Rupert Murdoch, media mogul, called those who feel the Internet is the death of the newspaper “misguided cynics who are too busy writing their own obituary to be excited by the opportunity.” Funny, well put.
But how far off are those cynics? It’s easy for someone like Murdoch to sit high upon his billions looking down on lowly reporters making less than $30,000 who don’t have the resources or time to come up with a new way to profit from news.
Even CEO’s of newspapers, who have the time, money and resources are failing to come up with ideas—and in the meantime, their employees, those lower on the totem poll suffer! And, now this is just a guess, I’m pretty sure newspaper exec’s are still making a pretty penny.
So if the optimist, Rupert Murdoch, has any ideas, by all means, can we hear them? Because I, for one, do not want to go through another round of layoffs; I fear I will not be as lucky again.
5 responses so far ↓
TDot // December 10, 2008 at 7:47 pm |
Or maybe they are too busy writing other peoples obituaries! Anyway, although I admit getting the most up to date headlines from places like my local papers website…I do actually enjoy getting away from the computer and reading a hard copy of the paper especially on Sundays…mostly because I <3 the comics and all the ad circulars lol
TDot // December 10, 2008 at 7:51 pm |
Oh and P.S. to prove how much respect I have for journalists i would like to share a minor event in my crappy day….I was leaving class today when I stepped outside in the rain to find my umbrella was broken…i contemplated using a copy of my schools newspaper to cover my head until I could make it back to my townhouse (yes I had to say townhouse cuz it sounds more fancy hehe) but I didn’t because I thought “these writers put a lot of time and effort into producing these articles and putting out this paper and I can not simply reduce their work into just a rain cover for me”
Marc // December 12, 2008 at 10:30 am |
Whats so ironic about the “death of the newspaper” at the hands of the internet is that internet news sources rely solely on newspapers for their investigative reports. To the extent that you or I are able to provide positive in-depth analysis is inextricably linked to newspapers being able to provide in-depth investigations.
As good reporting dissapears, there will be market pressures for on-line news to hire their own reporters, so I think journalists will always have a place. Right now though is an akward in between phase.
writerchick // December 13, 2008 at 1:03 pm |
I’m not sure the CEO’s are even doing that well to be honest. And I do think that the internet replacing newspapers is a valid theory. While I doubt it will happen overnight, it has begun to erode circulation and managed to shut down smaller papers. I suppose to some degree it is progress and was very predictable – still I always mourn the closing of the smaller businesses giving way to the larger franchises – soon there just won’t be any personality anywhere, eh?
WC
neutralideas // December 15, 2008 at 10:33 pm |
Insightful comment, but I have a theory that smaller newspapers may be doing better than the larger ones. Of course the largest like the New York Times and such will always be around in one form or another, but the smaller stories in the smaller towns that don’t receive the same Internet coverage will find some comfort in their faithful audience. Just a thought. About the CEO’s, I don’t think any of them are any worse off than someone who hasn’t even seen the amount of money that has passed through them before. I somehow have less sympathy for someone who had made so much and didn’t have a backup plan. But hey, no one could foresee something this detrimental to newspapers…