Why most newspapers will fade away

Newspapers are clearly in trouble as we move deeper into economic recession. This causes me particular pain as I am a former newspaper journalist. I worked in the industry for about 20 years altogether and loved almost every minute of it.

I left in 1986 because the world was changing and it was clear to me that newspapers were no longer keeping up with the times, particularly in the technology arena. But, mostly the career opportunity was limited and uninspiring. Many newspapers were poorly managed, setting the stage for their failure to understand and recognize the threat the Internet was to pose in another 10 years. They thought they were in the newspaper business when in fact they were in the information communications business. The printed newspaper was merely a means for presenting and transporting information. When the Internet came along and everyone got computers and high-speed connections, it solved the delivery problem. When the Internet improved, it solved the presentation problem. In fact, the Internet ultimately was able to vastly outpace the capability of the printed page in delivering vast amounts of content.

Now, it’s the combination of the Internet and the economy that is putting the double whammy on newspapers. Many will not survive the current economic times. But they would be doomed even if the economy was fine. It would just take longer. Newspapers for the most part don’t get it and haven’t gotten it for a long time. They should have seen this coming, but they either didn’t or chose not to heed all the warning signs.

Now it’s probably too late. People are changing their habits. No one buys the local paper for its classified ads, the cash cow of yesterday. They go to Craig’s List, which is free and produces instant, interactive results. Quality publications with truly unique content will probably survive. But, I’m sceptical that local news will keep them in the game. TV stations stand an excellent chance to win that battle for the same reason that the Internet has won.

For years, newspapers have had web sites. But, many have been squandered efforts. They apparently thought that merely having a web presence was sufficient, but that it didn’t matter what was on the web site. Well those days have passed. Consumers are too savvy.

So, the world will change again. I was once hopeful that newspapers would merely morph into online sites. I don’t think that’s going to happen in most instances. For many newspapers, it’s just too late and they will slowly fade away. Perhaps they will hang on in some online guise for a time, but they’ve already lost that economic battle.

We still subscribe to a newspaper, but it’s published in New York, has unique global content, is printed at a satellite printing plant and has a great web site.