Predicting the Demise of Print Media
Why is it that media people (analysts and such) are so quick these days to predict the demise of print media (newspapers and magazines).Assuming that these folks are unbiased and have no vested interest, perhaps they genuinely believe that someday everyone will be reading periodicals on a computer screen, a cell phone or some other device to be invented. Perhaps they are basing their conclusions on the news that circulations have been declining for many newspaper and magazine publishers. Perhaps they believe that broadcast media and the Internet will become such a prevailing force that print will just sort of... slip away.
Whatever the reason, it's clear that these people have somehow seen the future and now find it necessary to strap on a sandwich board proclaiming... The End Is Near!
Well, perhaps... But then again, isn't is possible that they're just plain wrong?
In today's media driven environment it's the dramatic, the stunning, the bold which makes headlines. After all who would care if someone predicted newspapers would be around for another century. But to predict that a multi-billion dollar industry will suddenly disappear -- now that's news worthy.
I think perhaps it's time we came closer to the middle. Newspapers and magazines will change, few will debate it. It's already happening today. Publishers are becoming more consumer oriented, more technology savvy and far more coordinated in their industry efforts. But lumping print media in the same class as the whip and buggy is premature.
Now, doomsdayers will quote statistics and cite studies. They'll talk about non-reading youth, adults that prefer their news on the web, declining circulations, the pervasiveness of the Internet and more. But at the end of the day newspapers and magazines still offer a tangibility and convenience that television, radio and the web have yet to match for the bulk of the world's population, including the U.S. Consequently, print media will continue to exist and continue to offer a powerful medium for advertisers.
Will print media change - absolutely! But rather than decline it's far more likely that smart publishers will improve their businesses and see them grow. For the staid and complacent it will be a dangerous time, that's what competition does. But for the creative and entrepreneurial minded it will be a time of opportunity.
-DF-
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