Tomorrow's News
Regardless of what happens over the next few months, The Times
is destined for significant and traumatic change. At some point
soon--sooner than most of us think--the print edition, and with it The Times as we know it, will no longer exist. --End Times
Referring to a newspaper or magazine's website is much easier than going down to a newsstand and picking up a copy--not to mention cheaper. Why would anyone pay for a subscription when they can just hit a bookmark and get all the same information without paying a dime?
When we buy a magazine or newspaper, technically we're not even paying for the news. We're paying for the paper it's being printed on. The company that owns the paper makes its real money from its ads. If paper is taken out of the equation, it's not that big a deal, as long as the ads are preserved, according to TIME magazine.
Whether that can actually happen or not is questionable. It would be more than a little ambitious for anyone to attempt to compete with eBay, Amazon, or craigslist. But websites do make money by hosting banner ads, and it probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch for a paper to host some of them. In fact, a large website, like the one that belongs to the New York times, gets so much traffic that one could presume that a potential advertiser would be willing to pay just as much for a banner ad as they did for a box in the old paper.
Whether this would actually work out in the long run or not is uncertain. However, with more and more papers going out of business each year, the news industry must adapt, or it will be washed away by the sea of bloggers and companies that did move with the times.
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Referring to a newspaper or magazine's website is much easier than going down to a newsstand and picking up a copy--not to mention cheaper. Why would anyone pay for a subscription when they can just hit a bookmark and get all the same information without paying a dime?
When we buy a magazine or newspaper, technically we're not even paying for the news. We're paying for the paper it's being printed on. The company that owns the paper makes its real money from its ads. If paper is taken out of the equation, it's not that big a deal, as long as the ads are preserved, according to TIME magazine.
Whether that can actually happen or not is questionable. It would be more than a little ambitious for anyone to attempt to compete with eBay, Amazon, or craigslist. But websites do make money by hosting banner ads, and it probably wouldn't be too much of a stretch for a paper to host some of them. In fact, a large website, like the one that belongs to the New York times, gets so much traffic that one could presume that a potential advertiser would be willing to pay just as much for a banner ad as they did for a box in the old paper.
Whether this would actually work out in the long run or not is uncertain. However, with more and more papers going out of business each year, the news industry must adapt, or it will be washed away by the sea of bloggers and companies that did move with the times.
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Recent Comments
Jessie Krehlik on Tomorrow's News: Christina,
Have you heard abou
Aja Hannah on Tomorrow's News: Also, the news-sites could sel
Rebecca Marrie on Tomorrow's News: Though I personally like your
Aja Hannah on Tomorrow's News: I like your opinion. I feel it
Aja Hannah on Tomorrow's News: Also, the news-sites could sel
Rebecca Marrie on Tomorrow's News: Though I personally like your
Aja Hannah on Tomorrow's News: I like your opinion. I feel it
I like your opinion. I feel it is not negative, but more resigned and progressive. I think magazines and the news-sites online would get a lot of ad space if they rented it out. People already go to the internet for the news and they will continue to visit specific sites online of the newspapers they liked.
It's not like someone searching for news would go to ebay so I think the advertisers and news-sites would have a fighting chance with advertising revenue.
Though I personally like your opinion, I do not feel like it is a realistic approach to the problem. Large companies like ebay, craigslist, amazon, etc. can offer products at sufficiently cheaper prices than newspapers' classified adds have ever managed to.
However, on the other hand, if local newspapers were to offer their classified adds online, local consumers may be more likely to purchase items from a nearby store rather than one across the country. Though the items may be slightly more expensive than a larger companies, the money saved from shipping would equal out the cost. Plus, this would also help save small businesses in this economic recession and prevent large companies from further monopolizing the market.
Overall, I feel that newspapers have nothing to lose by attempting this business venture, so why not give it a shot?
Also, the news-sites could sell ad space for big sites also like Craigslist or other websites. Those things need advertising too and many people need to read the news.
Christina,
Have you heard about the Kindle? It's amazon's "E-book". You can buy whole texts at cheaper prices, because they aren't actually printed. This whole idea of newspapers going completely digital made me think of the Kindle. Although I don't use it a lot, it is pretty cool. I mean, I hate to think of not having a book that turns pages, but it's nice to think that we're looking for eco-friendly alternatives. But it kinda bothers me. I know it'll help the books last longer, but it's still hard to imagine a world without physical books.