Electronic Readers Can Save Newspapers, Pundit Asserts
March 3, 2009
You must read David Coursey’s “How Electronic Readers Could Save Newspapers” here. The headline pulled me to the story. The argument pushed me away from agreement with Mr. Coursey. The guts of his argument were:
Washington would give every American taxpayer an amount of money that could only be spent on newspapers and magazines delivered electronically. The amount might be keyed to the amount of taxes paid, but it needs to be in a form that is immediately spendable, such as an online voucher. You could also use the money for a Kindle or a next-generation newspaper reader such as the one Hearst is proposing. Maybe even for a laptop, though that is probably a stretch. The key thing would be supporting new hardware platforms and developing a new business model that supports paid content. I anticipate this will be a multi-year program, but not a forever one. Properly supported, the transition to electronic distribution could be complete in a few years and our newspapers and magazines would be around to see it.
The US government is in debt. Giving money to companies with products Americans are not buying strikes me as a questionable solution. The news business has changed. That change in my opinion is decisive. Give aways can’t roll back demographics, consumer taste, and time.
Stephen Arnold, March 3, 2009
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