Newspapers Slowly Dying: Some Suggestions

Hmm I wonder if the newspaper industry is going to pull out of its death spiral or will it go the way of the buggy whip?

Newspapers have strong brand names, but their websites continue to capture only a small portion of the revenue lost by the decline in print advertising. Even classified advertising, once a huge moneymaker for newspapers, has evaporated as advertisers go online and everyone flocks to Craigslist. Auto and real estate, hammered by the current tough times, are also moving online.

I wonder if they could stop their precipitous drop by simply shutting down the printing presses and going 100% digital? They could offer an online subscription so you would be able to access the content similar to what the Wall Street Journal does. I mean quite a few people are switching to the online version of the Journal because it is very convenient and pretty much has the same thing that the print version has.

Or you could provide a service where you pay $20 and get access to like 5 different daily papers and you can search all content in the paper perhaps going back to their first issue. The only thing that I read in the Honolulu Advertiser is the Letters to the Editor and I would be willing to put that into a package of 5 papers along with the New York Post, Washington Post, the Star Bulletin, and maybe the New York Daily News. I, however, refuse to have a bunch of physical newspapers pile up in front of my door.

Also several papers could band together and form a pay version of Craigslist. Currently the only problem I see with Craigslist is that there seems to be lots of spam mixed in with the good stuff. This All-In-One-Classified service (or they could just buy out Craigslist so they don't have to build their own thing) would check the content to make sure it isn't spam and deliver up useful daily ads. I would be willing to bet that people would pay pretty well in order to reach the readers of 5 different nation-wide dailies with strong brand names. The companies would then share the earnings similar to how the banks share Visa's earnings.

I think the idea of a printed paper delivered to a persons home will not last more than 10 years in its present form. The newspaper industry is simply too expensive and its revenues are shrinking too fast for it to be a viable business in its current form. The newspaper industry is now similar to typewriter industry. It has been replaced by something that is much easier and more accessible.

If there are no changes in the industry then I think the only papers left will be billionaires private trophy papers (so the New York Times will live on) that don't have to worry about costs. Their owners will think of them in the same way that they think of sports teams, massive yachts, and thoroughbred horses. Printed newspaper companies will become something to brag about and will never need to turn a profit again. Perhaps when this happens it will usher in a second golden age of journalism. These papers will not have to worry about costs and cutbacks so they could really make their art shine.