What is the fate of newspapers in the future? How much longer will they be around?

[Ceiling Cat]

I know several people in the newspaper business. Years ago they all had cushy jobs where they did a little work each and with the team effort a newpaper was produced each day. The advertisers were plentyful and the newspaper owners paid good salaries. Fast foward 20 years later, things look bleak for these newpaper people. Only the old timers are hanging around at reduced salaries and no prospect of raises because revenues are shrinking.

How much longer will newpapers be around? what is their fate?

 

[fuji]

I still like to read the news every day, I just don't read it on paper. They have to figure out their business model, but as I imagine most people are still interested in getting the news, I think there will be a solution for them.

 

[Cypher]

I agree. The writers / editors will always have work; the infrastructure (printers, deliverers, et al) like all of us will have to adapt or die.
What really keeps me up at night is pondering how much longer cash will be around.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

I believe all papers will eventually be transfered over to iPad type devices

 

[OddSox]

Newspapers are changing (I was once a pressman, camera operator, typesetter, film stripper - almost all those jobs are gone now) but I'm not sure they'll disappear any time soon...

Here, for the record, are the earnings and profit figures for Quebecor's newspaper division, which is the largest in Canada and includes the Sun Media chain and Osprey Newspapers.

Quebecor Media newspapers: Year/Revenue/Earnings/Profit (millions)



2006: 928 /207 / 22.3 per cent

2007: 1,028 /226 / 22.0 per cent

2008: 1,181 /227 / 19.2 per cent

2009: 1,029 /199 / 19.3 per cent

http://thetyee.ca/Mediacheck/2011/03/07/LeJournalLockout/

 

[out4fun]

The big problem for newspapers is that even though "news" will still exist, the new format of "news delivery" is much tougher to monetize. This will undoubtedly continue to put pressure on the industry and its employees.

(just as a side note to Quebecor's success - a very significant portion of Quebecor's newsprint revenue is from printing flyers and other advertising materials. I think they probably recognize that their future is not in delivering the news in print format)

 

[peteeey]

Exactly. Newspapers will exist minus the paper. They'll be online. It's already happening. The Christian Science Monitor and Denver's Rocky Mountain News are entirely online. If you compare The Star, Globe, Washington Post, New York Times, etc. to what they were, say 10 years ago, you'll see their websites are constantly updated. Sometimes the stories you read today were already online yesterday.

Ipad devices and book readers like Kindle will be the savior of newspapers.

I believe all papers will eventually be transfered over to iPad type devices