More on waning circulations and technological survival tactics

Along with yesterday's American Audit Bureau of Circulation's devastating results and Rupert Murdoch's oft cited speech at the American Society of Newspaper Editors a few weeks ago (former posting), a few head-honchos have recently been quoted mirroring the statistics. Quoted in the Washington Post, Warren Buffett, chief of the media group Berkshire Hathaway, reaffirmed his convictions that the printed newspaper is on the way out. "The economics for newspapers are worse now than they used to, and the prospects are worse." Even owning the most popular news Website in a market is not enough anymore, according to the media mogul. In the New York Times, John Kimball, CMO for the Newspaper Association of America echoed Buffett saying, "There's a collision of factors. Newspapers are in the marketplace of ideas, and there are a lot more options than there were 10 or 15 years ago." Media analyst for Borrell Associates Colby Atwood thinks, "The smart (newspapers) will start diversifying out of their former core businesses and positioning themselves to be out of it before it's too late." Which is exactly what Microsoft guru and billionaire Bill Gates told a conference of business journalists would happen within the next decade, according to the Seattle Times. "We believe that more and more of the things that you've read on paper you will read online because they'll be easier to find, they'll be more up to date, they'll be richer in terms of audio, interaction and things of that nature."

Sources: Washington Post, The New York Times , Seattle Times