The future of newspaper business is not just a dream

Writer: Shao Bao Hui
Oriental Daily, Oct 29, 2015

The US is strong and mighty in the newspaper business. It has 1,400 dailies in towns and cities throughout the country. Heavyweights like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal wield global impact. To a certain extent, their prosperity and influence have become exemplary worldwide. They are trendsetters and newspaper business worldwide are sensitive to every of their moves.

As a matter of fact, US newspaper circulations and profitability have been sliding since the 90’s, made worse by the impact of internet and social media. Every time when retrenchment occurs or when a newspaper closes down, there would be talks of gloom and doom.

An American scholar predicted that newspaper readers would disappear by the spring of 2043. Similarly, scholars in China also warned that Chinese newspaper business has gone into the winter because of the fall in circulation and an upsurge of social media. In Malaysia, because of the steep competition between the print media and social media, there are similar worries.

However, those who felt pessimistic may have read the situation wrongly. First, the closure of newspapers is quite normal in the US due to financial problems and poor management. External factors such as economic downturn and steep competition can also cause such closures.

Nevertheless, they still have a newspaper in every town and the situation has not changed.

Besides the dailies, there are 6,500 magazines published weekly or fortnightly in the US. And if magazines published by schools, churches, trades or even minority communities were included, the total count could come to 13,690.

It is not exaggerating to say that newspaper permeates the American life. Retrenchment of editorial staff is nothing new and it is not always due to financial problems. There are two reasons to such thing. Firstly, the newspaper concerned wants to maintain high profitability to keep their share price high and therefore, retrenchment is a cost-saving measure. Secondly, it could be due to internal reorganization. Retrenchment can make way for new business moves such as expansion into the digital media business.

New York Times retrenched hundreds of journalists in the last decade but they still have over a thousand staffers as there has been no change in the overall employment. They have shifted their focus to on-line news and have replaced traditional journalists with those savvy with the digital media. Thirdly, overall circulation of the print media has dropped and their readership also fallen correspondently. On the other hand, more readers are accessing editorial contents via the social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

According to a 2015 report, among those who follow news, most of them still read the print media, rising from 55 percent in 2013 to 56 percent in 2014. Most are whites with higher education and income level. Obviously, newspapers in the US still have influence on the elites and wield certain impact on society.

We have to admit that American newspapers are going through transformation. However, it must be pointed out it is a natural evolution. The industry is highly developed; the medium has changed and so have the readers’ preferences. The new generation who grew up with the IT revolution would prefer the Internet and social media and pay less attention to newspaper. Only older people still prefer the print media as they are more used to newspaper.

Just based on the number of baby boomers after WWII, newspapers in the US can go on for at least another 20 to 30 years. As stated earlier, the younger generation may not buy the newspapers, but they have made contacts with newspaper contents on-line and as they grow older, there is a possibility that they would join the newspaper readership.

It was also reported that although profitability of digital news business remains small, it is rising steadily in recent years. It could be seen that newspaper business in the US still has a long way to come as the main defenders of democracy.

In comparison, it is a surprise that newspapers in China have gone into the winter. It is a surprise because of the rapid development of the internet and social media in China with the number of netizens rising doubly fast. The Internet and social media which provide truthful and beneficial news and information have almost replaced the newspapers which habitually dish out official pronouncements and false information. Therefore, it is not a bad thing that the Chinese newspaper business has gone into winter. It is a wake-up call for the newspaper business as this may lead to their reformation and even impact government policy. It may usher in a new season of spring.

The newspaper business in Malaysia offers a different perspective. There is room for improvement in internet services and there are few on-line media organisations. On the other hand, print media is still thriving because different newspapers represent the voice of different communities, presenting their views, interests and aspirations. Chinese newspapers command substantial market share in terms of category and circulation. The reason being they are neither government nor party publications and like those in the US, they have the freedom and they report truthfully. In Malaysia, they are part of the mainstream media and they have substantial influence on the Chinese community.

As they are published in the language of a minority, the Chinese newspapers not only disseminate news and information, they also reflect the views of the community and promote cultural development. The Chinese community has three assets which are Chinese schools, Chinese guilds and Associations and Chinese newspapers. The contributions of the Chinese newspapers in the promotion of Chinese traditional culture and rallying Chinese social forces can never be denied. Some actual examples include the setting up of charity organizations, scholarship foundation as well as the promotion of festival and traditional celebrations. These are evidence of the close ties between Chinese newspapers and the Chinese community can never be separated.

As a matter of fact, even in the US, there are different opinions against the theory that newspapers are doomed as it could be seen that community newspapers are still thriving. It is more correct to say that the newspaper era is coming to an end and not the newspapers. For a very long time, newspapers are found almost in every family. The newspaper is the centre of news and also the centre of employment. That era has gone.

It cannot be denied that there has been imbalanced development in the newspaper business. As they play different roles in different places, they also face different levels of danger. The World Organization of Newspapers in its annual report has indicated that global circulation of newspapers had gone up. Of course, the newspaper business in any country or region, especially in the East, should not keep running on the same spot. They should improve with time especially in the area of digital news. Regardless of whichever media or form, all news must satisfy public hunger of information.

It is good that there is a sense of crisis in the newspaper business instead of being complacent because eventually, we have to pass the test of changes not only in the broadcasting media but also the mode of contacts with news. Since the development of the newspaper business differs from country to country, there is no need to take the US experience as the ultimate example because different countries have their own backgrounds.

However, it could be observed that those who predict an end of the newspaper business are either blind followers or very techy people. Others just thrive on exaggeration. Even if there are no more newspapers, journalists would still be useful because the demand for news and information is always there. Where there is demand, there is always supply.

Let me give you an example. In France where the newspaper industry is most developed, with the emergence of Internet and social media, people are free to write and express their views and the editor’s role as the gatekeepers have been weakened. However, since there have been so much information messing up on the net, there is a need now for journalists to sieve through and distribute the news. And now professional on-line news media has become hot on demand again.

Now let us break up the English word “newspaper”. Perhaps one day, there will be no paper but the news would still exist.

Original Source:
报业未来不是梦