One day, when your grandchildren ask you, “Grandpa, what was
a newspaper?” you can direct them back to Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016.
Last Wednesday the Newspaper Association of America, the
trade group representing the interests of major newspaper publishers founded in
1887, dropped from its name the very word that defined it: “Newspaper.”
The group will be known as the News Media Alliance.
There is one obvious reason behind the change: The number of
newspapers is dropping. The association’s membership was 2,700 in 2008. Today
it is about 2,000.
But the bigger issue, the group’s chief executive, David
Chavern, told me last week, was that the word “newspaper” is meaningless in
reference to many of the group’s members, including The Washington Post, The
New York Times and Dow Jones. They may have newspapers, but they get large
percentages of their readers online. Actually, you can’t even refer exclusively
to “readers” these days when so many millions are “viewers” of online news
video.
Then there are all those digital news organizations that
until now could not join the association because they did not have print
editions — like BuzzFeed or the Independent Journal Review.
“‘Newspaper’ is not a
big enough word to describe the industry anymore,” Mr. Chavern said. “The
future of this industry is much wider.”
The American Society of News (formerly Newspaper) Editors
made a similar decision several years ago.
Today’s industry thinking goes that the modern newspaper —
er, news company formerly known as a newspaper —can maintain
its public service mission while also providing higher-traffic bits online. But
it will most likely have to do so with fewer resources and a smaller
classically trained reporting staff.
“My mantra is, ‘We can’t be the general store that we used
to be,’” Stan Wischnowski, the executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer,
The Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com, told me. “We have to make choices —
we have to use our informed, experienced editors to make really smart
decisions.”
Through online exposure, newspapers are reaching more people
than ever. The problem is how they make money. Circulation for physical
newspapers is declining, and so is print advertising; digital ads remain less
profitable. The trick is finding a way to make up the lost revenue.
Michael J. Klingensmith, the publisher and chief executive
of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and the vice chairman of the soon-to-be
News Media Alliance said “The name change isn’t about not being paper anymore —
it’s really just about expanding opportunities.”
When asked how long newspapers will remain, he answered “I
figure Sunday newspapers will be around at least another 20 years, though I am
not sure I can say the same for the rest of the week.”
That leads back to where this column started. The traditional
newspaper is dying. Anyway, it has an everlasting soul that will live on.
