2020 print predictions from the Society of Editors conference

Posted by Allie Judson on November 8, 2006 at 2:37 PM

During the recent Society of Editors conference participants had the chance to discuss the future of media in 2020. Ideas from the panel ranged from future advertising to on-line video innovations to complement the new generation.

Everyone on the panel threw out and discussed main ideas about future industry changes based on past and current trends. Main points include:

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger predicted that classified advertising could potentially be phased out of print papers by 2020. This is based on the Guardian’s yearly 9% drop in print classifieds and yearly 50% rise in on-line Guardian Unlimited add sales.
Stricter on-line copyright changes for Google News. The company hopes to better direct readers to original documents because Google staff are “not content creators” said Google News product manager Nathan Stoll.
Stoll also compared the music industry’s illegal downloading problem to current copyright issues within news. Saying that news organizations might be heading down the same track.
Changes to Internet news to appease a new and more demanding audience. One idea, from Sky News’ John Ryley, is a rolling news channel with continually updated news clips so users have constant access to new video feeds.
Print media predictions looked grim as Rusbridger said "I don't spend time losing sleep over whether there will be a paper or not because there is nothing I can do about it."