Newspapers Still the Core Product?
Posted by
Julie Tomlin
on 9 June 2006 at 10:27
Tags: International, Journalism, New Media, Newspapers, Online
In the first of a series of features examining troubles facing US newspaper companies, Reuters analyst Robert MacMillan says that newspapers are trying to boost revenue by raising subscription and newsstand prices and have cut costs through layoffs, bureau closings, reducing newsprint consumption and outsourcing administrative jobs.
But “nearly everyone in the industry” believes it is too soon to close down newspapers and publish on the internet instead, he writes.
Although there is currently a lot of discussion about the future of newspapers online “most people in the business call newspapers their “core product,” a frustrating view for some online editors,” he writes.
MacMillan quotes John Leach, editor of azcentral.com, the Web site for Gannett Co. Inc.’s The Arizona Republic saying that the phrase “drives me nuts”. He argues: “We have a suite of products that reaches a larger audience than the paper itself does.”
Tags: International, Journalism, New Media, Newspapers, Online
