Will Newspapers Disappear?

Will newspapers disappear? In the last ten or twenty years access to knowledge has utterly changed. Access to information is just a push on a button away. Kids and youngsters hardly read books and the latest news is available in just 140 characters. Will people in a short while only focus on short online messages, and type their messages about events happening to friends as well as to absolute strangers? Will people lose interest for newspapers, and will newspapers have to change their focus to come along in these rapid changing times? For a lot of people newspapers are still their main source of information. They give news items, but also function as an opinion pointer. Journalists write background information articles, columns and hereby play a key role in shaping public opinion. Internet users work at the computers at the public library in Philadelphia.
(© AP Images)

People are educated and trained in their own field of profession, so when they read about other topics they can often use some guiding in an ever more complex world. They may take an interest in many things, but can’t go through all the lingo they find on the internet. This is why we need journalists, specialized in many fields, to guide us through the world. But is this really true? Demographic studies show that people under thirty do not read traditional print newspapers. The younger generation now gets its news largely from the internet. However, the NRC Next, a tabloid-size offspring of NRC Handelsblad, is a success in the segments of students and young professionals. Paul Gillin, a Massachusetts-based writer and media consultant specialized in information technology topics, says he expects the survival of only four or five major newspapers. He foresees an “explosion” in what he calls small journalism, involving free community newspapers that can be read for a 25-30 minute commute to work. According to him the trend is typified by a company called Metro International, which publishes free newspapers in cities all around the world; aimed at offering news that appeals to young people, upwardly mobile professionals or the lower educated. I share Gillin’s opinion and I think that this kind of journalism fulfills the need of the larger public to know what is happening on the planet. But I also think the majority of (educated) people like to read well-written articles and columns which go beyond the releases of press agencies which fill the Metro. But we cannot exclude the possibility that this kind of journalism will take over, and people wishing to have a little more depth, choose for a total avert of the mass media. As I see it now, there are three options for newspapers:
The total disappearance of newspapers. This means newspapers accept the fact that they will be taken over by more rapid media like Twitter, blogging and Metro-like newspapers which people can read on their way to work. So newspapers will not be available for long.
Newspapers switch to fully online service. One possibility is newspapers will do that free of charge, which means they will be dependent on advertisements- too fragile to be the business model. The other possibility is that news items are offered for free and that people have to pay for more in-depth articles like The Manchester Times – now to be seen online, for a pay.
A change in the media of the written word we can’t even imagine. The last couple of years technology has been evolving very rapidly. So who knows which media will be appearing in the next years? Maybe we will actually be ‘injected’ with the latest news by some kind of media streamer. By mobile phone for instance. For background information you can consult a kind of Wikinews to which you can also add your own knowledge and opinions. Here also an editor will be needed, for also Wikipedia installed an editor last year.

Which option has the greatest chance of success? In my opinion the second option has the greatest chance to success. Many people just need to know what’s happening around the world and are not interested in background information. The more educated part of the population (the young and the elder) is interested in that and is willing to pay for it. Perhaps the news-papers will make place for electronic one (e-readers), but this is only a matter of interface, parallel to the shifting of paper books to e-books. According to the profession of journalists I agree again with Paul Gillin who says that we are already seeing professional journalists move into the capacity of corporate publishers. That means "the need for professional communicators will continue to be high."
Journalists also will need training in becoming "multimedia" reporters, in which they learn to shoot video "in the field" to complement their story.
Journalists will have to become "aggregators," meaning that a published story will continue to expand by using such new media tools as podcasts and videos.

Nonja Knip
ICM1A