Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism has released an interesting research on the state of American newspapers. The news, at first glance, does not seem as good as usual. For every dollar that the 38 newspapers surveyed earn from online activities, they lose 7 from print ones. Digital revenues are still far from covering the high costs of quality and no one has yet found a solution. But the dailies will survive, they will only be downsized in staff and distribution area.
In the newsrooms, notes the Pew's Project, the war has restarted between journalists who are supporters of online and those of paper. As available resources dwindle, there is a lively struggle and discussion to decide who should go to. The experts at the research center suggest putting an end to these rearguard battles once and for all, putting online men and women in power and relegating those who come from paper to secondary roles. It is time to end it, they argue, with the ostracism of innovators, to whom the field must be left free.
But the most interesting and positive news of the survey is that more and more newspapers have raised online payment barriers in defense of their content. The New York Times model, which grants free access to a limited number of articles and requires payment if you want to consult more services, is increasingly imitated. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp plans to adopt the same system, as will the Gannett Group and many other local newspaper chains. Finally, publishers and journalists have realized that distributing their content online for free destroys the print product without making adequate revenue from advertising revenues. Instead of committing suicide, they raised their heads and resumed the fight. If you really have to die, it's better to do it at least in a dignified way
