Though newspapers have made considerable cutbacks and laid off thousands, the industry isn't dying as it appears; just changing, according to an article in Fortune Magazine published today.
But the answer for newspaper companies to attract advertisers they so badly need, the article states, is to change the product into two categories: niche products aimed at small audiences and cheaply-produced commodities aimed at large audiences.
The article, which was written by Richard Silkos, an editor at Fortune, refutes what seems to be common opinion that newspapers are dying because newspapers' once gold-mine of classified advertising is gone to the Internet, and so too is the steady stream of revenue that funded papers for decades.
"Is the sky falling or is this just a necessary correction in an industry that is, after all, supposed to be a mirror on society? My bet is that it's not the end of print, but it might just be the end of print as we ink-stained hacks have known it," Silkos writes.
Silkos ended his article with an anecdote about Bib Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney, whom Silkos met at a social occasion. Silkos asked Iger about the future of newspapers and Iger said it would be hard to recreate a product that "delivers the world to your doorstep every morning in a smartly-produced package."
But, Silkos continued, "he then noted, with some relief, that Disney briefly owned newspapers but unloaded them more than a decade ago..."
Read the article here.
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