One might remember the words of New York Times Co. chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. last year when he was quoted by Israeli paper Haaretz as saying “I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care either.”

He had later explained that “it is my heartfelt view that newspapers will be around--in print--for a long time. But I also believe that we must be prepared for that judgment to be wrong. My five-year timeframe is about being ready to support our news, advertising and other critical operations on digital revenue alone ...whenever that time comes."

Nowadays, many believe that print newspapers are very gradually going to be supplanted by online editions, at least in the markets where print newspapers have been suffering declines in circulation and ad revenue.

Said Follow the Media’s Philip Stone:

“So based on all of that could it be the futurists are right that at some point in the future print newspapers will cease to be, and the only real crystal ball question is “When”?”

The editor of The Sun, Rebekah Wade, recently said that the Internet will only bring in a significant part of the paper’s revenues within 14 or 15 years.

The debate about the Internet marking the end of the printed word has dragged on for years. But as people and analysts increasingly start believing that prediction, there is at least one clear conclusion: newspapers should focus on developing their online editions and offerings.

Source: Follow the Media