Are newspapers gone forever?

Is someone trying to buy Reuters?


Over the last two weeks it seems like more and more major media organization are vulnerable for takeover by a major corporation.

Another scary trend in media is the buying up of every new idea buy the big corporations. The latest offer that has been through out was made by Microsoft. After years of trying to create a half decent search engine to compete with the likes of Yahoo and Google. Microsoft has decided that if you can't be them buy them when they made a proposal to buy Yahoo for $50 billion. Lets put this into perspective Google purchased YouTube for a mere $1.65 billion and NewsCorp bought MySpace for $580 million. Is Yahoo really wroth 25 times the combine cost of both of these sites? In the long run maybe.

According to a blog on the Huffington Post by James Boyce the host of "Heading Left" on BlogTalkRadio a weekly radio show, a major city newspaper will fold in the next twelve months.

It seems a little hard to consider a guy who has never worked for a newspaper (according to his bio.) an expert on the industry but there are a few things that I agree with in his blog.

It is very pathetic that newspapers which such a rich traditions as the Boston Globe have to offer a $40 rebate on their monthly subscription. It sounds a lot like what many American car companies such as GMC and Ford did a few years ago by offering huge rebates to entice new customs.

Meanwhile Toyota's market share continued to grow while they were selling cars that cost thousands more then their American counterparts. Toyota realized that by making high quality products they could add value to their product and justify their high prices.

The problems with huge rebates is it lowers the value of your product. Rebates are a good short term gimmick, but if you use them for to long customer start to expect them and only turn to you because you are selling a product that they can afford rather then something they actually want.

He is right that circulation has been falling since March 2005 at almost every major newspaper and many newspapers like the Washington Post have posted scene double digit profit declines int he first quarter of this year.

Good content in hide demand now more then ever before, since the Internet has opened up the floodgates of rumors and conspiracy theories as it makes it too easy for every cook to create their own soapbox.

Newspapers are still the place most people go for in depth coverage and the place that TV and Radio station turn to when they want to make it appear like they provide in depth coverage.
The world of Citizen Journalism and blogging is still very unorganized to post a major threat to newspapers. The best blogs are too specialized to have a huge effect on newspaper readership. You still have to read 10 or 20 blogs to get the latest news on the same topics that most newspapers provide. The blogs made be kept more up-to-date and provide links to every article that is ever publish on a particular subject but they can only do so much.

The development of Yahoo paying bloggers could lead to more news web sites and search engines paying blogger to act like freelance journalists to provide intriguing content. Freelance Bloggers working by themselves on a single topic can only do so much.

I believe that what can save newspapers from their not so certain doom is figuring out a better way to more advertise on-line from off. Lets face it no one reads the newspaper for the ads no one ever did!!
But on most newspaper websites it is becoming harder and harder to avoid all the pop up ads that come up every time you click on a article. The ones that jump out and cover the screen so that you can't read what is underneath them or close them are one of the most annoying things that a tel-marketed ever dreamed up.

Newspapers should look for a way to work with advertises to provide personal advertising based on the reading habits of their customers. They need to create ads that compliment their coverage of entertainment and arts rather then annoying ads that making reading the newspaper online such a pain in the neck.

No matter how annoying you make things I am still going to read the paper online just because its easier and cheaper then picking it up from the newsstand every day. This is a fact don't act like your customers are doing something evil or illegal by reading online.

Whatever happen to adapting to what the customs wants instead of resenting it.

Making the advertising less annoying and more person is one way to fix the revenue stream, One way to provide more intriguing content is to focus on local news or even provide a web site for Hyperlocalism coverage. Another way is to ask readers about what they think the newspaper should cover. To use a survey or focus group or just an open call for comments to give them a say in the way that the newspaper set its coverage priorities.

Is the future of newspapers Hyperlocalism?

According to the Knight Citizen News Network there are over 450 U.S. citizen media sites providing local news in communities from Juneau, Alaska to Coconut Grove, Florida.

So is this the way newspapers have to go in order to grab new readers and create a brand for themselves? Does this mean that newspaper will cut back on their coverage of international news?

These are the questions that PBS FRONTLINE: news war recently tackled in Part 3 chapter 23.

My take is more local news is a step in the right direction, especially if it is done in a way that encourages readers to send in user generated content to turn the newspaper website into a forum for conversation in the community. Newspapers can use "hyperlocalism" to allow readers to interact with each other through their websites in new ways to combine their resources and make sure important news stories see the light of day that are often ignored.

Focusing on the more local news gives newspapers a chance to stick out among all the media organizations as the best place for news on their hometown. To give readers and advertises that the place to go for local news in Washington D.C. is the Metro - washingtonpost website. Since most major cities like Los Angeles only have one or two major local papers this is an easy way for only paper in a particular city to compete with the other local news outlets for advertising and for an audience. In the battle for local video advertising the newspapers are beating TV stations.

Since hyperlocalism are popping up every day newspaper are now competing with local blogs, and citizen journalism sites as more of their readers move online to get their news. The big fat cat print monopolies have to adapt to the changing market being a good local newspaper is not enough you have to have a great website to act as forum of the community.


The new design for USATODAY.com is attracting more people to register on the site since it give readers a chance to see how many people recommend and commented on a stories and to actually read the comments of their fellow readers. At the very least the other major newspapers should follow the USA Today's lead and give readers a chance to see readers comment on stories and search for the stories with most comments. Focusing on local coverage is one unique way that newspapers can better serve their core audience and argue that in the information age that their is room for local newspapers in American.

The one down side of this is some people thing that only to beef up the local news is to shut down international bureaus and cut foreign correspondents. After all do you really need more then one newspaper reporter in Baghdad covering the war in Iraq at the same time?

My answer to them is yes we need several.

Especially in such a dangerous place where everyone is trying to spin the story for their advantage. The fact is the media have made several mistakes in their coverage of Iraq and the lack of security throughout Iraq makes it very hard for any one reporter to do the hard hitting investigative pieces that will allow readers to see what is really going on on the ground beyond the number of casualties from the latest suicide bombing.

What do the average Iraqis think they can secure the country without the U.S.? Are leaders throughout the Middle East denouncing the violence or are they secretly encouraging and funding it to deliver a blow to the America's ego? You need several reporters competing together to answer these questions from ever angle.