E-Media Tidbits

Eismcsquare, via Flickr (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license) Are newspapers an endangered species? No, says the author of the "TV is a vast wasteland" speech. Should we believe him?

Are they an endangered species, he asks? "I think the answer is no," he says. "I do not think the Internet will make newspapers fade away because newspapers are in the process of adapting and changing in the new digital world. There will always be a need -- and a market -- for credible, trustworthy information and opinions...

"But newspaper boards are in a panic today because print newspaper classified advertising is declining faster than you can say 'Craigslist.' What is missing thus far is a successful economic model for newspapers to offer their unique products through the Internet. That model will evolve because newspapers create and offer essential service to their communities and to the nation."

Minow became chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission during the term of President John F. Kennedy. Almost immediately, he kicked off controversy with a May 1961 speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, Television and the Public Interest (audio clip available). He urged industry leaders to "sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you -- and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland."

In his recent op-ed piece, Minow notes that his 20-year-old granddaughter Rachel reads The Washington Post online every day while away at college in Oregon. He notes Pew research that 50 million Americans use the Internet for news every day, a number that nearly doubled during the last four years -- and says he would not be surprised if the number doubles again during the next four years. "What will they be reading? If newspapers adapt creatively, they will be reading the newspaper."

Minow is brilliant, and an extraordinary communications expert. But he's also 80 years old, almost 81. I'd be much more impressed if the same sentiments came from Rachel, his granddaughter.

And I can't help but note the irony that he, a former board member of the Tribune Co., is writing for the Chicago Tribune. And I read his comments not on newsprint, but online. And the Tribune Co. itself is now the most endangered of all major newspaper companies (since the fall of Knight Ridder), reviewing its opportunities to stay in business or sell out in some way(s) to the highest bidder(s).