Goodbye to Newspapers?
August 7th, 2007 by bruno boutotIn the last issue of The New York Review of Books, Russell Baker draws a dark portrait of the state of newspapers. It’s a fascinating read, if a little depressing: #
“The American press has the blues. Too many authorities have assured it that its days are numbered, too many good newspapers are in ruins. It has lost too much public respect.” #It’s so well written, with all the facts and a great history of the newspapers business and journalism over the past decade. Nevertheless, I think this is much ado about nothing: #
– The readership trends don’t look good, but newspapers still make tons of money and are not yet in any kind of danger. #
– One important question that Baker barely asks is “what is the state of the news” (rather than “what is the state of newspapers?”). Personally, I have never read so many news about so many topics from so many sources. Overall, we are very well informed, with or without newspapers. #
– Sure, most newspapers have no idea what to do with the community of their readers. And mostly, they don’t know how to make money on the Web. Both go hand in hand: if you don’t know how to use the Web with your readers, you won’t know how to use it to generate revenues. But they will learn, eventually. #
(Thanks Pierre G. from Houston for the link.) #
