Murdoch imagining the reality of a paperless newspaper

Posted by Gida Hammami on June 10, 2009 at 6:32 PM

When NewsCorp CEO Rupert Murdoch spoke in an interview with Fox Business Network on June 8, he said:

"I can see the day, maybe 20 years away, where you don't actually have paper and ink and printing presses. I think it will take a long time and I think it's a generational thing that is happening. But there's no doubt that younger people are not picking up the traditional newspapers."

However, Murdoch is convinced that newspapers themselves will not disappear entirely. "Newspapers may look very different," he suggested. "Instead of an analogue product printed on paper, you may get it on a panel which will be mobile, which will receive the whole newspaper over the air, and be updated every hour or two."

Although the media mogul's vision is unlikely to materialise for some time, some newspapers have already abandoned the paper product, for financial or strategic reasons. In mid-March, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer printed its last newspaper and has found its new home online. Likewise, the Christian Science Moniter made the switch a couple of weeks later. Daily print editions of The Ann Arbour News will continue throughout July, at which point the publication will move online with print editions reduced to twice weekly. Evidence from researchers working in Finland suggests, however, that stopping the presses might not be best way to cut costs.

It is impossible to say if and when printed newspapers might disappear. And although it seems that publishers would be unwise to prematurely ditch their print products, which continue to bring in considerable revenue, they should also be prepared to embrace the digital realm and investigate new methods of delivery.

Source: latimes.com, guardian.co.uk