US media experts : newspapers face challenges in digital age

Chicago media experts have intensified debates on the future of print newspapers as more and more people turn to digital devices to obtain information. They all agree that newspapers are shrinking while digital readership is rising. "On a long-range basis, I think newspaper will go away," Bruce Sagan told Xinhua, noting "journalism will go on...But not as a mass vehicle in its usual sense." Sagan, a publisher of Hyde Park Herald and a member of the management committee of the ownership of the Chicago Sun-Times, said subscriptions in print Sun-Times have been decreasing by about 40 percent over the last decade, while digital readership in recent years has been increasing. According to a report released recently by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), of the Chicago Sun-Times' average weekly circulation of over 263,000 (excluding suburban subsidiaries), about 70,900 is in digital, an increase of over 11 percent from the prior year. "In 20 years, there won't be any traditional newspapers anymore," Sagan said. "But people will continue to pay for news, for journalism." Owen Youngsman, Knight Professor of Digital Media Strategy at Northwestern University, is more upbeat. "I'm sure there will be print newspapers as long as I'm alive," but acknowledging that people's desire to get information immediately was a handicap for print newspaper. He said that starting at the first Golf War in the '90s when people could see what was happening in real time on CNN, newspapers were forced to redefine their core purpose, changing from reporting of what happened to the context and analysis of why what happened. Jane Hirt, managing editor and vice president at the Chicago Tribune, stated similar views to Xinhua. Although people would continue to read print newspaper, the development trend is moving toward digital, she said. Now things are changing so fast that new devices are being invented every six months and technology is steaming ahead. So the challenges are to keep up with the technology. To keep up with the way that readers want to get information, Hirt said. "Online, our page views, that's how we measure our (digital) readership, is about 110 million a month," said Hirt. The average print circulation for the Chicago Tribune is about 500,000 during weekdays, and just under 1 million on Sundays, she noted. The Chicago Tribune began charging digital subscribers on Nov. 1. "We started a pay-wall called digital plus," Hirt said. "Breaking news is still free on Chicagotribune.com, but what is behind the pay-wall is some of our investigative reporting, our columns, and our critics." On the future of print newspaper, experts suggested newspapers shift focus from facts to analysis and cited declining revenue in advertising for print newspaper and getting paid for digital information as the big challenges. Youngsman said newspaper needed to combat the culture that people heard a headline and thought they knew what happened. "They may know the fact, but they don't know why," he said, suggesting newspaper provide context and analysis. Lyric Hughes Hale, economics commentator for Yale University Press, who lives in suburban Chicago, said "everyone loves news. It doesn't matter how you get it really. Traditional newspapers have to adjust to the idea that it is the message, not the medium." "We both love the timeliness, diversity and immediacy of the Internet," she said, adding digital advertising enabled advertisers to track exactly what people looked at and for how long. "That makes advertising extremely targeted," said Hale. According to the ABC report, major newspapers across the country meet a similar fate to those in Chicago -- a steady increase in digital readership.