I have proposal for the newspaper industry: Audience analysis. Find out what the readers actually want.
Here is a starting point:
THE SHIFT HAS HAPPENED
I view this this video a year ago and, I must say, it made me think about my students in a different way.
I am not one of those who believe in technological determinism (technological development dictates changes in society). One of my friends Bobby (he also has a blog with a similar topic, definitely check it out), said, during one of our numerous and, what appears to be, very fruitful discussions in the Elliott Commons, that eventually the future of newspapers is determined by the rising cost of the paper. I was not sure whether he believes the newspapers will disappear, but I could see why he would think that.
I, on the other hand, believe in a little twist called culture. I think that the future of the newspapers will take different directions in different countries. For example, in Serbia,one of the main dailies Politika has a very simple web cite www.politika.rs compared to, let’s say, www.kansas.com. Also, I don’t know any of my friends who read newspapers online.
Of course, I should not forget to mention that Internet access and speed in Serbia and the United States, are like Earth and Jupiter – too far from each other. Despite that fact, it would be interesting to compare several countries, which are on the same “Internet” level, and their forms of online newspapers.
Once again, no answers in this train of thoughts. Instead, I offer one fact we should all agree on:
THE SHIFT HAS HAPPENED
9 comments
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September 9, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Amy D.
An interesting set of essays by Vin Crosbie:
http://www.digitaldeliverance.com/blog/2008/08/transforming_american_newspape.html
September 16, 2008 at 3:58 am
lbooth
I agree that there is a very real group of people that prefer to read the newspaper. We are constantly hearing about these old people sitting down to breakfast with the daily paper (I often think of my grandparents skimming the obituaries to see if they know anyone that has died), but we are forgetting that there are other (younger) people that really do want to read the paper it just isn’t printing what they want to read. I love the WichiTalk section of the Wichita Eagle, but now they have cut it. Newspapers need to be innovative and find a new nitch to fill and they will survive. Maybe they can ride the retro bandwagon and become fashionable like cruiser bikes and cat-eye glasses.
September 16, 2008 at 10:56 pm
richi713
Interesting post. I agree with your proposal: Find out what the readers actually want.
People cannot avoid the shift, especially technology, and they need to keep up with them.
I think, in future, the Internet is more neccessary for newspaper companies than now. As you said, even now, online newspaper shows different directions to different countries. I’m not sure whether the mainstream in newspaper will shift to online, but, I think, newspaper is required to have flexibility.
September 19, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Lou Heldman
J,
Very nice post. I like your observations about cultural differences, internet speeds available in different countries and your line:
“I am not one of those who believe in technological determinism (technological development dictates changes in society)”
Well done overall, but let me ask you: don’t you think newspaper companies have their own research, as well as access to all the research you’ve seen? Of course they do, they just haven’t been able to develop a business model that keeps newspapers healthy.
Lou
September 20, 2008 at 10:40 pm
My friend is right, I am righter « Gazzette’s for Garters
[...] friend is right, I am righter Jelena is right. Papers are much healthier outside of the United States and their future is bright. But, and you knew [...]
September 20, 2008 at 10:49 pm
brozzell
I have responded at my own blog.
I agree with you on what things are like now. I disagree that it wont change because a culture hasn’t accepted it now.
I think its easy to dismiss “technological determinism,” I don’t like thinking technology or aything else determines my life and views. But the fact is this technology has already reshaped the face of media and it is spreading and will continue. The lack of access now does not mean access will always be absent.
If you watch popular culture from 20 years ago computers were a niche thing only understood or manipulated by a small group of “nerds”. Every futuristic look in popular culture still viewed the uncerstanding of coumputers and their use would be controlled by experts. No one saw personal computing and programming software coming. The only hint to what might come is by looking back and seeing that we continue to underestimate the ability of people to learn technology and turn it into everyday stuff.
Wow. Sorry for being soooo long winded!
September 20, 2008 at 10:49 pm
brozzell
Sorry… here is the link to my blog
http://gazzettesforgarters.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/my-friend-is-right-i-am-righter/
October 8, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Future of the Print News
[...] 8, 2008 in Uncategorized This post is inspired by Lou’s comment and State of the News Media [...]
October 19, 2008 at 11:04 pm
unstableal
The shift has NOT yet happened
I realize perception is each person’s reality, so therein likely lay the difference of opinion. Maybe because I am one of the ‘old’ people referenced in another comment, but from my vantage point I see many people still carrying on their media gathering in the same methods they have for their entire life. In fairness, I do see many people in my generation who are now ‘blended’ and get their news from traditional sources as well as from the internet.
I often frequent locations (mainly in Washington DC) where newspapers are still brought around to people’s offices every morning. I still receive a lot of advertisements trying to get me to subscribe to physical magazines. I still see a lot of people who get their news from the television and the radio. I personally listen to mostly news oriented radio. These occurrences in my life tell me the shift hasn’t yet happened.
I concur the shift is happening however I believe it is a paradigm shift which will take at least one generation rather than an explosion which can occur overnight.
As to the idea of “Find out what the readers actually want.” – I feel like the media has been trying very hard to find this out. There are multiple companies whose sole mission is to determine this – whether or not we, or the media, believe them is another story. Beside these polling companies, it is now very easy to see what the public wants in the electronic era – each click of the mouse tells the media what people are reading. If the media is putting out sufficient numbers of different types of media, it will eventually be able to determine the ‘right’ mix of news desired.