The Day the newspapers died

Jane Genova joins those of us who ponder a day when traditional newspapers are no more. First off, I don't think all newspapers will die.  The ones she mentions, like the NY Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal will survive as will probably USA Today, just like the few US auto makers who remain following a time when there were scores of them, just like dotcom companies like Yahoo, Google and Amazon now survive.

What is killing newspapers, as I've written before, is not their news gathering and reporting mechanisms. It's their antiquated distribution system.  Daily is now slow when only a few years back it was lightening fast.  Dropping newspapers on driveways and putting them in corner boxes is cumbersome, compared with internet distribution.

Advertisers will follow readers onto the internet. Over time, they will figure out a way to advertise online that is more effective than it is obnoxious. While I doubt that very many daily newspapers will survive this trend, large newspapers have time to figure out their own transitions to online.  And these services like the BBC, Reuters and AP will also figure out how to distribute news directly to us end readers.

The likes of me and the other bloggers like Toby Bloomberg cannot possibly replace traditional news editors.  We may occasionally serve up a newsworthy tidbit, but we are not primarily news gatherers. With few exceptions, no one is going to pay us to hop on a plane and go cover a natural disaster or a war or a presidential news conference.

But what about The Scoble Show and the Edwards campaign, you may ask. Well, that brings me to my final point. The folks at Podtech may disagree with me, but I think they are the beginning of a new form of news gathering network--one that exists primarily online and ones that will grow to compete with more traditional news networks.  The quality of Scoble's informal interview with a presidential candidate is historic.  It will just take a bit more time to define its impact on both politics and news gathering.


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Comments

[Jane Genova]

Thank you for visiting my blog and citing it. You may be right about newspapers' need to fix their antiquated distribution system.

But I disagree with you that we are not newsgathers. Increasingly we are, at least on the legal front. I had live-blogged the Rhode Island lead paint trial for four months (it was right across the CT border so I didn't have to hop a plane). Post the February 22nd verdict I still drive to cover hearings and I have been continually blogging about post-verdict developments. The Enron trial was full of bloggers and I expect SRO for bloggers at the upcoming Conrad Black trial.

Also, in pitching my services, both for freelance and full-time work, I describe how I can live-blog events for them, ranging from trade shows to hearings on the Hill.

[jimi]

There is no Soviet Union anymore, but everybody remember those great victories and defeats. We trusted in idea and we made our history through great losses...
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