The News Business and the Great Future of Journalism
In May 2009, John Carlin signed a report on the future of newspapers in the country. Much has been written (digital) on it and the phrase: “There has never been a better time to do journalism and has never been a worse to earn a livelihood.” If you want to see a good analysis of the article may visit the review that he make friends in lower case.
We stayed with it a good time for journalism but bad for traditional media companies. It’s not just because of internet: newspapers have exploited the routines and the agenda until exhaustion. How many times have we found the same cover in almost every newspaper in the kiosk? Too. How many newspapers have done surveys to find out what topics interested them most readers or potential readers? Too few.
Traditional journalism has over 15 years falling sales. When internet was only used by a handful of geeks, the newspapers and losing readers. From then until now, nobody has assumed the risk of a radical change in news agenda, perhaps because despite the decline in sales, profitability was high. All put to work giving marketing departments and kitchen wares. Now it seems that the old strategy to achieve extraordinary sales has become the only argument of some newspapers to reach the number of copies sold that allows mere survival. From one situation to another “nobody thought that people buy the newspaper to read, not to get a cream puff and have to do cover the paella on Sunday? Newspapers have been selling too long routine.
Reached crisis
While the copies sold were down year after year, newspapers took to the streets handing out medals of La Mare de Deu dels Desamparats and rosquilletas. Until recent months, the Spanish regional press was entering its good 20% (at least) of profit. Does anyone of those who will never be fired in a thought ERE spend some money to improve a product that will save the good work, beyond what is fair demand, some great journalists? The publicity kept coming by the inertia of the customers and the routine of the Media Centers. But here Lehman Brothers. The crisis. Suddenly, the customers suffered power of media has found a strong case to argue that a double page in a newspaper 32.ooo Valencia euros worth of the wing in a weekend. Now pay 6,000. And thanks. Times higher than 20% returns on investment are gone. It seems clear that advertising can no longer continue to fund traditional journalism. It also seems clear that, as Cairo said in his book Computer Graphics 2.0, “newspapers will cease to be a mass medium.”