Newspapers alive and well, thanks

I’ve been reading with interest the various blogs during the past few days discussing the future of newspapers. It’s a commonly heard refrain these days — woe is me, newspapers are dying, whatever shall we do?

And, yes, several major newspapers have passed away. In general, times are difficult for media. It’s a mistake, though, to put it all down to the Internet. If it were that simple, we’d all just stop the presses and switch everything over to cyberspace.

Certainly, the worldwide web has brought some interesting nuances to the biz. For example, when Kamloops This Week decided to kill off its Sunday edition, The Kamloops Daily News published the story on our website the day before KTW announced it in their own paper.

How did we do that? Are we clairvoyant? No, actually — two KTW staffers who like to use Twitter kindly posted the news for all the world to see. I can’t imagine why, except that they could. We took this announcement, contacted a spokesman for Black Press, and wrote a story.

In no way am I suggesting that, gee, aren’t we great guys because we scooped another news medium on its own story, nor would I comment about the decision itself. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a particularly big deal. I use this simply as an example of how the Internet is changing the way we do our jobs.

But while our world has changed, I don’t believe newspapers are going to go the way of the dodo bird. Anyone who thinks bloggers are a threat to newspapers hasn’t been keeping up — the best bloggers are working journalists.

While there’s overlap, to a large extent those who read newspapers and those who read newspaper websites are different audiences. The number of daily hits on our website has tripled since we launched our redesign a few weeks ago, and the audience continues to grow.

The newspaper and the website, though, are two different products. We’ve had some comments from people who are surprised we would post so much information on a free website, because, they say, it’s like giving away a daily newspaper free.

But they aren’t nearly the same. I dump about 20 files onto the website each day, and the site includes TV listings, wire news and sports, but that doesn’t come close to the comprehensive menu of news we provide six days a week in The Daily News.

The question, “are we a newspaper or are we a news company” is becoming a little cliched in the industry, but it’s entirely relevant to the transition newspapers find themselves in. Television was supposed to kill off radio, but radio remade itself and is alive and well.

Newspapers are changing, and finding new ways to engage their audiences. At least, those newspapers who survive. Those who don’t are ill prepared when tough economic times come along, and there are several prominent examples of that in North America metropolitan newspaper markets.

The Internet is only one of the challenges facing newspapers, albeit a significant one. Newspapers need to work with it, not against it. As we become better and better at doing that, we will keep newspapers alive and well for a long time yet.