Discussion

By Alvaro Mantilla on Aug 09, 2024

I am afraid Mr. Murdoch (and Frank) are correct. Having grown up in a newspaper, studied newspaper production management, and worked most of my career in newspapers, I have to admit that for me is very sad to see how the printed newspaper is slowly but surely going away. The big risk is the younger generations, who don't have a use for NEWS in any form (printed, digital, broadcast, etc), the bits of information they get from social networks seem to be enough. The key here is for the publishers to find the balance between the printed product and the digital products to keep a healthy business moving forward. (in that sense it was very encouraging to read the Q2 results of the NYT Co.)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/business/media/new-york-times-earnings.html?searchResultPosition=1
I still think there might be a niche for PRINTED newspapers, maybe not dailies, but weeklies or couple of days per week. Maybe not home delivered, but delivered in central locations (the Metro model). Let's see what happens in 15 years! (August 9th 2039!)

By Dov Isaacs on Aug 09, 2024

Nostalgia is nice, but I believe that 15 years is somewhat optimistic. We no longer have a 24-hour news cycle which the newspapers accommodated. Those of us who check the news on a regular basis depend more on hourly (or at worst twice a day or more) newscasts on TV/radio or e-mail blasts from what used to be traditional newspaper media such as the “New York Times” (“all the news that fits, we print”) and the “Wall Street Journal” (now also increasingly a mouthpiece for Mr. Murdoch's exceptionally conservative views).

Even “BusinessWeek” gave up the ghost on being a weekly publication. It is a monthly publication (still using the “BusinessWeek” title) concentrating on trends and analysis while pushing out news via e-mail to the print subscribers.

Add to the news latency issue and the production costs issue, there is also the problem of actual distribution of the printed copies and the willingness of various venues to stock the newspapers.

When was the last time that you were offered newspapers to read on airline flights (even in first class)? The airline lounges at major airports no longer offer any newspapers. I haven't seen any major hotels offering a newspaper (gratis or otherwise) in years.

By the way, Untied Airlines just announced that they are totally discontinuing the publication of the “Hemispheres” magazine that one would find in the seats' pocket? The true end of an era!

- Dov

By Jim Hamilton on Aug 14, 2024

Let's not overlook suburban weeklies that are delivered by mail. These are also being bought up and consolidated. Where I live, the town weekly has gone away and been replaced by a three-town conglomeration that is not as good as the local one that we had, but is still something. There may still be some room for local papers like these, even if it is only so you get to see a picture of your kid on an athletic field or in a play, or hear about news that is relevant locally (a new restaurant, a town controversy, a local author, etc.).