Big Internet Hopes for Fading Newspaper

Except for small, local dailies and alternative newsweeklies, the newspaper business is struggling more than ever. With the closure of several large-market dailies, the future looks ominous. First-quarter returns on print advertising came in 25 percent lower than last year, and even Internet advertising was 13 percent off.

A new online news-providing venture, Journalism Online, offers to reverse this tide by gathering reliable online and print content and charging an Internet subscription fee of $25 per month, or $300 per year, then divvying up earnings between participating publications. The company projects netting 10 percent of Internet users who are interested in reading only good coverage out there, gathered from the top newspapers and magazines. Could this be the answer for struggling mass-market newspapers like the The New York Times and its underling, The Boston Globe, both currently in union talks to negotiate pay cuts? Content that was once free and paid for in click-through advertising revenue would now be pulled for exclusive use through Journalism Online.

While media moguls and publishers scramble to discover the new Internet model to replace printed paper, author Dave Eggers believes that print simply needs to evolve. Eggers sent a mass e-mailing three weeks ago after receiving overwhelming response to a talk he gave to the Author's Guild. In the message, he wrote optimistically that the print version of the newspaper is still in huge demand, it's just that the content needs to be better. “If you really truly give readers an experience that can't be duplicated on the web—then they will spend $1 for a copy,” he wrote. “And that $1 per copy, plus the revenue from some (but not all that many) ads, will keep the enterprise afloat... This is a time to roar back and assert and celebrate the beauty of the printed page.” Eggers promises to bring the issue to the fore at his publishing website, McSweeney's.net.

Both plans are plausible and media watchers will be paying attention to what develops. If Journalism Online threw in free archival use for all the big market periodicals like The Washington Post and The New York Times (who now charge for archived stories), more subscribers would be likely be lured, as many Internet readers enjoy poring over excellent dated content as well as new. Good journalism is simply good journalism, and with Internet, shelf life is endless.