Hartigan's speech to the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association was brimming with optimism about a new era of tablet and smartphone news consumption. "The demand for news is greater than ever, and rising rapidly," he said.
Rather than own the news agenda in the morning with the newspaper, publishers need to think about owning it all day, he argued.
"I wish I was starting out all over again," said Hartigan, whose company is a subsidiary of News Corp., run by Rupert Murdoch.