THE BRIEFING: Thanks but How About Telling us Ten Years Ago

I'm watching the Colbert Report and Colbert made a pretty funny comment about newspapers and how they are dying. He said, "if newspapers die, who will publish the obituaries."

I'm a newspaper guy. I've spent the greater part of the last fourteen years involved in the industry in some capacity. I started when I was in high school as a youth reporter for a local paper and grew from there. I've even run a few publications as both editor and publisher, as well as being a graphic designer. It pains me to see the industry struggling but really through no fault of their own. They never quite jumped onto the technology bandwagon, even some of the huge publications missed the boat on that one. And when they finally did they made the decision that they wouldn't charge for the content. It's probably a decision they are kicking themselves for now. Many consumers just gobble up their online content and keep their print product on the shelves, causing many newspapers to scramble for revenue.

Many folks have come to expect the newspaper daily. It's just something about being able to hold a newspaper in your hand with a cup of coffee nearby reading the news.

But so many more just reach out to the internet for all of the endless content provided online. With a few clicks of a button you have the stocks, the weather, the sports and just about anything else you need. Ironically enough, I read about the newspaper industry falling apart online on my iphone.

The only way for newspapers to survive is to revamp themselves. To pull themselves out of bankruptcy they need to cut circulation, redevelop the product and go high tech in the process. In order for local newspapers to survive, they need to cover just local news that you can't get on any of the major news media sites. No one wants to read about a story that was covered the day before on television, especially with the 24 hour news cycle that has been created by television media. By the time it's printed, it's old news. The thing that many folks don't know is that the newspaper industry is run by a bunch of old heads for the most part, and they are reluctant to change. Who knows if there is anyway to really save the industry.

I thought the following story was interesting about how Google is offering advice to the industry but how the advice may be a little too late. (Google Offers Advice to Newspapers).

"Here lies the newspaper industry..."