"Newspapers have a bright future as print-digital hybrids after all - but they'd better hurry."
Quote from Columbia Journalism Review -
It seems that daily newspapers are in a downward spiral. The new year brought reports of more "newsroom layoffs, dwindling print circulation, flat or declining ad sales, increasing defections of readers and advertisers to the Internet, not to mention sullen investors. As succeeding generations grow up with the Web and lose the habit of reading print, it seems improbable that newspapers can survive with a cost structure at least 50 percent higher than their nimbler and cheaper Internet competitors".
This is a pretty bleak picture but is there a silver lining amongst all this doom and gloom? Does newspaper design have a future? This was the big question that was generated 10 years ago or so which was "Is Print Dead?"
This is a link to a relevant article that explains a little about this argument
This was possibly a slightly hysterical reaction to technology traveling at the speed of light. We can see as we progress through the 2000's that instead of dying and disappearing into oblivion, the newspaper instead needs to readdress its way of thinking, it's methods of production and promotion and evolve along with the changing technology and the ever important needs and wants of the consumer.
As we enter 2010 a far more hopeful picture is emerging. "In this scenario the mainstream press, though late to the party, figures out how to make serious money from the Internet, uses the Web to enrich traditional journalistic forms, and retains its professionalism—along with a readership that is part print, part Web. Newspapers stay alive as hybrids. The culture and civic mission of daily print journalism endure." One can see some newspapers already tapping into some very lucrative money making ventures. For example, the Guardian have created on their site a very well received travel blog called "been there" and also run the very successful social site "soulmates". All of which can exist as past of the Guardian news but only on-line.
Perhaps the perfect solution is a combination of the two worlds; the pleasing, tactile printed newspaper, in production on a smaller scale and the fast, convenient news available on-line, whether viewed on your laptop, iPhone or the new Notebook, for everyday viewing. A point of acceptance must be reached, acceptance of a swiftly changing world and new technology. Only then can the newspaper begin the next phase of it's life cycle.
A great example of a newspaper that had taken the bull by the horns so to speak and compleatly readdressed the way in which it is designed, produced and distributed is Portugal's newest daily newspaper, i. It was launched in early May and has attracted a significant amount of attention due to its rising circulation figures and innovative approach.
What is it they are doing differently?
"I is not structured like a traditional paper. The paper's team worked with media consultancy Innovation to come up with a new way to organise the product. "Our feeling was," said Figueiredo, who came on board at an early stage, moving from Diário Económico,"that people wee not concerned about traditional sections any more. Traditionally, journalists have to fill a politics section even if there is nothing relevant going on in politics. We wanted to come up with something different." So the team came up with five key needs that they wanted the paper to address, with five key words".
What are they?
- Opinion - is the first section of the paper, based on the key word think, a first for a Portuguese paper
- Radar - aims to offer a quick overview of everything that has happened in the last 24 hours
- Zoom - subjects dealth with in a lot of depth with a lot of care
- More - deals with peoples private, cultural and social lives
- Sports - 80% focused on football which is very important in Portugal
"A huge amount of work goes into designing the paper every day. At first, Mrozowski explained, the idea was that the paper would have a template that would leave some pages fixed each time, meaning that some pages would require no design work on a daily basis and that editors would simply put their content into the pre-designed format. "But from day one that strategy fell apart,"he said. "We realised that the sort of paper we were making had to have a lot of very specialised content and each page would have to be custom-made to the needs of a reporter or editor."
What's next?
The staff seemed excited about the paper's future. Mrozowski plans to further improve the work of his design team, to take it "to the next level." The team has mastered the basics, he feels, and is now "going to start focusing on certain areas of the paper one at a time and try to make them better so that we are at the highest level."
So the question is, if i does succeed, will others follow it down the path of innovation?
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