The Internet and News Media: Where Has All This Progress Gotten Us?
January 4th, 2009
Content Distribution Machine
Part 1 of 2
For the last few years, we’ve either read or heard information about traditional media and the growth of the Internet as a distribution channel for content (news and other information).
The marketplace has created business opportunities for content publishing portals like Junta42 and OneSpot, and given learned people the means to share their viewpoints in myriad of categories (marketing, finance, photography, small business advisories, etc.) via a number of Web-enabled platforms (blogs, Twitter, YouTube, BlogTalkRadio, etc.). 
Doing Things Differently Now
It goes without saying the Internet has changed the lives of every consumer and every businessperson, and inspired the development of tools to enhance the speed of communication, depth of expression, enabling of convenient commerce, and access to educational resources. As our society and lifestyle trends evolve and the desire for instant, detailed, convenient, information grows, smart businesses will leverage technology to deliver greater value to their constituents. Innovative people will identify unmet (and likely as yet unmentioned) needs and create products and services that extend our reach, fuel our creativity, enable collaboration, feed our thirst for knowledge, and comfort our senses.
In the midst of all this evolution and change sits an industry and business model with a long, rich heritage. Some, like USA Today, anticipated the turning of the tide and embraced a model that fit with the emerging consumer preferences: chunks of digestable content arranged in a visually interesting way. But of course that was only the beginning; the last 7ish years have foreshadowed the weakening of traditional print newspaper as the preferred source of information. As the Internet changed the depth and breadth of content and sources we had access to, it gradually made the print vehicle less relevant and less timely. And considering lifestyle trends (single parent households, growth of extracurricular or personal interests, longer work hours, etc.), newspaper became less of a good fit.
A Photo-Net Image
We’ve Moved On
And while historic interest, perceptions of readership and influence, and old-school assumptions determined the communications strategy of many companies to include newspaper advertising, the reality is that newspaper is no longer the stalwart source of yesteryear. Left without it’s stronghold as a consumer interest communications channel, its business model–selling page space for advertising dollars–is no longer viable.
But What Does All This Progress Mean?
There’s a paradox happening here. Consumers are more in touch, in tune, (possibly) more productive, and more in control, have more choices over what they learn–and ways to share (influence) others–than ever before. It’s exciting, liberating and empowering. But this technology is fueling habits and lifestyles that are rendering traditional publishing institutions obsolete. Talented, skilled people are losing their livelihood because their product can be found somewhere else more conveniently (laptop, mobile phone) faster (pervasive WiFi access) and cheaper (inconsistent or non-existent subscription and payment methods).
This topic is deep and deserves much discussion. I invite you to please offer your perspectives on what’s right and what’s wrong (and ways to improve) with the traditional newspaper industry.
Survival In A Small Town
I’ll be interviewing the editor of a Florida newspaper this week, as I’m anxious to explore how a regional weekly, published since 1888, plans to evolve to better need the needs of its audience (part 2 of this 2 part post).
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6 Comments Add your own
1. AngieT | January 4th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Heather - this is a really interesting topic and I am eager to hear the results of your interview with the small town editor. In many ways, the small town paper is the outlet that will be able to maintain status quo the longest. Even so, the tide is turning there too.
I think what’s happening is not the extinction of the newspaper but, rather, it’s redefinition. It’s not being overtaken by the Internet, it’s joining the Internet. Yes, that’s a “glass half full” spin at it, but I think there’s more to it than forced optimism.
There is no question that the standard print news cycle meets consumer demand less and less all the time. We demand our media outlets provide up-to-the-minute news on their Web sites, and most organizations are already making that happen. We demand a conciliation of all media and multimedia, and most news sources are already providing that content on some level. I believe we will continue to look to these organizations as stalwart sources, but the product and vehicle will continue to change. The news values will maintain and will make the leap. It’s the principles of reporting that you can’t always count on in the blogosphere, as much as people say bloggers will devalue professional journalism. The best newspapers in our world have upheld standards that, I believe, aren’t going anywhere, despite a shifting medium. Yes, classified dollars are supplanted by ebay and craigslist, and traditional ad revenue is no more. And, yes, ndividuals who cannot make the leap from print to new media probably won’t find themselves working in media any longer. But, the same could be said about an editor a few decades ago who couldn’t make the leap to digital layouts.
I really feel that the institutions that maintain the highest news principles and, at the same time, rise to meet the new consumer, will survive and thrive. I will say, on a more somber note, despite my optimism about the survival of these org’s, that there is a sadness and sentimentality that cannot be denied. As a coworker said to me just the other day, “there’s just something about being able to pick up a paper and hold it in your hands.” It’s true…though I wasn’t really concerned about holding something in my hands during the Iowa floods this summer. I was looking for the most current information in front of my face “right now,” which our local media outlets were able to deliver online.
I am sure your interview will have a lot to say about this. Good luck!!
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2. Todd Schnick | January 5th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I too am anxious to hear about your interview with the small-town paper. I wrote a post myself on this topic a while back - http://intrepid-llc.com/2008/12/19/read-all-about-it-how-social-media-is-changing-the-news/ - that actually talks not about the disappearing newspaper - but how we have even evolved getting our news online. I used to get all my news direct from static websites. But now I get my news only from sources that update on Twitter. Where will news delivery be in six months?
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3. heatherrast | January 5th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Angie, I knew you’d be passionate and engaged on this topic, so thanks for stopping by and offering your perspective. As a journalist, I’m really interested in your opinions and the dialogue we could have (over sushi) after my interview is concluded and posted. Would be really great if we could have a traveling ’small town’ interview panel and hit up different geographies. I agree that tangible, handheld media is important to a segement–as much for the ritual as it is for the way they’re accustomed to processing information (older demographic, likely). But even as this segment becomes more receptive to technology and ways of commerce, I think we’ll see them transition–eventually–to online news sources.
Todd, thanks for stopping by, and the link to your post. I think we share similar viewpoints about the evolution/adoption of technological advances for accessing news and information. Your exclusive preference for those that have also adopted Twitter is more advanced than my personal approach, but definitely suggests that there’s a maturity in the adoption curve that eventually has all consumers moving through stages of acceptance and use. Remember when people thought cell phones were only for the wealthy and would never be a mass-marketed tool?
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4. Andy Rehan | January 6th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Now-a-days people think that newspaper & magazine advertising would not benefit their business. But as per my knowledge it plays a vital role in getting enquiries and sales. All you need to do is, select a proper company which offers cheap advertising, place the ads in popular newspaper which would be accessible to all kinds of advertisers.
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5. debra pearlman | January 6th, 2009 at 11:31 am
I agree that this is a topic that needs to be delved into. One thing that many people don’t do is go to sites that are not of their thinking, thus only reading like-minded musings. I also find that, especially the younger generation, tends to take what they read in cyberspace as gospel and don’t do much fact checking or surfing around for alternate views.
There is something organic about holding a newspaper or book in your hands while ingesting the information. I would like to see virtual publications have a section with sources for their information so I can check things out for myself. This would be like a book’s bibliography or footnotes. Something other than just a link embedded in the text of an article.
Like Todd, I too would be interested in what the small town paper has to say. I live in an extremely rural community with one weekly paper and one bi-weekly paper. I find that people still want to read both for their opposing views and their local news (something not covered larger media outlets). I started a community blog, http://www.cambridgebuzz.blogspot.com with the intention to reach out to the community with new technologies. It’s been marginally successful from a financial standpoint, but very well received by the community as a source of information and musings. Are other small, rural communities using the internet and new communication tools? I’d be interested in hearing how successful they have been with blogs, twitter, community sites, etc.
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6. John Bianchi | January 6th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Heather -
This is a really clear assessment of the reality I currently face, both as a PR professional and a news consumer. I don’t read the paper as I once did. It arrives every morning and on some days, it may be sent out to the recycling bin, unopened. I get my information from Blogs, online news feeds, and CNN.
And yet, if I want some analytical depth to what I’m reading, nothing replaces a long-form article in a daily. If, like today, its a busy and exciting news day, I’ll want to see what makes the paper tomorrow, and I’ll earmark the pieces I want to read.
I can’t help but feel that all the instant coverage is valuable for its currency and immediacy, but that without some thoughtful analysis backing your understanding of news, you may only have a superficial understanding of events. We all know by now just how disastrous it can be if we fail to dig deeper than headlines before we act.
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