Prognosis for the newspaper business: Gloomy!
The most authoritative newsletter covering the
newspaper industry issued a gloomy prognosis for the business and then,
tellingly, went out of business.
I sell the morning papers sir my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I’m the newsboy of the town
You will hear me yelling “Morning Star” as I run along the street
I have no hat upon my head no shoes upon my feet - by A.P. Carter
And maybe no more newspapers to sell?
The most authoritative newsletter covering the newspaper industry issued a gloomy prognosis for the business and then, tellingly, went out of business.
Many newspapers in the largest markets already “have passed the point of opportunity” to save themselves, says the Morton-Groves Newspaper Newsletter in its farewell edition [.pdf]. “For those who have not made the transition [by now], technology and market factors may be too strong to enable success.”
“Sadly, the ‘straw man of failure’ provides a barrier that industry stakeholders have not been able to shake,” they write. “Instead of making the technology, personnel, marketing and product investments critical for success, industry leaders have accepted that desirable circulation levels are not sustainable and declines are inevitable.”
These folks made this a self-fulfilling prophecy by shutting down. I don’t agree with their prediction; but, certainly those newspaper owners and publishers who don’t get their act seriously onto the Web and into the 21st Century will be left too far behind to sustain what remains.
Posted: Fri - March 23, 2007 at 05:18 PM