A Future for Newspapers

A FUTURE FOR NEWSPAPERS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Andy Kessler]
[Commentary] Media is about owning a pipe -- some conduit between the creation of news or entertainment and the eyeballs that consume it. Media companies sell the owners of those eyeballs lots of things we weren't even sure we needed. The higher the ad rates, the better the business. The pipe reaches the consumer directly, keeping competition at bay. The tighter the pipe, the less the competition. For broadcasters, the pipe is spectrum given or bought from the Federal Communications Commission under the guise that spectrum is scarce. For cable operators, it is often the sole cable franchise in a town. For phone companies, it's those regulated copper wires, some of which are so old they have Alexander Graham Bell's teeth marks in the insulation. And newspapers? Reputation, quality news gathering, trust and credibility maintain the franchise. But they aren't in the printing business, they're in the ad business.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117997297020012986.html?mod=todays_us_op...
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