Tuesday, February 21, 2017

The problem of financing print media

The newspaper used to be the main source for the latest news and information.
In the age of the internet, however, news are provided to the reader in no time. In contrast to print media no deadlines due to the process of editing and printing make online news outlets a medium capable of reacting much quicker than its printed counterpart.
This development challenges traditional print media unlike any other in its long and successful history before.
While the content dealt with online as well as in print is very much alike, the length and with that also the quality is often much higher in the printed version of a newspaper.
The decreasing sales figures in the print sector clearly indicate that online media is about to take over the position as the number-one news source. The problem that follows from that is that by now no larger newspaper found a way to develop a self-financing online section. So basically the printed media – with its decreasing numbers – is financing the access to their free online content.

As counterintuitive as it sounds the key to the solution of this structural problem has to be the combination of these two spheres: Short news that keep the readership up to date on the one hand and longer more in-depth articles on the other hand. Probably both online and accessed through a monthly membership.

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