Betting on Newspapers

People reading my postings on this blog know that I don't buy much of the "People aren't reading / Print is Dead / Books and Newspapers will soon die" talk that we hear in and out of the library field.

One person who shares my views on newspapers is communicator Shel Holtz. In a blog entry titled,The future of newspapers (and the $100 I’m going to take from Jose Leal), Shel explains why he is betting a $100 there will still be paper newspapers in 10 years. In part he says:

Print, however, still has strengths. While many newspapers will perish before the industry figures out how to turn things around by playing to those strengths, print journalism will adapt. Print newspapers in 10 years won’t much resemble a newspaper today. My guess is that their focus will be hyperlocal. How good is the web for finding out about the dry clearners opening up down the street or the outcome of the town hall meeting? It doesn’t pay for Joe’s Tavern to advertise on the web when Joe’s customer base is limited to people who live within a two-mile radius. It does pay to advertise in a newspaper that lands on everybody’s front door, that people pick up before they board the train for the city.

Shel's post also has a number of statistics showing the continued strength of print media. Take a look and share it with your friends and especially people who still believe print is a dinosaur. See if they will put their money where there mouth is. And if I'm still blogging here in 2018, we'll revisit this post.