Papers beat Internet for news

Rate this:

By Tazz (Contact - View My Woyano)

Published Fri 09 Feb 2007, 416 Views, 0 Comments

This article references an external link -- click here to visit

http://www.ioltechnology....d=3671400&iSectionId=2891

If newspapers had not been invented before the Internet, Sir Anthony O'Reilly is fond of saying, somebody would have had to invent them since. The Independent Newspaper's owner speaks, in some measure, as a romantic, contemplating as a "labour of love" the considerable newspaper acquisitions his widening media empire has made since his first purchase in 1973, and whose liberal inclinations place a higher value on informed opinion than on bytes of data. "They are the only way to make sense of the world around us" But he speaks more especially as a shrewd investor, the proprietorial custodian of a media multinational that is worth a staggering R17-billion, with a presence in both hemispheres, just about every continent - and in cyberspace. If the Internet is not an uncomplicated friend to its print media cousin, it is not simply a foe either, he believes. "But I would make the claim that it is the newspaper, not the Internet, that is the ultimate browser." Sir Anthony, chairman of Independent News and Media, is visiting Cape Town in part to celebrate the Cape Argus's 150th birthday. The longevity of the title, he argues, illustrates the unique strength of a newspaper as a brand. Can anything be "more branded" than a newspaper? "Can you give the Cape Argus away in Sydney? Can you give the Sydney Morning Herald away in London? The answer is no. So what you have is a series of extraordinary confederations of trust and confidence built up over the years between consumer and producer. Not like a blog which can be done société anonyme "What you get is something that you anticipate reading, not like a blog which can be done société anonyme where the originator doesn't even have to put his name to it and you don't know the quality of the knowledge of the person behind it." Newspapers, in contrast, offer "the only way to make sense out of the multiplicity of messages, some genuine, some ersatz, that assault your eyeballs from dawn to dusk". "If you look at the television news, say Sky News, there are four items and two are local murders. That tells you nothing about the world. If you want to be properly educated about the world, the most comprehensive way is through a newspaper… not a mobile phone, not texting and not the Net. "In a good newspaper you get all the news and views, all the commentary and all the gossip, business and sport that you could possibly have. And all for the price of a cup of coffee." Internet bring location-indifference Equally, however, the Internet has "conferred on newspapers a capacity to be location-indifferent in their assembly, from marketing and subediting to pre-press… all this can be outsourced, and through the magic of broadband, the outsourcer is actually in the 'next room', though he may actually be in New Delhi". Much of the (Irish) Sunday tabloids "are put together in Toulouse, France … not a country associated with low-cost operations". "So my view is that it is possible to look at a day when newspapers, in order to survive, will have to be put together more cheaply …" In addition to exploiting the newspaper production advantages of new technologies, Independent News and Media is "ubiquitous across the Internet" with car and property sites, dating sites and airline-schedule cost-comparison sites. Again, though, newspapers have special advantages. "They give you big audiences… and our display is better than television. There's no such thing as pressing a button to get seamless non-advertising-impregnated viewing. With newspapers you can't avoid the advertising. And the Internet just doesn't give you a collection of eyeballs." Print packs a punch. But when he bought into ink, Sir Anthony says, his impulses were not in the least akin to the William Randolph Hearst - or Rupert Murdoch - archetype of an impetuous mogul bent on deploying his newspapers to elaborate political ends. "I reasoned slightly differently. I had had nearly 10 years of experience in marketing and what I learned was that the sanctity… and security of brands relate to trust, and if people trust something … that brand allows security of future purchase and of getting a premium over other products." It seemed at the time "that it was merely a continuation of a craft I had learned, which is that loyalty and commitment and trust are a function of the product you are selling, and there's no more evident an example of that than newspapers". It is on this basis, Sir Anthony explains, that he does not meddle in the editorial process. "I have no interest in the politics of newspapers and no interest in interfering, so long as editors are providing the consumer with a consistently good product. That's the way I judge my editors."

Great content, let me share it! �

Papers beat Internet for news

People who liked this item

0 Comments

Please Login to Add Your Comment ..or..

Replying to comment by