Newspapers will follow web's lead in future
Newspapers of the future will resemble blogs more than newspapers, and become summaries of what's found online, a research group predicts. From Investor's Business Daily:
In five to 10 years, analysts predict, most U.S. newspapers will have moved to the Web with e-editions.I certainly hope that newsprint doesn't go out of style. While I get much of my news and information online, I still prefer to read off of a real, live sheet of paper. Reading off of a monitor will never be the same.
Though national dailies like the New York Times and USA Today are expected to keep their main print editions, lots of other papers will have more readers online than at newsstands.
Most will still publish smaller, specialized print editions that are digests of what they post online.
One trend that's a given: Readers will have less time to read as their lives get busier and will prefer stories of 300 words or less. That's half as long as the average story today — and a fourth the size of this one.
Many won't read newspapers at all. News readership's been falling since the 1960s, when 80% of adults got a daily newspaper. The figure is 50% now and is expected to keep slipping over the next decade as readers migrate online.
Web First, Print Second
With the Web upstaging print as a source of news, some say newspapers will become extensions of the news content readers find online.
Jupiter Research analyst Barry Parr says a likely consequence of this is that newspaper pages will be designed to resemble Web pages.
"What a newspaper might come to look like is a printed digest of what's online," Parr said.
What are your thoughts on the predicted extinction of print newspapers?
posted by The Inside Dope @ 12/11/2006
4 comments
4 Comments:
I enjoy reading the newspaper. I am a rare young reader at 25 years old, but I can say that I am a rarity.
I read a lot of stuff online, but as a smaller town resident, I still rely on my newspaper for much information. They have an online version which I believe has all the articles for free, but it only has a 2 week archive.
I am sure we will continue to develop online editions, but I think the 5-10 year prediction is a bit quick.
awsmxtn
Blogs continue to evolve as a medium, ignore them at your own risk!
I'm not a big fan of the local rags, but I do enjoy the Sunday New York Times. If nothing else, doing the crossword isn't as much fun on a computer. Also, it is easier to skim ads for the interesting ones in a newspaper than it is online.
I have been getting the Dispatch for free and...not reading it. It is too depressing. Not the news. The flat tone of boosterism, and middle of the road ethics. I thought that this stuff was bland 50 years ago...thought wrong. The newspapers consider it cutting edge.
I've stopped reading the rcreader offline too.
Most local news can be summed up online in three or four stories (prefferably, with commenting available). The papers here have no in depth news. Wheras the New York Times takes some going through and has interesting, clever text and deep, long, stories that you can read when the football game goes to ads.
(Yes, the Socialist Christian Hippie is a Bear's fan)
I think that this report could not be more wrong. I actually think that the opposite of one of their points will come true. Newspapers should focus on longer stories, with greater depth. Leave the 50- word blurbs to the net; a newspaper can't compete with the web on that front. But, it is in content that I think newspapers will have the edge.
Plus, who doesn't love reading a newspaper on a Sunday morning?
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