Story from the Mercury News, Originally Posted on SiliconValley.com
By JOHN MURRELL
How sad is the state of U.S. newspapers? So sad that even politicians are offering sympathy, kind words and concern. Saying that "newspapers look like an endangered species," Sen. John Kerry, D.-Mass., opened a subcommittee hearing Wednesday by running down a list of print casualties and depressed share prices, saying, "We're here today to talk not only about the conditions that have led to these jolting statistics, but about the path that lies ahead for news delivery, and how during a time of great creative destruction within the market for news delivery we might preserve the core societal function that is served by an independent and diverse news media." What the lawmakers heard from witnesses was nothing new to those who have been following this discussion for a while, but the testimony did manage to hit most of the major points in the debate. A sampling:
* The "Google as parasite" banner was carried by Dallas Morning News publisher Jim Moroney, who recommended tax relief for publishers, along with temporary antitrust protection to let them work together to try to squeeze some revenue out of the aggregators. "We don't want to pull out of the digital ecosystem," he said. "We just simply want a fair compensation for the content that we publish." Saying government-sanctioned collusion would also give newspapers more leverage with potential new distribution partners, Moroney scoffed at the current terms being offered by Amazon for inclusion in the Kindle news stand. "The Kindle, which I think is a marvelous device — the best deal Amazon will give the Dallas Morning News, and we've negotiated this up to the last two weeks, they want 70 percent of the subscriptions revenue," he said. "I get 30 percent, they get 70 percent. On top of that they have said we get the right to republish your intellectual property to any portable device. Now is that a business model that is going to work for newspapers?"* Google VP Marissa Mayer offered the aggregators' counterpoint, saying, "Google News and Google search provide a valuable free service to online newspapers specifically by sending
interested readers to their sites at a rate of more than 1 billion clicks per month. Newspapers use that Web traffic to increase their readership and generate additional revenue." But after Google delivers readers, she said, it's up to the newspaper to hold on to them, in part by recognizing that the basic unit of consumption in journalism is no longer the full newspaper, but individual stories. "To make an article effective in a standalone setting requires providing sufficient context for first-time readers, while clearly calling out the latest information for those following a story over time," she said. "It also requires a different approach to monetization: each individual article should be self-sustaining." Allowing an ongoing story to evolve over time under a consistent URL would also build authority and repeat traffic, she said. And those visitors who arrive via search need to be kept engaged, she added. "Publishers should not discount the simple and effective navigational elements the Web can offer," said Mayer. "When a reader finishes an article online, it is the publication's responsibility to answer the reader who asks, 'What should I do next?' Click on a related article or advertisement? Post a comment? Read earlier stories on the topic?"
* Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the online Huffington Post, said too much of the current debate was focused on preserving the printed product. "The future of quality journalism is not dependant on the future of newspapers," she told the panel. "We are actually in the midst of a golden age for news consumers. The discussion needs to move from 'How do we save newspapers?' to 'How do we strengthen journalism? — via whatever platform it is delivered.'" The old paradigms of the business are fading fast, she said: "The future is to be found elsewhere. It is search engines. It is online advertising. It is citizen journalism and foundation-supported investigative funds."
* Citizen journalism is no substitute for the work of trained and experienced reporters, said David Simon, a former Baltimore Sun writer and the creator of the HBO series "The Wire." "High-end journalism is a profession," he testified. "I am offended to think that anyone, anywhere believes that American institutions as insulated, self-preserving, and self-justifying as police departments, school systems, legislatures, and chief executives can be held to [account] ...by amateurs, pursuing the task without compensation, training, or for that matter, sufficient standing to make public officials even care to whom it is they are lying or from whom they are withholding information.''
* Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., touted his Newspaper Revitalization Act, which would allow newspapers to operate as educational nonprofit entities with a tax status similar to public broadcasters, churches and hospitals. "Despite the 24/7 availability of news from print, broadcast and digital sources, there remains one clear fact: When it comes to original in-depth reporting that records and exposes actions, issues, and opportunities, nothing has replaced a newspaper," he said.
Meanwhile, some publishers are putting their hopes in the prospect of gaining paid subscriptions to digital content via a new generation of portable tablets. As rumored, Amazon on Wednesday introduced the Kindle DX, a larger-format e-reader pitched as suitable platform for newspapers, documents and textbooks. The educational applications will be tested by several colleges and textbook publishers, said Amazon, while three newspapers — the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post — will participate in a pilot program under which they will subsidize part of the $489 price of the Kindle DX for readers who commit to a long-term subscription, but only if they live outside the printed paper's circulation area. And News Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch reportedly has a global team of executives working on a plan for a Kindle-like piece of hardware that would give his papers a vehicle for charging readers for content.
