Is the New York Times on the way out due to user-generated, user-filtered content?
With the New York Times likely to change hands for the first time in over fifty years, and the AP reporting the fastest newspaper circulation decline in over 15 years:
NEW YORK (AP) – Average weekday circulation at U.S. newspapers fell 2.6 percent in the six month-period ending in September, the latest sign of trouble in the newspaper business, an industry group reported Monday. Sunday circulation also fell 3.1 percent at newspapers reporting to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, according to an analysis of the data by the Newspaper Association of America. In the previous six-month reporting period ending in March, weekday circulation fell 1.9 percent at U.S. daily newspapers and Sunday circulation fell 2.5 percent.
Circulation at the country’s three largest newspapers was relatively stable, but many others showed significant declines.
Gannett Co.’s USA Today, the largest-selling daily, slipped 0.6 percent from the same period a year ago to 2,296,335; The Wall Street Journal, published by Dow Jones & Co., fell 1.1 percent to 2,083,660; and The New York Times Co.’s flagship paper rose 0.5 percent to 1,126,190.
One must truly consider that this is not just a sign of the times (the internet); but also a hug
e shift in trust factoring:
- Do you believe what you hear in the press and on TV as much?
- Are you more interested in unfiltered freelance media (blogs) that are popular?
- Do you want your content edited by the politicaly correct and educated elite?
I think not.  I am sure that the organized press will always exist in some form (AP): but with the advent of reality shows, the popularity of talk TV and Radio, and now user-filtered, user-generated content on blogs, Utube, Google… I think the change that is taking place is bigger and moving faster than most people realize; and I, for one, like it:
- Now everyone has a chance to be heard if they have something to say
- BIG BROTHER will never come to fruition – not even the Associated Press can control things online!
- I can find out, be exposed to anything I like
What do you think?
One Response 
Leave a Reply 
The San Francisco Chronicle cut 25% of it’s newsroom jobs. The Internet killed the main stream media’s monopoly on information distribution with-in geographic regions (local paper or tv use to be all there was) thus destroying classified ad revenue almost entirely (craigslist is free). With all the “free” news sources online, people stopped paying for subscription based news (like printed newspapers). The final “death” blow happened when the big brand advertisers diverted large portions of their advertising dollars into PPC, and other forms of contextual advertising thus giving their money to Google and ad networks.
Crowd sourcing may be the answer, less staff, using indie bloggers to cover local or industry news and diversifying their revenue to include directly selling products or services. Although directly selling products and services would traditionally be referred to as a compromise of journalistic integrity, it would provide a large revenue source which could fund state of the art news rooms and that combined with crowd sourcing and social media give them access to an even more diverse pool of information. Considering that the alternative may be to slowly dwindle away, I say go for it!