Rocket Science: The Future of the Newspaper of the Future
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There is a wave overtaking newspapers all over the country. Some might even say a Tsunami, as newspapers all across the nation are being consolidated, cut back, shut down, and or transitioned into Internet only "publications." A lot of the turnover that has been occuring in the newspaper business has been attributed to a sagging economy, and the slumping sales of commercial advertising in local and national publications alike. Some people like to blame "the Internet," for making it impossible for old fashioned print publications like newspapers and magazines to compete for readership, or as the kids like to say these days, viewership. Others like to blame television for ushering in the era of the end of the Free Press as we knew it. Some like to blame private corporate interests for trying to shutdown critical free speech by shutting down critical local papers.
The reality is that local publications are most vulnerable to the vagaries of local economics, and most harshly feel the bite when local business cuts back their spending on local newspaper advertising. The irony of "The Free Press," is that it is, as it always has been completely reliant on the sale of commercial advertising within its pages as its sole means of support. The irony for local business, is that marketshare in large part is driven by presence in the local press, and when local presence goes down, so goes business. And, unfortunately this unsustainable down-spiraling is representative of the current state of the newspaper industry far and near, too often leaving consolidation as the only viable alternative to shutting down, for local businesses and local papers alike, if they are lucky.
It is interesting to see the management of newspapers all across the country attempt to deal with either the perceived opportunities, or in some cases challenges presented by the nearly ubiquitous adoption of Internet Access throughout our society. In many ways, it can be seen as an historial repeat of the collision of newspapers with the advent of television broadcasting more than fifty years ago, and it is likely that the result will similarly be a place for Internet News as there has been for Television News and always has been and always will be a place for Printed News, well into the future. Upcountry Maui is fortunate that a decision that could have just easily have been made to close this very publication for sound economic reasons based on the lack of local businesses purchasing advertsing in this local paper was not made, by a management team that instead is creativly attempting to incorporate the Internet as a cost-effective (to them,) if ephemeral, supplement to the more expensive (to them,) and now quartly, print edition, as current local advertising revenue supports.
Newspapers have always been subject to a certain elitism that television broadcast news never suffered, namely the ability to read -- well. With the introduction of television broadcast news, the smart newspaper money realized the opportunity to expand their advertising marketshare through the acquisition of local broadcast stations, often in the name of their consumer product manufacturing owners. Chicago's Wrigley family figured out this formula famously, selling chewing gum advertised in their local publication, The Chicago Tribune, and on their television station, (WGN stands for the Worlds Greatest Newspaper,) often while the public enjoyed broadcasts of Baseball Games featuring the Chicago Cubs, at Wrigley field (not a coincidence.) That is a lot of chewing gum. It is likely that todays smart money is starting to figure this out, readying to envelope the Internet within its all encompassing fold.
The challenge faced by today's print publications will be surmounted by management teams that learn how to leverage the value of the Internet along side the value of traditional print media, without being subsumed by the very characteristics that make the potential opportunities presented by the Internet to newspaper publishers compelling. "How much of Page One should be devoted to Internet Advertisements?" "Should Letters to the Editor require attribution?" "How about a forum for anonymous personal attacks on Letter Writers, or maybe even government sponsored, fascist propoganda?" "Anyone else have any creative ideas how to raise on-line advertising revenue?" Ultimately what separates the News from the News Paper is the paper. For the paper brings with it a credibility of persistince that the ephemeral Internet -- with malleable "facts," a handy delete key, and anonymous send button -- never can. Now that is something to chew over.
Go Cubs!
Samuel Latt Epstein is the Executive Director of the Maui Media Lab Foundation School of Media, Arts and Science, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity. Send your email or comments to rocketscience@mauimedialab.com
