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Papers
- Christian Science Monitor (Paper Version) Ends (Time.com)
"Just over a century ago, in 1908, an 86-year-old woman looked at the dismal state of journalism around her and decided to do something to fix it. Mary Baker Eddy started the Christian Science Monitor not to further the doctrine of the church that she had founded, but because there was a need, as her first city editor John L. Wright put it, for a daily paper that would 'place principle before dividends, and that will be fair, frank and honest with the people on all subjects and under whatever pressure — a truly independent voice not controlled by commercial and political monopolists.' " 03-09
- Do Newspapers Have a Future? (Time.com)
"It seems hopeless. How can the newspaper industry survive the Internet? On the one hand, newspapers are expected to supply their content free on the Web. On the other hand, their most profitable advertising--classifieds--is being lost to sites like Craigslist. And display advertising is close behind. Meanwhile, there is the blog terror: people are getting their understanding of the world from random lunatics riffing in their underwear, rather than professional journalists with standards and passports." 03-09
- Encarta Ends (Christian Science Monitor)
"Wikipedia killed Encarta."
"Encarta was the early digital encyclopedia. It began life as CD/ROM and increasingly went online. What it never did was truly embrace the power of the Internet."
"What does that say about how we get information? And about the future of newspapers?" 03-09
- Newsweek Folds as Weeklies Fade (New York Times)
"For generations, Time and Newsweek fought to define the national news agenda every Monday on the newsstand. Before the Internet, before cable news, before People magazine, what the newsweeklies put on their covers mattered."
"But Mr. Meacham said that national coherence was still a worthwhile goal."
" 'I would argue the fragmentation in media makes a place like Newsweek even more important,' Mr. Meacham said. 'There are not that many common denominators left.' " 05-10
- Should the Government Save Newspapers? (U.S. News)
"With newspapers failing, some on the left say federal help–tax breaks, perhaps–could save an industry that is key to democracy. Conservatives say the market and taxpayers have decided, and no one wants a paper that's beholden to lawmakers anyway." 03-09
- The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers (Time.com)
"24/7 Wall St. has created a list of the 10 major daily papers that are most likely to fold or shutter their print operations and only publish online. The properties were chosen on the basis of the financial strength of their parent companies, the amount of direct competition they face in their markets and industry information on how much money they are losing. Based on this analysis, it's possible that 8 of the nation's 50 largest daily newspapers could cease publication in the next 18 months." 03-09
- Why Newspaper Ads Are in Decline (TheBigMoney.com)
"Much has been made of Craigslist rising up to destroy newspapers' classified-listings business, but less has been said about newspapers' own sins in falling behind the needs of their commercial advertisers."
"The truth is, there has been progress in monetizing the Internet, beyond the display ads most people ignore. But that progress isn't coming from newspaper companies. It's coming from companies like Yelp. And Yelp is currently eating newspapers' lunch." 05-09
- Why Newspapers Are in Decline (Time.com)
"The problem is that fewer of these consumers are paying. Instead, news organizations are merrily giving away their news. According to a Pew Research Center study, a tipping point occurred last year: more people in the U.S. got their news online for free than paid for it by buying newspapers and magazines. Who can blame them? Even an old print junkie like me has quit subscribing to the New York Times, because if it doesn't see fit to charge for its content, I'd feel like a fool paying for it."
"This is not a business model that makes sense. Perhaps it appeared to when Web advertising was booming and every half-sentient publisher could pretend to be among the clan who 'got it' by chanting the mantra that the ad-supported Web was 'the future.' But when Web advertising declined in the fourth quarter of 2008, free felt like the future of journalism only in the sense that a steep cliff is the future for a herd of lemmings." 03-09
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