The Vanishing Newspaper

1
The Vanishing Newspaper

• Saving Journalism in the Information Age
• By Philip Meyers
• 2004

2
Relevance

• Newspapers have been in existence for centuries,
  but for more than thirty years the newspaper
  industry has been losing readers at a slow but
  steady rate.
• The culprit is technology and its competing
  demands on the publics time.
• The internet has offered many advantages over
  traditional print media.
• If newspapers continue to lose readers, will they
  eventually vanish from existence all together?

3
General Information

• Meyer is a Journalism professor at the
  University of North Carolina.
• He takes the perspective that there will always
  be room for print journalism in this
  technological age.
• He believes the history of other media is that
  new technology doesn't totally replace them. It
  just drives them into specialized niches where
  they can flourish in a different way.

4
Authors Thesis

• This book is an attempt to isolate and describe
  the factors that made journalism work as a
  business in the past and that might also make it
  work with the changing technologies of the
  present and future (Meyer 3).
• Meyer believes the formula to saving newspapers
  is good journalism credibility readership
  influence profit.

5
My CritiquePositives

• Meyer offers many interesting ideas backed up by
  a lot of statistical evidence.
• Many of his ideas make sense and I believe
  newspapers could really benefit from using his
  ideas in their business.
• The book was well organized and ideas were
  presented in a systematic logical sense.

6
My CritiqueNegatives

• Meyer relies on a lot of data and research to
  support his argument that was compiled before the
  explosion of the internet.
• The credibility of his argument is unclear
  because his evidence makes his argument
  believable five to ten years ago, but maybe not
  in todays society.

7
Scholarly Critique Tom Regan

• A future filled with vanishing ink With 50
  million Americans going online for news each day,
  the Web has the edge.
• Support
• Regan believes newspapers provide an experience
  that you cant find on the internet. He writes
  On Sundays, I'm in the mood (and have time) to
  read a print product. I want to read longer,
  thoughtful pieces. I want the experience that
  comes with a cup of coffee and sunlight streaming
  through the window.
• But while the reign of print as the most
  important news source may soon end, the role that
  newspapers play will continue to be important,
  people trust newspapers and that the first place
  people tend to look online for news is their
  newspaper's online edition.
• Oppositional
• He believes the internet provides something print
  media cannot I like news on the Web for another
  reason. In today's environment of huge media
  conglomerates, the Internet is, for now, the one
  place you can find a true diversity of news
  voices. A place where mainstream media is not the
  only choice for news and opinions.

8
Scholarly Critique Paul Farhi

• A bright future for newspapers stop hanging the
  crepe.
• Supportive
• Farhi feels newspapers face many hurtles which
  are causing readership to decline he says young
  readers are scarce, newsroom budgets are tight,
  and the competition remains unrelenting.
  Newspapers have wounded themselves with a series
  of credibility-shredding scandals and screwups.
• He believes there is some truth behind the
  statistics.

9
Scholarly Critique Paul Farhi cont.

• Oppositional
• Although he believes there to be some truth
  behind the concern of the vanishing newspaper he
  thinks the concerns are over exaggerated. He
  writes
• Media accounts of the rise and fall of
  newspapers are greatly exaggerated, if not flat
  wrong. The case for the survival of the daily
  paper is at least as compelling as the one for
  its much-reported demise. Considering the
  hurricane of change that is buffeting all
  segments of the news media these days, I'd argue
  that no part of the business is as firmly
  anchored as the average daily newspaper. Rather
  than accepting their own mortality, newspapers
  may have the best chance of any of the old media
  to survive in a new-media world.
• Farhi argues that compared with the rest of the
  media industry, newspapers are doing no worse,
  and in some respects quite a bit better, than the
  competition.

10
Scholarly Critique John Morton

• Wall street squeeze will rising newsprint
  prices and an increasing focus on the internet
  trigger more newsroom cuts?
• Supportive
• Morton agrees with Meyer believing the newsprint
  industry has been collectively unprofitable for
  years. He argues that the industry seems
  determined to correct this by reducing supply and
  cutting staff.
• Oppositional
• Morton suggests the newspaper industry needs to
  focus on the online aspects of newspapers and
  that this is where profit can be achieved. He
  says this will require newspaper managements to
  recognize that Internet revenue is a part of the
  whole and not some separate cash cow.
• He believes saving print newspapers can be
  achieved by looking to the internet, not to the
  journalism content itself.

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Summary

• My Critique Positive
• Meyer offers well thought out, intelligent
  solutions to the decline in newspaper readership.
  
• Not the most exciting read, contains endless
  statistical studies as well as business models.
• When Meyer focuses in on his main arguments it is
  interesting and thought provoking.

12
Summary cont.

• Scholarly Critique Positive
• Most agree that the decline in readership is
  something that needs to be examined.
• It is useful to examine these issues to help
  determine the state of the newspaper business and
  its prospects.
• Unlike Meyer, most critics believe the newspaper
  industry will fix itself or that answer to saving
  newspapers is incorporating them on the internet.
• Overall the general feeling is that newspapers
  have a long history of successfully adapting to
  new competitive threats and they will continue to
  do this in the future.

13
My Beliefs

• Newspapers have successfully adapted to new media
  throughout history, but would it hurt to
  incorporate Meyers ideas?
• I dont think so.
• Meyer suggests readability, credibility and
  influence can help regain readership and in turn
  make profit. Having a newspaper exhibit these
  qualities certainly would not hurt it.