A Sign of the Times
Posted on April 28, 2008 - Filed Under media |
We’ve talked much on this blog about the coming downfall of the newspaper. One economist predicted that it would be in the mid 2040’s that the final newspaper would cease production. Blogflict isn’t convinced newspapers even have that long, but while their end date is still a subject for debate, today we can see clear signs that newspapers are in transition.
This weekend, the Capital Times, a 90 year-old newspaper out of Madison, Wisconsin shut down its print operations. But it wasn’t because the paper was going out of business, but rather it was going online and online only.
Like many newspapers it faced grim statistics. At its peak, the paper attracted 40,000 readers a day. Today circulation was just at 18,000. With soaring costs, diminishing readership and ad revenue moving online, the paper decided not to be a victim of the times but to adapt to them. Instead of folding entirely, it revamped its structure and will now publish exclusively online.
Clayton Frink, publisher of The Capital Times, said in an interview just two days before the final daily press run: “We felt our audience was shrinking so that we were not relevant. We are going a little farther, a little faster, but the general trend is happening everywhere.”
These are hard times for parts of Wisconsin. The lead story in the Capital Times when this blog was written was on a GM announcement to layout 3,500 employees, including 750 in a local town. But unlike GM, the owners of The Capital Times should not be pitted but praised. Their decision gives them an exciting opportunity to be part of the future of journalism.
Perhaps many years from now we’ll remember the Capital Times as an early adapter to the changes in media. No matter what the paper, from the Capital Times to the New York Times, all will be effected by the fundamental changes in readership habits and advertising models. Does it seem like a far-fetched fantasy for the New York Times to stop printing? Hardly, the Times owner himself declared last year that he didn’t know if they would be printing in 5 years and he added, “I don’t care either.” With each passing day, it becomes more clear that newspapers are dying, but are also being reborn online.
Its no longer all the news that fits to print, its now all the news that’s fit to post.
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