Newspapers and journalists shift to all-digital formats
by March 16, 2009 2:20 pm 79 views
Events in Seattle and Denver possibly present examples of what’s to come.
Monday (Mar. 16) brought two more examples of the revolution and/or decline and/or transformation of the newspaper industry.
Hearst Corporation announced today that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I) will become the nation’s largest daily newspaper to shift to an entirely digital news product. The final print issue of the newspaper will appear tomorrow (Mar. 17).
“The P-I has a rich 146-year history of service to the people of the Northwest, which makes the decision to stop publishing the newspaper an extraordinarily difficult one,” noted a statement from company officials. “We extend our profound gratitude and admiration to our P-I colleagues who have done such an exemplary job under extremely difficult circumstances over the past several years. Our goal now is to turn seattlepi.com into the leading news and information portal in the region.”
On January 9, Hearst announced that it was offering for sale the P-I and its interest in the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) under which the P-I and The Seattle Times are published. No buyers emerged, resulting in the decision to move to an all-digital news model. The P-I was founded in 1863 as the Seattle Gazette.
WHAT TO DO IN DENVER …
Also on Monday, former journalists with the Rocky Mountain News announced the launch of “In Denver Times,” an online and real-time new source for the Denver area.
The Rocky Mountain News, a newspaper in business for almost 150 years, was recently closed by owners who had attempted but failed to sell the property.
In Denver Times will provide free news content and for about 16 cents a day subscribers will have access to the insights, columns, and perspectives of INDT journalists, along with live interactive chats, new applications, mobile feeds, and advanced technologies.
“Thousands of loyal Denver readers and journalism supporters across the country have encouraged us to continue delivering our high standard of professional journalism to the Mile High City,” said Steve Foster, a former Rocky journalist and an INDT founder. “We’re prepared and excited to deliver the highest quality content in an innovative platform; however, to make this vision a reality, we need all our supporters and Denver’s citizens to subscribe today.”
The new entrepreneurs noted in their press release that they need 50,000 subscribers by April 23, 2009. Once that goal is met, the full site will launch on May 4, 2009.
“This online, subscriber format reinvents the old newspaper model while preserving the role and importance of journalism in our community,” said Founder Kevin Preblud. “As entrepreneurs, we believe that great journalism can still be good business. Given the precarious position in which so many local newspapers find themselves, we should all hope this model succeeds.”