An interesting article (in French) from Liberation, including an interview with online journalism analyst Steve Outing, where he discusses newspapers' transition from print to the web.

Outing talks about the changing habits of news consumption, and the increasing unwillingness of the younger generation to pay for news.

When quetioned about whether newspapers are being bold enough with their web strategies, Outing responded: "Boldness increases as the situation deteriorates. Classified advertising is a good example here. The press is clutching onto the traditional model, making users pay, while competitors such as Google, Craigslist and Microsoft are using targeted advertising. One gets the impression the press will wait until it loses this market before abandoning its traditional business model."

Asked about the transition period for newspapers from print to the web, Outing said: "The transition will happen in a disorganised fashion. We risk going through a phase during which journalistic quality will deteriorate as a result of staff cuts at newspapers. In the long term, I believe that revenues from the internet will enable newspapers to redress this problem. In any case, the press has no choice. Readers are going online, the press must follow them."

Newspapers have long argued that it is a contradiction for them to offer the same articles for free on the web that they sell in their print aditions. Liberation thus asks Outing whether the choice to limit the circulation of free articles might be a good one?

Outing responds: "This would be suicide. Newspapers are not the oly organisations offering information on the internet They must do everything they can to make their online content attractive to attract young readers."

On the subject of interactivity between newspapers and their readers, Outing said the following: "I have been pleading for this since the mid 1990s. It's the very nature of the internet. Just look at what the BBC is doing. It has adopted citizen journalism. The internet offers new ways for information to be accessed and the BBC shows that an established media organisation can adapt to this."

For the full text of the intervies see here.

Source: Liberation.fr