Ray Hartley’s started the conversation… newspapers have a future
Ray Hartley, Editor of The Times, has finally penned some logical thoughts about the “newspapers are dying” mania that resurfaces every few months/weeks/days.
The concise summaries of the arguments everyone has an opinion about:
“They’ll be gone in five years.”
“They’ll exist forever.”
It cannot be this simplictic. Nor will it ever be.
All of the evidence so far comes from very established newspaper groups in the US and (western) Europe. Most of these companies run dozens of newspapers across multiple states and countries, with massively inflated staff numbers, vice presidents of all sorts of things, and very badly managed editorial processes (bureaux all over the place). Layoffs, pension fund mismanagement and employee buyouts have meant a massive financial overhang for these companies.
Of course the financial, auto industry and real estate slump in the US and UK isn’t helping at all.
Hartley offers three thoughts on how newspapers can survive/flourish:
- The first is that they must speak to the growing visual intelligence of their readers by giving pictures the same status as words in presentation. This is not an easy battle to win in an industry where words have always dominated. Words that do not attract and retain the attention of readers through presentation will be ignored.
- The second rule is that newspapers must offer interactivity. They must do so within their pages, but this will always be limited by space. The internet has no such limitation. A close relationship with a news website opens the way for much greater participation by a newspaper’s readers.
- The third is that newspapers must chart a course through the sea of information. If they add to the clutter, they will have no place in a world where attention is in short supply.
Couldn’t have said it much better…
