Yes, newspapers are still relevant

Although major newspapers, including South Florida’s Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel have been facing severe financial constraints, forcing severe staff lay-offs and other drastic operational changes, and some large city newspapers have closed, news of the pending death of the newspaper industry is premature, and false.

True, the advent of the Internet, and the repetitive 24 hour cable news cycle, have linked with the tough economic times to make the operation of newspapers extremely challenging, but newspapers remain a critical component of the news media.

Newspapers can be separated into several categories of which two are particularly relevant. There are the big major daily newspapers circulated in most major US cities. Because these papers are published daily, often with a large staff compliment, they are very costly ventures, as these costs increase, so do their financial viability, forcing them to reduce their operations. Most of these larger papers provide us with local city, county and state news, plus national and international news, but relatively little of community news, or news that affect specialized ethnic groups.

This is the role of smaller newspapers, some published weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. These papers serve a very significant market, because they represent and offer news relevant to group of readers not normally represented by the larger newspapers. These papers, if effectively published not only inform specific community and ethnic groups, but often serve as an instrument of pulling these communities together, and interpret local, national and international news making them relevant to these groups and communities.

Usually, the news reported by the larger papers can be found on multiple Internet websites, while some of the news reported by community and ethnic newspapers are only found in these papers. So, the conclusion is that the community and ethic newspapers do, and will continue, to play a major role.

This is not to say, that the traditional big city papers are irrelevant. It is just that they are the ones that face most of the competition from the cable networks and news relayed on the Internet.

But, is the role of the cable networks and the Internet overly exaggerated? A recent survey indicated that only 41 percent of Americans over 12 years of age with access to the Internet do so daily. Of these people only 39 percent visit the Internet to read news. Granted that 39 percent is a large number, most people cannot take a computer where one can take a newspaper. A large percentage of people still read newspapers on trains, planes, buses, at the office, in restrooms, restaurants, and a variety of places where one usually don’t use a computer.

Also, no media retains a company’s advertisement like a newspaper. Long after a newspaper has been published, it can be retrieved for various reasons, and one is still able to read the published advertisements. Readers may not have noticed a specific ad when they first read the paper but do when that paper was used for other purposes. To be effective, ads on radio and TV must go through an expensive, repetitive cycle, while ads on the Internet are usually not as in-depth as newspaper ads. Ironically, although it is difficulties in obtaining sufficient advertising to remain viable that is crippling some newspapers, newspaper ads are usually extremely effective.

Traditionally, there are people who prefer reading newspapers to get an in-depth analysis of the news. Most newspapers do give deeper analysis and report on the scene behind the news, than do broadcast news. Moreover, newspapers are way ahead of other media in conducting and reporting investigative stories.

It is unfortunate that with the advent of the Internet, more newspapers did not act proactively to ensure that the new media become a significant component of the newspaper industry, and not a vibrant competitor. Years after the advent of the Internet, large and small newspapers recognized that operating Internet websites could be a vital part of their operations. What is now occurring is that some publishing companies are dropping newspapers, publishing instead via the Internet. This is shortsightedness, as both format are compatible, and can provide significant revenue to publishers.

It must be admitted that despite the arguments made in favor of continuing the publications of newspapers, most are not attractive to younger readers, especially people under 25 years of age. This age group prefers getting their news over the Internet, if and where they can, while older individuals make up the larger percentage of newspaper readership.

Because of the importance of both age groups to advertisers, every newspaper publisher should ensure that they meet the demands of all advertisers, while making as much revenue as they can by publishing traditional newspapers and its Internet version. But, since the youth are particularly vital to advertisers, it is incumbent upon newspaper publishers to remain interesting and relevant to younger readers.

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