Hvem dræbte aviserne?
Eller “Who killed the newspapers?” – sådan spørger Economist i denne uge på forsiden, i lederen og i en længere artikel i bladet.
Humlen i temaet er naturligvis, at “truslen fra internettet” (trommehvirvel sættes ind her) ikke længere bare er en fjern rumlen, som egentlig ligeså godt kunne skyldes redaktørens mavebesvær. Truslen er blevet til en høj infernalsk lyd, der bare stiger i styrke – og som ikke kan overdøves uanset mængden af kage, der placeres i ørerne. Ergo må man jo nok til at finde på noget andet :-)
I lederen hedder det blandt andet:
Having ignored reality for years, newspapers are at last doing something. In order to cut costs, they are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle and subjects that may seem more relevant to people’s daily lives than international affairs and politics are. They are trying to create new businesses on- and offline. And they are investing in free daily papers, which do not use up any of their meagre editorial resources on uncovering political corruption or corporate fraud. So far, this fit of activity looks unlikely to save many of them. Even if it does, it bodes ill for the public role of the Fourth Estate.
Lederen er ikke låst inde, så den kan læses i fuld længde her.
Artiklen gør mere ud af eksempler, men citerer også flittigt eksperter, der vil mene noget om sagen (her Jim Chisholm, fra iMedia):
At this point, says Mr Chisholm, “newspapers are halfway to realising an audience on the internet and about a tenth of the way to building a business online.”
Artiklen der hedder “More media, less news” kan læses i fuld længde her.