper edition three times a week. But unlike traditional newspapers, it's the Web site that drives the paper — complete with videos and all kinds of blogs.
"We're gonna be more conversational, more irreverent, we hope more 'insider,'" Harris said.
For example, this past week, the day after the Scooter Libby trial, most newspapers led with the verdict. The Politico, having given the details the day it happened, was busy speculating on the future. But won't something be missed if traditional newspapers disappear?
"You know, I'm still very sentimental about that, at the same time, I've actually grown to become a platform agnostic," VandeHei said. "I don't care if I'm reading it on paper, if I'm reading it online. I just want smart news, smart analysis, and I want to be able to read it and think about it when I want to."
Which seems to suggest that newspapers and magazines must look at changes in reading habits not as a death knell but as a challenge
"The danger is that you cling to a past and that inhibits you from being creative enough and aggressive enough, bold enough, optimistic enough to embrace all of these new opportunities," Harris said.
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The secrets of tennis legend 
what if the power goes out? what about those who do not have a computer.
Newspapers and radio need to stay in business.
- by qmumk March 11, 2007 3:47 PM EDT
- I think there are plenty of people who still want a printed newspaper. Your statistics blip at the end of the segment said it all...aren't we living longer and aren't there more baby-boomers than ever, going into those ages that you pointed out are reading the PRINTED newspaper? We want to sit down and read the printed paper each morning with our favorite beverage and, not everyone has or chooses to have a computer.
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