Comments on The Burd Report: Bad news for setting Sun

As the offspring of a printer/publisher who's been...

2007-04-03T10:07:00.000-04:00

As the offspring of a printer/publisher who's been up to my ears in paper all my life, I'm not sure the demise of hard copy paper news is all that imminent.

I agree the big dailies are in big trouble, and likely won't survive in their present form.

I also think there is a real need for local news/info and I'm not convinced there isn't room for hard copy paper versions in coffee shops, restaurants and public places, paid for by local advertisers.

There are still plenty of folks without computers, and plenty who would read and enjoy a truly local newspaper they could pick up anywhere for free.

If only I could afford to spend lots of money to find out! You boys may be right after all, but there's something sad about the decline of the written word in solid, permanent form.

I'd miss being able to look at the family stash of 40 and 50 year old editions of the Toronto Telegram!

Will my grand daughters' kids be able to do that if all their news is on screen?

DJO

I couldn't agree more. And, the model that will su...

2007-04-02T11:37:00.000-04:00

I couldn't agree more. And, the model that will succeed is the local newsheet. Local papers will work because they are local, people want comprehensive local news with them in it. If the paper version doesn't deliver then the online version will!
ben b

This is a story of modern journalism. There are tw...

2007-04-02T09:13:00.000-04:00

This is a story of modern journalism. There are two points needing to be made: first, newspapers are facing extinction because of the web and news organizations are struggling to meet the transition; and, second, the business model of the past 20 years is failing.

Not since the Gutenberg Press has the publishing industry faced such an incredible transformation. The biggest factor is the unstable nature of the change. Online Journalism has been around for more than a decade. There are far more failures than successes. And, the technology is constantly changing, making it even more difficult to decide what the final form will be when it is more settled. But no one should worry. Similar upheavals took place when radio and television got into the news business. However, this one is far more pervasive since it involves a massive restructuring of power down to the audience. Witness this blog.

As for the failed business model, the greed driving the industry for the past 20 years doesn't work anymore. Constant cutbacks, reduction in reporting staff, lowering of content standards and a lack of hyper-local coverage is killing newspapers. The audience no longer has any relationship to the local paper. Advertisers are all franchises, who purchase bulk advertising from a central office in Toronto. There is no local connection anymore. Without the loyalty from the business community and the audience, newspapers are toast. (At least from a content standpoint).

That's a brief analysis. There is plenty more.