A brighter future for newspapers in the 21st Century

December 20th, 2005 Posted in Strategy

Circulations are falling, profits are dwindling and the internet is threatening to put us all out of work, but Kim Fletcher argues that journalism is thriving on new challenges.

and I believe Kim Fletcher is right.

All in the delivery

Then, when it comes to the distribution of that information, they must be flexible enough to provide it in a way that their readers want. For some journalists this is an exciting opportunity. For others it is a terrifying threat. The business has the basic ingredients for success but no clear recipe to follow. Papers talk about integrated websites but still aren’t running systems that let journalists push the same buttons to print online and on paper. They fiddle with blogs and podcasts because they might be the things that take off. There will be more false starts, because no one is entirely sure what the solutions are. But an industry that has shown the flexibility to remodel itself in colour and tabloid and Berliner, and to bring in other innovations over the years, will get there.

It will be hard work and it will be a worry. Given that it is their job to report news and to make a different paper every day or every week, many journalists are remarkably resistant to change. They cling to tradition, want the world of print to be as straightforward as it was 20 years ago and will think of five reasons to stay the same rather than one to change. For some, it is enough that the newspaper industry in its present form will last long enough to see them out.

They should be ashamed that even older men are thinking ahead. Press Gazette asked Murdoch if the internet should make journalists fear for their future. “Not at all,” he said. “Just become better journalists. Great journalism will always be needed, but the product of their work may not always be on paper - it may ultimately just be electronically transmitted … There will always be room for good journalism and good reporting. And a need for it, to get the truth out.”

Here is something we made earlier and to add to that is the point that yes we do need great journalistic writing.

I like newspapers, I also want great writing but I also want to get that information in a variety of formats, I also may want to participate, and immerse myself deeper into that story in a number of different ways.

Fletcher also points out that certain newspapers have built up over many years a thick patina of trust and authenticity (not all) - but trust is still a heady scent that continues to stick to journalism, even if we want to just believe in the idyll.

But here is a real opportunity in a super distributed world and one that can be turned into significant commercial advantage in the digital age.

I think there is a great opportunity for newspapers, but its certainly not achieved with one nostalgic eye to the past and the other squinting into the bright sunlight of the future.

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