Newspapers in an Electronic Age

NEWSPAPERS IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Clark Gilbert & Scot Anthony]
[Commentary] The newspaper industry is now roughly 400 years old, and, generally speaking, it is confronting a "disruptive" change unprecedented in its history. The emerging challengers can't comprehensively measure up to leading newspapers' detailed reporting capability, institutional advantages and deep local reach. All of them, however, feature revenue streams and content delivery models that run counter to those of most newspapers -- and they are breaking paths into new territories. Newspapers have been buying Internet properties -- how can these acquisitions be judged? 1) Do these acquisitions enable companies to reach into new market spaces populated by "nonconsumers," people who can't solve the problems they face because they lack access, knowledge or expertise? 2) Does an acquisition plugs a capability gap, particularly related to employing new business models? 3) Does the acquirer recognize that reaching nonconsumers and leveraging new implied business models requires substantial autonomy from the core print business, even while efforts are made to transfer those capabilities into the newspaper?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113142165259390911.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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AS KNIGHT RIDDER GOES, SO MAY NEWS INDUSTRY
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Joseph Menn and James Rainey]
As big shareholders of Knight Ridder Inc. pressure executives to consider selling the nation's second-largest newspaper company, an increasing number of industry veterans say the fight's outcome could write the future of print journalism. Like other chains, Knight Ridder has responded to readers and advertisers migrating to the Internet by investing in Web versions of the print product, cutting costs and experimenting with free papers. Although newspaper companies still are more profitable than many other industries -- operating margins of more than 20% are common -- revenue is growing slowly and corporate owners are tending to funnel earnings into other areas rather than pay them out as dividends. Knight Ridder's situation illustrates a larger predicament for newspaper executives, who are under pressure to improve their product at the same time that they are being urged to cut expenses to increase profits.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-knight8nov08,1,6677044.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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