Much of the newspaper industry was nervous even before the downturn, but now with the massive drop in offline advertising many are resigned to the idea of permanent decline. Rupert Murdoch though does not agree and he recently made an optimistic speech on why he believes newspapers will continue to be important, but also evolve into new forms. These forms may not exist as a printed edition at all: “In this coming century, the form of delivery may change, but the potential audience for our content will multiply many times over.”
He rightly sees the internet not as the ‘enemy’ that will kill them off, but an opportunity. For someone who came so late to the internet, he now seems born again, an optimist who sees the internet as a catalyst for new ways of doing things. People are “hungrier for information than ever before… Readers want what they’ve always wanted: a source they can trust. That has always been the role of great newspapers in the past and that role will make newspapers great in the future.”
Read more coverage by the Associated Press and ReadWriteWeb.
5 December, 2008