Philip M. Stone writes in FollowTheMedia that U.S. newspapers might be in their worst possible situation: Print revenues in decline and online revenues barely ticking upward. Given the necessity for online revenues to go through the stratosphere to compensate for the plummet in the U.S. print market, the economic strait has threatened many media companies with collapse or radical propositions.
Stone's view is that, no matter how some are sneering at Sam Zell's purchase of Tribune Co. and its subsequent effort at reinvention, at least it's trying something. Too many places are simply cutting and hoping the conditions are cyclical, not secular.
What radical measures are needed to create a better newspaper? In coming weeks I'll have a few things to say (at last) about this.
