Newspapers are shaking. Why? THE FIRE BRIGADE COMETH…

By , January 28 2010, 11:55 pm 7 Comments

Picture 23
 

Much has been said about the (inevitably?) ill-fated publishing industry of late.  Not least of which from these lips as @themediaisdying creator.  It’s not pretty out there with fewer people going into publishing, ad revenues dropping and circulations being massaged.  In short, hug a journalist day cannot be far off.  But is it as bad as it seems?  The now not mythical iPad seems to have disappointed many media types who were expecting a new revenue model and more and more people seem to be going online for their news (even if they aren’t reading it).  Are we about to save a few more trees or are the inky fingers just too much to give up? Opinions that came in were pretty varied, more heated than I expected but overall there there was a pretty big chest bump and a peace sign for print.  Rightly or wrongly the Fire Brigade have opted to renew prints’ contract for a few more years but sound pretty likely to put the account up for review after that.

Are they right?  Duke it out in the comments!!!

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“It’s only a matter of time before the cord is pulled. STILL. It will be a lot longer than you think.  Why? We can possibly blame our parents for that.  Until the Boomer/Senior population (soon to be the biggest pop in the world) decide to forego “papes” and “mags,” some form of printed entertainment will stay.”
 - Jessica Payne / Paine PR

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“The challenge is evolving and getting creative with it.  For example:  recently McSweeney’s did an amazing (and granted one time only) special newspaper edition called Panorama to show what could be done with the medium.  It had everything from a sports column by Stephen King to an investigative piece on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge retrofit.”
- Madge Miller / Voce Communications

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“I don’t think the medium is dead, more that irrelevant content is. I think we will continue to see waves of personalization, from hyperlocal news sites to print-on-demand newspapers in hotels and at events. Again print has a place in this ecosystem. It’s just not print as we (used to) know it.” 

- Gemma Craven / Breakaway Communications
 

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“Save the trees and pump all that creative and editorial energy into creating content that reaches people where they are actually living, working and playing, at the moment that it matters to them.” 


- Louise Thompson  / LEWIS PR    

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“Paper [lists other attributes]… never has a flat battery.  Print media can’t just continue as before but there are plenty of opportunities for it to survive.”

- Mark Pack / YourMandate   

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  • http://www.jacksonwightman.com Jackson Wightman

    I predict that in the near future we’ll see the eventual demise of newspapers printed on trees and a serious contraction of magazines printed on paper – the latter may remain a marginally viable business. However, print journalism still drives large chunks of original reporting in many cities and the need for talented, trained journalists will not ever disappear. Citizen journalism is great but the majority of it is abysmal in terms of quality.

  • Beverly Isom

    I think there is little doubt that at least newspapers circulation has hit the dumps and reputable organizations can verify that. The business of journalism, specifically print, is attempting to redefine itself maybe 10 years later than it should have. So we are now considering paying for the NY Times online, proof that hitting my doorstep before dawn is not their concern anymore.

    Beverly Isom
    Communications Consultation
    Former Communications Director for Atlanta, Georgia Mayor Shirley Franklin

  • http://pniq.co.uk Kerry Gaffney

    I predict that there might even be drive for slow media, just as there was a backlash against fast food. Online is great for the scoop, but can be hazy on accurate details. If and when we lose print media, we will lose the quality versus speed fight.

  • http://www.twitter.com/munkyfonkey Paul Armstrong

    I quite agree Kerry. I also think it’s important to recognise Jackson’s point about them driving online traffic/conversation. I see a misty future for the pulp based ones. I future where analysis and thought-starters are more prevalent than hard news. They simply can’t compete with the real-time nature of the internet.

  • http://reputationreputationreputation.blogspot.com/ Jonathan Welsh

    Anyone who hasn’t read Alan Rusbridger’s Hugh Cudlipp lecture speech needs to:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/25/cudlipp-lecture-alan-rusbridger

    Print media isn’t dead, yet, but a lot will depend on the outcome of the online pay wall debate and how this impacts on revenues. I don’t think quality journalism is ever dead on arrival but I think there needs to be a distinction now between news streams and news cycles. Newspapers can’t affect the former but they still have the gravitas to conduct the direction of the online debate.

  • http://mediamirage.com Laura Blewitt

    It’s not dead on arrival, but it’s suffering a slow painful death by a fatal, incurable virus commonly known as the internet. It’s all right, though, because I believe after the print media’s doomsday, printed news will be reborn with the birth of the Tablet and other digital news reading devices. Soon mobile readers like the Apple Tablet will be carried around like our cell phones, and the media will be growing older all over again.

  • http://doughaslam.com Doug Haslam

    Print media is going nowhere. The economics are changing and thus the scale of the business, but the demand- some demand- for print will never go away completely. So if someone walks around saying “Print will be gone completely in five years” or some rot like that, tell them I said to cut it out.

    Doug Haslam, Voce Communications