IF you were given the opportunity to run a print newspaper, what changes would you make? Say you suddenly become the head honcho of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star or Manila Bulletin, or, um, one of the other papers that I hear are still out there (just kidding, heh), how would you revamp the newspaper?
How would you make the print newspaper more relevant to the needs of readers?
Why am I proposing this thought experiment? Well, mainly because as I’ve said time and again, print is dying. And sure, I’ve been convinced of that for some time, but it’s also good to hear the experts supporting what you believe, heh. So let’s say it again, loud and clear: “Wake up and smell the coffee, Dead Tree People.”
Speakers at the World Association of Newspapers meeting have warned that the newspaper is part of a dying breed and its only hope for survival is to embrace the digital future.
Here’s an excerpt from the Agence France-Press article:
He described the new path of news, starting with an e-mail or mobile phone alert of a breaking story, followed by reading it online and ending in its publishing in a newspaper the following day.
In such a scenario, he said, there was little point in newspapers repeating the news hours after it first broke. They would have to learn to present readers with new, forward-looking story angles.
“Nowadays, you have to assume that the reader knows more than you do,” he said.
Martha Stone, director of the WAN’s “shaping the future of the newspaper” program, told delegates the time has come for news organizations to cross-train journalists to tell a story in print, radio, television or online.
This is the reality newspapers have to face. By the time stories come out in the newspaper the following day, they’re already stale — they’ve already come out online in breaking news articles, on TV, on radio, as an SMS alert, as an e-mail newsletter, as a blog entry, and so on.
Obviously, the strength of print as a medium is not in being the first to come out with the news. It has to add something of value — for instance, offering in-depth analysis and putting the news in context. Which is why I personally believe print newspapers will have to transform themselves and rely on their strengths, such as their opinion columns.
Convergence is a buzzword we’ve been hearing for over a decade, and thankfully it’s something that’s being embraced by the Philippine Daily Inquirer group of publications. Obviously, as part of INQUIRER.net, I’m biased for online content, but that’s because it’s something we’ve been successfully doing for the past seven years as a spin-off company. Our numbers are growing, in stark contrast to the unfortunate decline in the circulation of print newspapers. Which is why, paradoxical as it may sound, the future of print is online, and the owners of these publications are recognizing that they have to invest in the future.
We’ve seen greater collaboration between us and our print counterparts in terms of breaking news stories from print reporters, and online content that gets published in the newspaper. In the old days, it would have been unthinkable for print to release their stories ahead — these would have been reserved for the newspaper the following day. Also, when online newspapers were starting out, they basically contained shovelware — stories that already came out on print. Now, it’s the other way around; we are producing more original content, and these stories are coming out on different platforms.
It’s come to the point where I’m curious how many people read the actual newspaper. Not as a knock against print, but because many of our readers are exclusively online.
So, how would you save the newspapers? Their future is in your hands.
June 7th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
hi barbs, thanks for your feedback.
i’ll agree with you to a point, but the people who can’t afford technology aren’t necessarily buying the broadsheets. maybe the situation’s better for tabloids, but even then i don’t think most of the masses or common folk you’re referring to buy tabloids on a regular basis. they’re more likely to get the news from TV or radio.
unless, of course, the future of print is in giving away the newspaper for free, like Inquirer Libre.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:13 pm
[...] @play: Why the future of the newspaper is not in paper [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
[...] @play: Why the future of the newspaper is not in paper [...]
June 6th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
“It’s come to the point where I’m curious how many people read the actual newspaper. Not as a knock against print, but because many of our readers are exclusively online.”
This assumes that everyone who needs to read the news has Internet access. The assumption is wrong, and for that reason alone, the future of newspapers will never be other than in print. For the longest time, newspapers have held their own against other news technologies, mostly because they serve a function that cannot be serviced by the other technologies. For one thing, if you passed the board or bar, you can’t go around carrying a print-out of the list of passers, or a laptop that’s permanently on the page of the passers’ list. Neither of those would be as prestigious as a list appearing in a newspaper.
June 6th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I’ve been hearing that print media is dying since I was in college. That was almost 20 years ago. But while circulation has certainly gone down, newspapers are still around. I don’t think they’ll be extinct - not in my lifetime at least, especially in this country. There are almost 90 M Pinoys but how many really, have access to technology? Not even a quarter of our population have cellphones, what more Internet? But the biggest reason is, I think, is that people still want something to read in print. I still want to read all the articles, even those that the online edition don’t carry; and I also like looking at the colorful ads. I get lots of info on where to buy goods on sale. At the MRT, people scramble for copies of Libre. Jeepney drivers often have tabloids handy. Church goers on Sundays buy newspapers since they know they’re bulkier than usual. And so on. I mean, an industry can’t die if the common folk will continue to sustain it. I think that’s one sector of society most people who say print media is dying are discounting.