Newspapers: Is the Web Worse?

With each passing year, as newspapers lose daily circulation, many have begun the transition to online publications. Those still stubbornly residing in the realm of printed news should cut their losses and follow their example.
The benefits of making the stride toward complete online distribution overwhelm those of printed news. As our nation’s economy spirals downward, more businesses have cut back on advertisement. Newspapers’ revenue has taken a significant cut due to the many businesses that cannot afford print advertising. According to Gaebler Ventures, some bigger-name papers can price up to $10,000 for a half-page advertisement. In a local paper, you’d pay an average of $1,000 for a full-page ad. Advertising online, businesses will find themselves paying far less. I-advertising.com says that “there is no ‘average rate’ for advertising online. There is what you are willing to pay and what you are not willing to pay as an advertiser to reach the audience you need to reach and to generate the results you need to generate.” This simply states that paying for online advertisement can be as costly or as cheap as it needs to be for the audience you’re attempting to target. The New York Times has what is called Self-Service Online Advertising, which allows businesses and individuals to create or post their own ad for a price that fits their specific budget.
Subscription revenue does not have to be lost in the switch to online publication. Publishers could create a system in which access to the full text is limited to non-subscribers. Readers could then procure an online subscription in order to read the same stories they would be reading in print. Some of the paper’s audience would be lost, due partially to the fact that the generation who grew up reading it is now dying and are without computers. But the growing generation spends more of their time on the internet and less time reading newspapers. Few people these days can take the time to sit down and read the paper, and putting it online would be a convenient solution for the younger generations.
The transition from print would cost some people their jobs – your average newspaper boy and the press printing the papers each day would be out of a job. Despite this, the changeover would also open new doors and new jobs for Web designers and site maintenance technicians. Through this, the most important people involved with the newspaper, the editors and the journalists, would still retain their positions.
With the thousands of newspapers being printed across the country each day, there is a considerable amount of paper being used. There is no doubt that this is both incredibly costly and harmful to the environment. It can be assumed that the majority of the budget a newspaper spends is on the ink and paper that goes into a publication. According to Marshall Brain, the New York Times spends approximately $664 million a year between the raw materials that go into printing the paper and the labor it takes to print and deliver the news. If every newspaper were to make the transition from print to online publications, not only would the newspaper be saving a large sum of money, but they’d be saving many trees in the process.
When thinking about making the transition from printed news to an online publication, a newspaper must take into consideration both the benefits of the switch and the needs of their new target audience. As their original audience passes on and the new generation becomes increasingly involved and enraptured by technology, an online publication would be a more realistic way to spread the news. Not only would it be a more convenient method of mass communication, but it would be of great benefit to both the environment and their wallet.