An expert on news has predicted that newspapers and TV news will cease to exist in the very near future. Michael Morin, our EVP and head of Yaffe Direct went to a conference in California last week hosted by the Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communications, a part of the University of Michigan. Experts from business and academia all over the world gathered to share their thoughts on where this new digital world is taking us.
One of the speakers, who has dedicated her life to knowing everything there is to know about newspapers and news made those predictions. She said that newspapers would be gone by 2015 and TV news would be gone in 10 years. Her reasoning was that we get all the news we need and want instantaneously and in greater detail over the Internet. She said papers will be delivered electronically. And local news will be reported online by consumer generated means, through social networking.
As someone who’s gotten the paper delivered to my house my entire life, I find this hard to believe. But, then again, almost nobody in the generation behind me gets the paper. They may read them, but they read them online. In 10 years, these people and those that follow will be a significant portion of the population. And really, if I look at my own habits. I mostly read the sports and entertainment sections now days. Because, in fact, the news parts are old news. I’ve already read about the big stories online or I know I can find a more recent update online.
We also discussed in our Tuesday Trend Talk session this morning that early news is no longer the cash cow for local stations. They’ve shifted their focus to morning news. Again, as I look at my own habits. I used to always watch the national news in the early time slot and the late local news at 11:00. Now, I always have the morning news on, but am rarely home in time to see the early news. And I no longer watch the late news, opting for the Daily Show with Jon Steward instead
What do you think? Is this the end of news as we know it. How have your habits changed?
Mike McClure, Still a newsie, but not like before.
