Internet's Impact on Newspapers

Looking at the history of media there is evidence of medium being challenged by a newer, more flashy and convenient medium. When radio was invented, it challenged the newspaper, when TV was invented, it challenged the radio, and when the Internet was invented, it challenged all that had come from befor it. When television was created, the end of radio dramas was a result, is evidence of this situation.

So when a technology such as the Internet is so readily available for established medium it is a concern.

When dealing with newspapers you must look at the immediate concerns. The newspaper costs money for readers, it is printed up as sometimes over 50 pages a day, it only comes out once a day, and it costs more to keep it local by establishing regional editions. The truth is that more and more people are looking to online news sources for stories and the subscrption and circulation of print media is declining. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564853_9/Newspaper.html

While there is some threat from the Internet, the blame does not all go there for the print media's decline, and TV among simple social factors also come into radar. Take for example the fact many papers are forming chains. In this the points of views are diminished leaving readers with the same story and same point of view, causing them to deflect from returning to read that again. Television did this by allowing news to come more often and with visuals to back it up. It also allowed to see one end of the earth from another.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761553932/Journalism.html#s6

The advantages of news on the Internet are clear, as reported in this Encarta article:

readers can find continually updated information on a variety of subjects,
without waiting several hours for a new edition or the next news broadcast.
Another advantage is the ability of news organizations to publish more
in-depth
information on the Internet, such as background documents, detailed
maps, or
previous stories

However, at the same time a disadvantage is: "the Internet is that, because information can be published almost instantly, companies occasionally release stories without subjecting them to the same quality controls and fact-checking processes common in other media."

Using the Internet for news is inevitable, so newspapers have taken that road in order to ensure new readership as well as keep themselves financially well.

Some do not think that way, and instead see it as giving away something for free and having their subscribers cancel on them. http://www.orenews.com/news/profitability.html
Others believe that subscribers would follow them onto the web, but studies have shown most Americans don't want anything on the Internet to cost them money. http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/may02/may27/2_tues/news4tuesday.html
This leaves newspapers to go to advertising to make money. Unfortunately for them, the use of ads is hard to work even in the Internet, because, first of all, no reader wants to see ads to begin with. Secondly, the placement and content of an ad is key in print and is key online as well. Having an ad in the way of a story often causes the reader to withdraw interest in an article or site. So putting in ads that can easily be ignored and seen at the same time is the only strategy, but it is also a paradox. In the end, most news sites settle for ads at the top, bottom, or sides of the page.

So the newspapers are forced to use the web for stories, but do they use it well enough? A Biving report went to see just what the Top 100 papers were doing. It was found that most of them did not supply enough interactivity with the readers which is something internet news is in need of and can best serve. http://www.bivingsreport.com/campaign/newspapers06_tz-fgb.pdf

Looking at the advantages briefly, and the cons as well, but also what has been used so far by companies I can see a shift from news in print to news online. Still, there is a need for newspapers out there, and there is no end for them in site. Most of the news in America is delivered to people through this outlet. It seems that it is more a battle of age gaps and need for more localization and competition in the industry. Young people, busy people, and the tech savvy people will go to the Web, everyone else goes to the print, people want more about where they live, and they want their papers without it being the same as everyone else's paper.