Demand for the daily newspaper has been declining for some time. More and more papers are finding their subscriptions shrinking, and as a result they are able to attract fewer businesses to advertise in their papers. Today there are many ways for us to get the news quickly, and without having to read. All of these options intrude upon the desire of people to wait for the morning paper to find out the news. Thus for the traditional newspaper, this has meant a slow death from depleting revenues, when their papers are not being bought. It is a problem that is growing and shows no signs of improving. Here are ten factors that have contributed to the slow death of print newspapers.
Other forms of news. The local newspaper will carry stories on a wide selection of subjects in local, national and world news. However, you might not be interested in wading through all those pages just to find out some specific details on a given story. With email and RSS feeds, you can get target news sent direct to you on the areas you’re interested in. Between television, internet and radio you don’t have to spend your time looking through the paper’s pages.Cost. Why pay for the newspaper when you can get the same information on the internet for free? This is pure cost consideration. There may be some coupons you like in a given paper, but they may never offset the actual cost of subscriptions.
Price of materials. Paper costs have been going up for a long time. But newspapers are only able to charge a set amount for their paper, or they will not find any subscribers. It is a difficult balance to maintain. It is another area that is causing them to struggle, that many people don’t realize.
Influence Of Owners. Newspapers can be affected in how they present and report the news by the philosophies of their owners. Those biases can be evident by the stories they choose to publish. Many people are looking for news sources that will give them multiple views.
Convenience. Unless you have the paper delivered to your house, and even then it can be subject to weather, there are times it is easier to look on the internet at your convenience. You can quickly search through items online for your topics of interest, rather than having to scan the pages of a traditional newspaper.
Delivery problems. There is a low tolerance these days for poor customer service. How many times will you pay for the daily paper if you have problems with your deliveries? It is just easier to look to other means to find out what you want to know.
Watching Versus Reading. Why read through lots of paragraphs when the news on the television will show you what is happening, often in live video footage. It doesn’t have to take as much time, and you can enjoy other activities at the same time.
Listening Versus Reading. Just like with watching, listening to the news on the radio can be done while you are doing other things. You can listen while you are driving in your car while driving to and from work. We have become a multi-tasking society.
Limited Interests. The more we get exposed to the entire world’s problems, the more we may wish to just dwell on limited or specialized news interest. We now have the ability to choose what areas of news coverage we want to receive.
Competition. It isn’t that newspapers aren’t trying to keep up with the changes in information, they have their online sites too. Technology is simply leaving them behind in a race that they are finding it hard to compete in.
Today the future for the traditional newspaper is not very promising. Many have begun to search for ways to improve or change their approach to deal with this reality, but it appears to be a losing battle.
by Sheryl Owen
http://www.changeofaddress.org/blog/2011/10-reasons-traditional-newspapers-are-dying/
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