Laying the Newspaper Gently Down to Die argues that those print periodicals are on the way out - not because new technologies are driving them to death from outside, but because the newspapers are deciding to respond by harvesting profits now, before (and without preparing to avoid) extinction.
No R & D rush. No large investment in the future. No siren call to find the new model. And yet the Project for Excellence in Journalism report says that in 2004, daily newspapers (the ones still making money) employed fewer reporters and editors. They also squeezed in more ads per page, and less news. Not only are we not seeing the big investment in an online alternative, there are signs of a withdrawal before the great divide.
I wonder how and why this differs from print newspapers' response to earlier media competitors: radio, tv.
Dan Gillmor's response is well worth reading. He sees the harvesting cycle to be quick and ugly, while the craft of journalism transforms into something else, probably a combination of media.
Comments