FullMetalPhotographer

Saving Newspapers: Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together

I worked in the newspaper industry for over 15 years. 3 of those years was a webmaster for eight papers. I can say from working at Pulitzer then Lee that they had a very poor grasp of the internet and what it meant to the News. This issue started at the top and went down.
The thing to remember here is the internet was not the source of the newspaper industry problems it just exacerbated it. The issues Newspapers really started when they went from family owned to publicly own.
The major issues hitting papers now is not the internet but the credit crunch. The greatest hope for newspapers is the net. It can also be suicide if they decide to continue fighting it.

Saving Newspapers: Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together

What's true for the group is also true for the individual. It's simple: overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death.
-(Major Motoko Kusanagi) Ghost In The Shell

Humpty Dumpty not only fell down but was turned into an omelet and was served up.
Newspapers have been living in fantasy since the 90's. Numbers were declining before then. By 2001 Newspaper invested heavily in the internet or I should say the bubble. As far as Google goes the Genie has left the bottle. To be blunt Google and Yahoo are not the issue here. Newspapers retro economic model and news distribution model is the problem. I hate to say it but a pay per story model will not work because there are so many other sources. Even if you put a gag on AP. You still have Reuters, CNN, FOX and many more willing to fill those shoes.
Newspapers need to think differently. They need to realize they are not in the printing business but in the information business. Gather and delivering information. They need to lose the the Deadline mentality and think of a constant flow of information. They need to look at partnerships such as Amazon and Apple for news distribution. If they do not adapt then they will join the dinosaur as a marker in history.