How bad is it for newspapers?
Paper mills are laying off because of lack of demand for newsprint. Apparently it's not an isolated trend... a quick google search found a number of other recent paper producers scaling back as well.
Got this via @themediaisdying, who is chronicling the downward spiral of the media on twitter. He also pens a BusinessWeek article with some advice for the industry.
The irony here, and I'm saying this in true blogger style without any real research to back me up, is that people are consuming more journalism now than ever before. (One might argue about the quality and depth of that journalism, designed to meet the needs of our ever shortening attention spans, but that's another post.)
I know I am reading more than ever and not paying a dime, with the exception of the WSJ. For a lot of sites, I don't even have to visit their webpage or see their ads anymore. They let me have it ad free (and brand free) in my Google newsreader.
The free ride continues.... for now.
Comments