Rattner insisted again upon the importance – necessity – for newspapers to find a new working business model, whichever that may be:

“Quality journalism is a really critical element of our democratic process, and if the private sector won’t support it, for whatever set of reasons, then I think you have to start to think about other models.”

“And you look at NPR as another model, if you look at the BBC, it’s another model. And since I wrote that article, people have pointed out to me that The Guardian newspaper in the UK is a trust, a number of German newspapers are trusts. You have Cspan which is a not-for- profit organization.”

Asked whether newspapers don’t embrace new media enough, or if they haven’t adapted their editorial content to changes in readers’ interests, Rattner was double-sided. He didn’t seem to think the ‘digital revolution’ was the real reason for newspapers’ hardships. As for changing readers’ tastes, he recognized this was a reason for losses of readership, yet admired newspapers for sticking to quality journalism.

“Fundamentally the problem is a changing appetite for news on the part of consumers, for the worse.”

“If you mean dumb down in order to satisfy what seems to be the appetite for news today, a lot of newspapers haven’t done that, and I respect them for not doing that, they shouldn’t do that.”

And what about wealthy and altruistic families or individuals investing in and supporting newspapers?

To an extent, Rattner seemed to think this could potentially be the best solution, but also one of the worst. “A very mixed blessing,” this model can be based on “incredibly enlightened, incredibly far-sighted,” families, but it can also lead to a Philadelphia Inquirer situation, in which the local buyer proceeds to massive layoffs anyway.  

Thus, in Rattner’s view, there is no perfect solution. His main point, rather than offering a concrete alternative, is that newspapers and analysts should open their eyes to the possibility that the newspaper industry might not be sustainable economically. Since it is a vital democratic industry though, one should work hard at finding new paradigms and business models.

“I didn’t say it was a certainty, but there was a risk that it would become an unsustainable business model, then you say OK, now what do we do?”

Source: Financial Times