Is the wind changing?

"In the first two years of this report, we sensed the news media in America trapped by the twin phenomena of changing technology and economic success. The former created the need for the news media to change fundamentally. The latter bred conservatism and aversion to risk. The role of the press was changing, yet the companies that controlled the media, insulated by high profits, seemed neither to fully understand nor ready act boldly. The problems on the horizon seemed to lead to marginal tinkering, not long-term strategizing. Heading into 2006, we see a change. The problems of the news media have worsened, and with that we get a stronger sense than in earlier years that the news industry is beginning to move into the next era—especially to the Internet."
- State of the News Media 2006 - by The Project for Excellence in Journalism

Media as a 'cloud seeder'

Reuters boss Tom Glocer calls it a 'Gutenbergian transformation'. Whatever it is, this global media executive caused a stir when he told an online publishers association conference in London what the 'old media' needs to do to reinvent itself in the digital age:

"I believe that the role that “old” media companies have in the truly 'new' media age, is that of content facilitator or seeder of clouds, tool provider and editor. We are the go-between – providing the structure and support - the connective tissue between the information supplier and the consumer, even if they are often today the same person!"

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Craiglist's challenge to print business models

"Just as Craig Newmark is trying to disaggregate editorial from advertising, there are thousands of people out there who are trying to dismember a newspaper and are providing very rich, deep sites. A newspaper is a mile wide and an inch deep - these sites are an inch wide and a mile deep. Newspapers can either bitterly resent this and say 'that's not what we do', or say 'this is an interesting, different way of doing business so we will adapt what we do'."
- Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger

Less Press

"Printing will not go away, but I do not plan to open a single new printing plant. We now concentrate on using social software to build closer relations with the communities of readers around our magazines."
- German newspaper publishing magnate Hubert Burda

"BusinessWeek plans to replace its European and Asian print editions with online ones as the magazine tries to take advantage of its growing online readership. The magazine said about 60 employees, mainly overseas, will be laid off as a result of the change. "
- New York Business

Making content media-independent

"Newspapers will have to review their structural arrangements. Their added value is in content, not in printing presses. A structural separation is needed and the content business should be media-independent - in other words, news and information should be provided in whatever format the customer fancies (and is willing to pay for). This will most likely be a combination of text, video and audio—in other words, Internet, broadband TV and podcasts, etc. My advice to many media companies has been to train their journalists to be multimedia journalists. The journalist should be able to generate a text article from an interview, also put the interview (or a summary) on video and make audio versions available as well."
- Communications analyst Paul Budde

The risk of not adapting

"The main problem with newspaper websites is that publishers have been reluctant to change their analogue business models and newsrooms their analogue journalism in order to adapt to the rising digital storm. Publishers' shortsighted vision, based mostly on pleasing investors, made them blind to the changes the Internet is bringing further down the road. Because of this, newsrooms have been losing the resources, financial and personnel, they need in order to adapt instead of lowering profit expectations and investing their money back into their digital journalism development."
- From the Editors' Weblog

Embracing the Revolution

"Only by embracing the net, using it positively to boost newspaper buying, can we hope to maintain interest in the print medium. Rather than bowing our heads we should see this as the most exciting time in media history."

Roy Greenslade, Daily Telegraph, Oct 25, 2005