Page 486 - The Case Lab Book
P. 486
Free News
At the moment the reality of the "old vs. new media" clash is
not a cleanly sliced dichotomy. Rather it has been a messy
collision of disparate worlds where the pace of innovation is
surging forward and opening new avenues for multiple
contributors to engage in dialogues with multiple audiences in
a timeframe which is instantaneous and which has a tendency
to engender soundbite contributions. The consequence is a
drive to increased concentration ratios in the newspaper
world as efficiency and effectiveness are sought through
mergers and acquisitions based on developing wider market
metrics. The acquisition of the i newsaper will give JP the scale
it needs to sell national advertising as well as to grow its digital
audience.
However, there are several reasons for the downward spiral of
local news companies. One, though, is very apparent but
seldom acknowledged by publishers: Most news publishers
are providing lower quality products year after year and
charging more for them. The question associated with this is
simply - Why?
Free News
News is not free, someone has always had to pay for it either
the customers or the advertisers. Allied to this is content for
which the reader pays or goes away.
