For Clients and Friends of Potomac Communications Group, Inc.
Don't Count Out the Daily Newspaper:
Interview with President of the Newspaper Association of America
he Information Age has arrived, and with it the speculation that newspapers as we know them will be rendered obsolete by newer, flashier, and many times more timely on-line news sources. Not so, says John Sturm, president and chief executive officer of the Newspaper Association of America.
A Hearty Industry
“We don’t think on-line services will replace newspapers, but rather will supplement our core product and help broaden our horizons,” said Sturm. He points out that for years naysayers have been portending—wrongly—that the newspaper industry was going to die. “I joke that skeptics started talking about the death of newspapers with the advent of smoke signals. And then it was the telegram, and then the radio, and then television, and now the World Wide Web. It just isn’t going to happen.”
Newspapers will survive because they see new, on-line media as an extension of their current business, says Sturm. They also know that because many of their current and prospective customers want to access the newspaper electronically, on-line services will attract additional customers. The numbers show that this business expansion is already well underway. Currently, nearly 700 of the 1,500 daily newspapers in North America offer an on-line product. And although most on-line newspapers are duplicates of the print versions that arrive on readers’ doorsteps each day, many have added conveniences such as search functions and archives.
Local Loyalty
Although the internet increases accessibility to other news sources, people still are loyal to their local papers, says Sturm. “Newspapers have a brand,” Sturm explains. “People will go to the same paper they always have whether it’s print or on-line because they are used to it and they know its integrity.” Local news, sports coverage, and advertising all draw readers to local papers, he says. And don’t write off the future of the print version of newspapers either, advises Sturm. “One thing the newspaper has over most other media is that you can keep it,” he points out. Portability is another plus. “It is still more convenient for most people to hold a paper in their hands and flip through it.”
Embracing Change
“The newspaper industry has embraced the new media and has worked very hard to become a part of it,” says Sturm. “The energy level in the newsroom is still the same.” And by using the change to their advantage, newspapers are better serving their consumers, Sturm says. “The Information Age is good not only for the industry, but also for the consumer because there is more opportunity and more choices. And with choice comes competition, which makes everyone better.” Newspapers are and always will be the center of the information mix, concludes Sturm. They just might start to look a little different as they change with the times.
Daily newspaper circulation has been declining for the past ten years, but the newspaper industry is showing signs of a comeback. Although a slight downward trend in overall circulation continues, 19 out of the 30 largest U.S. newspapers experienced circulation gains in the period ending September 30, 1997, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC). Nearly two-thirds of newspapers with circulation over 200,000 increased their readership, according to ABC. The same is true for about 40 percent of newspapers with circulation less than 200,000.
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