More Newspaper Woes

The newspaper famous for, "All the News That's Fit to Print," may need to consider a new motto after reading Michael Hirschorn's thought provoking piece in The Atlantic, "End Times." How about, "All the News and Fluff That's Unfit, Aggregated from Many Outlets, and Less In-Depth, But Hey, That's How You're Consuming Media These Days.com"

To sum it up, Hirschorn offers a scenario where "old media" brands such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, could cease to exist in print form sooner than we think. He writes:

Virtually all the predictions about the death of old media have assumed a comfortingly long time frame for the end of print—the moment when, amid a panoply of flashing lights, press conferences, and elegiac reminiscences, the newspaper presses stop rolling and news goes entirely digital. Most of these scenarios assume a gradual crossing-over, almost like the migration of dunes, as behaviors change, paradigms shift, and the digital future heaves fully into view. The thinking goes that the existing brands—The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal—will be the ones making that transition, challenged but still dominant as sources of original reporting.

But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May?

So what would a post-print Times (and other dailies, presumably) look like?

nytimes.com would begin to resemble a bigger, better, and less partisan version of the Huffington Post which, until someone smarter or more deep-pocketed comes along, is the prototype for the future of journalism: a healthy dose of aggregation, a wide range of contributors, and a growing offering of original reporting. This combination has allowed the HuffPo to digest the news that matters most to its readers at minimal cost, while it focuses resources in the highest-impact areas. What the HuffPo does not have, at least not yet, is a roster of contributors who can set agendas, conduct in-depth investigations, or break high-level news. But the post-print Times still would.

Good for The Times, they're nearly there and well positioned for Hirschorn's future. For example, they've assembled an arsenal of over 60 blogs, already aggregate tech news from popular outlets like GigaOm, ReadWriteWeb, and IDG, and most importantly (a point Hirschorn did not raise), deliver content in various formats from video to podcasts to slide shows to Times reporters using Twitter to share news tips.

One of The Times' other media properties (at least for now before they sell it) is the Boston Globe, the LEWIS Boston local daily. As the print paper gets thinner and thinner so too does the subscriber base, unfortunately. However, like The Times, the Globe does a fine job engaging readers online and delivering content through the Boston.com portal. 

Although, here's a head scratcher on the Globe's part and the exact reason why local daily papers are bleeding red (aside from the obvious ad meltdown) - making horrible business decisions by sending its all purpose tech reporter to cover CES news this week. It makes little sense for the paper to send a Hiawatha Bray to Vegas to cover general consumer tech, let alone from a local readership angle. The people who read Bray will have already received their morning CES tech fix news from a host of other blogs, and interacting and commenting through Twitter and FriendFeed. The biggest news of Thursday was Palm's Pre. Go to read Bray several hours after today's announcement and there's nothing. Perhaps the Globe will have something in the Friday paper but by that time - who cares, we're already on to the next big thing.

Ultimately, Hirschorn's vision of paper-less papers could come even sooner if management continues to throw money away, like in the Globe example above.

[UPDATE: Because I feel so passionately about this issue, I picked up this morning's Globe Business section to read today, yesterday's CES news. But all I found was an AP story, "TV stations will broadcast to mobile devices." I didn't read it.

If the Globe has a tech reporter on site at CES, why aren't they reporting on the local New England innovations on display!? Or, maybe even an article on the local innovators who chose to sit out this year's affair? Or, how about local reaction from area VCs like Jeff Bussgang and Dan Nova or MIT professor Howard Anderson on the show's biggest news thus far, the Palm Pre? Alas, as of 2:00pm ET all we have is brief based on a press release from iRobot and news about Staples' latest new lineup of shredders. Again, from a press release. Hopefully tomorrow's paper will have some coverage. Oh wait, it's Saturday and I'm out of town..]

Comments

[John Cass]

Rich, good article and you raise some interesting points. Papers do have to rethink their coverage. However, I was just thinking like the steel industry don't forget to cover the basics otherwise competitors will move in on your core high priced steel areas as well.