Can Print Get Skinny?

Reports articulating the online challenge faced by traditional newspapers and magazines continue to dog old media. Time’s story, Do Newspapers Have A Future, seems a bit like the pot calling the kettle black in light of that publication’s troubles. However, given some of the recent headlines, the article asks a fair question. It is getting testy out there with editors defying publishers who are calling for more newspaper staff cuts.

David Goetzl at Media Daily News has a good perspective on this. He contends newspapers and magazines will survive, but they are going to have to go more online and get skinny: living on less revenue. The Web is a radically different business model than newspapers and magazines enjoyed in the old world. Pre-Web, there were enormous barriers to entry in the traditional print world. Huge plants, printing presses and an intricate distribution network kept competitors at bay. No more. While traditional publishing empires still retain a lot of media advantages, the Web has removed many of the biggest, most expensive barriers to entry. You can now publish and distribute for free on the Internet. That doesn’t guarantee you will be able to aggregate an audience like newspapers and magazines have done, but at least the potential is there.

Newspapers and magazines are fighting back. This Financial Times article shows traditional companies are holding their own against the online challenge. To survive—and eventually thrive—old media will have to almost completely reconstitute their business models to be competitive in the ruthless economics of the Web.