The big news this past month was the possibility that within five to ten years, heavyweight the New York Times could either be gone or drastically altered.
Way back in the 20th century, that announcement would have been unthinkable—since 1896, the Times has been a sonic force in modern journalism. In 2002, the publication won seven Pulitzer Prizes, largely for their superhuman coverage of the September 11th attacks (the standing record had been four). But these days, suggesting the New York Times’ eventual absence from newsstands is no longer an outrageous statement—in fact, it comes off as pretty tuned in.
Back in 2008, the paper had announced plans to borrow up to $225 million against its new
The Times is treading waters dotted with several scandals (see Jayson Blair, a Times writer who had faked at least 36 of his stories) and controversies—like the costly 2006 re-design, which decreased page size by half an inch and slashed content, hoping to make the paper more “reader friendly.”
The paper has slowly been shifting focus to its online division, and the numbers aren't lying: there are 1.1 million daily subscribers to the print edition - and 1.5 million readers online. Arthur Sulzberger, chairman of the New York Times, has made his priorities clear: "I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years...Internet is a wonderful place to be and we're leading there."
The New York Times is a high-profile example of a shift in print media which, depending on who you ask, means one of two things: reinvention or extinction.
Worried parties turn to the Internet for the real scoop—in particular, to voices like The Media is Dying. As a Twitter feed, it’s fairly straightforward: it reports industry lay-offs, big name agency moves and closing publications. And it does all this without adding an ounce of commentary or bias, relaying only the facts.
It’s created a lot of buzz in a relatively short amount of time—over 10,000 unique subscribers since its November 2008 inception—and has spawned a sister site meant to help the recently jobless (@themediaishiring).
On paper, things certainly don’t look good for traditional print media. But as the anonymous contributors to @themediaisdying will tell you, this looming change isn’t necessarily a bad thing:
Old media is not doomed but it certainly is changing, and fast. [New] generations are growing up with a myriad of technologies and options to get their news. . . social media [allows people to] get their news faster, easier and more personalized than ever before.
After the initial growing pains, while the economy is shaky and new media finds firm footing, this change will bring positive results. As the @TheMediaisDying creators suggest, it’s a demand that traditional media step up to meet modern technology, and enter a world where the gap between consumer and producer is smaller than ever before.
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