The Uncertain Future of Print Journalism

By Jaclyn Dipasquale

With the continued advances in technology and increased options of news outlets, print journalism has been faced with a grim reality; it is no longer the staple society automatically turns to for news and information. New electronic devices like tablets and smart phones offer alternative options for news, like apps and access to online publications, making it a quicker and more efficient choice for news-hungry patrons. Thus, the opinion has emerged that print publications will not be able to compete with their technological opponents and eventually die out.

As a journalism student at the University of Missouri, I have heard many varying opinions regarding the future of print publications. As a student magazine emphasis area, I obviously believe that although print will face its obstacles with the Internet and news apps, it will ultimately survive. My opinion was reinforced when we arrived at the office of Le Monde in Paris. Le Monde is a French daily newspaper, founded in 1944. The paper boasts a circulation of more than 331,000 and can be compared to the United States’ New York Times. Unlike the withdrawal the United States has seen with its printed publications, Le Monde continues to thrive. This may be attributed to the French lifestyle and reputation of news-hungry citizens, but I believe it is more than that. I believe it shows that despite the new technology, there is a comfort people find in reading a printed publication, which is too strong to allow publishers to completely do away with print journalism. One of our speakers, Le Monde editor Serge Michel, agreed that he too believes print will indeed survive.

Over the years print publications have seen a decrease in ad spending while online ad spending has increased dramatically. According to Newspaperdeathwatch.com, “Print advertising spending is expected to fall to $33.8 billion in 2012 from $36 billion in 2011.” Not a very reassuring statistic. Even worse, The Annenberg School at the University of Southern California predicted that only four US daily newspapers would still be in print in five years. Only time will tell if this is the case, but what we do know is that print publications will have to work hard to secure their survival.

The Secret Sauce Is There Is No Secret Sauce

By Peter Kampschroeder

This picture to the left sums up what I learned on the trip quite nicely. None of the newsrooms we saw had exactly the same approach, even among exceptionally similar services. There were always subtle differences in how they ran themselves, little niggling differences in what each company focused on. What’s more, all these companies were still experimenting, to try to find a solution to the currently shifting media paradigm that works for them.