[NEohioPAL]Interesting read: is the web killing the newspaper industry?

[Johnny Wu]

2 years ago when I attended the PD's art meeting, I voiced my concern
via email to PD's CEO on this, that the internet is one of the reason
why paper subscription and advertisement sales were decreasing:
everything written in PD can be found on the internet so I don't need to
buy a copy of the newspaper and I can get the news online or go to
www.cnn.com, and that all the discounted coupons can be found online as
well or sales info, etc. I didn't get any respond, perhaps I was not
being heard... But now there are a lot of people stating the same,
including this article from winxpnews. It echoes a bit of my concern
then, I think newspapers should re-consider their strategy to make
internet work on their favor not slowly 'taking' the resource away from
it.

Johnny

---------------=20

Is the Web Killing the Newspaper Industry?=20
http://www.wxpnews.com/?id=3D205 =20


Fifteen years ago, I couldn't have imagined not subscribing to the local
newspaper. Waiting for the paper to come each day was an important part
of life when I was growing up.

Not anymore. I still read the Dallas Morning News every day, as I have
since childhood, but I don't have to wait for it to be delivered all at
once; now the stories are updated as they occur. I don't have to go out
in a downpour to get them, and I don't have to deal with throwing away
stacks of newsprint every week (on the downside, I don't have a bunch of
free packing material sitting around when I want to box up something
fragile, either). I now read my news on the Web, and I'm not limited to
my local newspaper. I read several major city and specialty dailies, and
the only one I have to pay for is the Wall Street Journal. Ironically,
the only rare occasions when I do pick up a print copy of the Sunday
paper are when I'm in the market to buy something and want to look at
the advertising inserts.

According to circulation figures, newspaper subscriptions are declining.
Logically, the Web gets much of the blame. However, a closer look
indicates that this is part of a twenty-year trend - quite a bit longer
than the average person has had easy Internet access. Some industry
analysts believe the real culprit (or at least the one that started it
all) is twenty-four hour cable news. Others say changes in the rules
governing telemarketing (the means by which major papers gained up to 65
percent of their home delivery subscribers in the past) have had the
greatest impact of all.

But there's no denying that a growing number of us get most of our news
from the Internet. Many newspapers have adapted and put out online
versions, but some refuse to do so because they believe it will cause
them to lose even more subscribers. And they're probably right; why pay
to wait around for the paper to be delivered when you can access that
same paper any time, for free? Generally, the decision to go online also
requires a shift in revenue strategy, with more dependence on revenues
from advertisers to replace subscription revenue. That can lead to other
problems. I'm annoyed by the popup ads on the Dallas paper's Web site -
but not annoyed enough to stop reading the online version. I figure it's
the price I pay instead of a subscription (although I'd be willing to
pay a small fee for online access without the popups).

Of course, Internet users don't have to rely on just the "official" news
outlets for information anymore, either. The popularity of blogging has
made it possible for anyone to become a publisher and disseminate his or
her version of the news, including stories that would never be picked up
by the commercial media.

Another advantage of Internet-based news is that I can set up
notifications so I'll get emailed messages about breaking news from
various news outlets or about specified subjects or use RSS to keep up
with new articles posted to blogs or other Web sites. And with a Pocket
PC phone equipped with unlimited data access, you can get your Internet
news anywhere you happen to be, at any time.

News stories aren't the only area where the traditional newspapers are
losing out to the Internet, either. The classified ads used to be a
significant source of revenue, and the primary way people bought and
sold personal property, used automobiles and real estate. Now Internet
outlets such as Craig's List, eBay, Yahoo Classifieds, and new services
being started up by Google (GoogleBase) and Microsoft (Windows Live
Classifieds, codenamed Fremont) are taking over that function. Some of
these (such as eBay) charge you fees to sell items. Others don't. The
free services are supported by online advertising, but unlike on many of
the news Web sites, the ads aren't intrusive and don't interfere with
the usability of the sites.

I recently had two houses in the DFW area that I wanted to sell on a "by
owner" basis. I first looked to the Dallas Morning News classified
section, and discovered it would cost me $53 to place a three line ad to
run for one weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) in the print edition,
and $16 for each additional line. Or I could spend $99 for a 60 day ad
(the minimum) in the online edition.

eBay would charge me a percentage of the selling price, which would add
up to about $1375 - but only if and when it sold (still thousands of
dollars less than I'd have had to pay a real estate agent to list the
house on MLS).

However, I didn't really want to pay that much, either. So I turned to
Craig's list (www.craigslist.com). I put two separate ads on their
Dallas/Ft. Worth site, for no cost. Each ad was over fifteen lines,
giving all the details I could about the property, and I was able to
include four photos of each house in its ad. Within a couple of weeks
I'd had dozens of calls and had buyers for both houses.

Despite the fact that these online options are replacing many newspaper
functions, I figure that as long as there are bird cages to be lined,
newspapers will never become completely obsolete . What about you? Do
you think the Web is killing the newspaper industry - or is it only
changing it? Have you let your subscriptions to print papers lapse? Or
are you one of those folks who doesn't want to read the news onscreen?
Do you see any advantage to paying the hefty fees charged by the
newspapers for classified ads, or are free classified services the wave
of the future? Let us know at feedback at wxpnews.com.=20


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Johnny K. Wu
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