How journalism is disappearing in the Bermuda Triangle
The Future of Newspapers in the U.S. After the Financial and Media Crisis.
"Journalism as we know it is over," writes Geneva Overholser, director of the Journalism School at the University of Southern California and former ombudswoman of the Washington Post, in her "Manifesto for Change". In a cover story for the news magazine Time, its former editor-in-chief Walter Isaacson recently stated that the crisis in journalism had reached "meltdown proportions". And David Carr, media columnist for the New York Times, already speculated two years ago about how historians would assess the current era in retrospect: "There is a certain probability that they will examine this period of American history and be astonished that journalism has disappeared."
Long before the banking and financial crisis came to a head in the fall of 2008, 19 of the 50 largest American newspapers were already in the red - as Dean Singleton, CEO of the MediaNews Group and ruler of an empire of 57 US daily newspapers, announced last summer. Many media experts believe it is possible that some major American cities will soon have to manage without their daily newspapers. As things stand, the wealthy and educated cities of Boston and San Francisco are among the first to suffer this fate.
After the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer had to file for bankruptcy protection, Michael Hirschorn, managing editor at Atlantis and himself an icon of US newspaper journalism, speculated how the New York Times could go bankrupt before the end of the year. He has titled his piece "End Times", which is as simple as it is ambiguous: "End Times" can mean that, but it can also mean "the end of the Times". In it, he also reflects on the consequences such a bankruptcy would have for American society. The conclusion he comes to is not exactly flattering: "Ultimately, the death of the New York Times - or at least its print edition - would be a sentimental moment and a severe blow to American journalism. But a catastrophe? In the long run, maybe not even that."
In America, however, it is not only newspapers whose existence is under threat; along with them, serious journalism is also in danger of disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle, which can only develop to its full potential in large editorial offices with a division of labor. The picture is apt, because newspapers and journalism have come under massive pressure from three sides simultaneously.
Audiences migrate to the Internet
Firstly, readers are migrating to the internet in droves. Of course, publishers had to expect this, especially as they offer everything they print on expensive paper and deliver at high distribution costs for free on the web - usually even earlier and in a more user-friendly format.
Publishers put "everything free" online because they hoped that advertising revenue would migrate from print to the Internet along with users. If this were to happen, the newspaper publishers would be off the hook. After all, they could simply save on their biggest costs - paper, printing and distribution - if the public read their newspaper online instead of rustling paper at the breakfast table.
However, according to a report on the state of the US media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, despite strong growth rates in online offerings, the outlook is bleak here too: "Increasingly, the biggest problem facing traditional media is no longer where people get their information, but how they pay for it. It is becoming apparent that the advertising industry is not moving into the online news sector together with consumers. News offerings and advertising seem to be fundamentally decoupling."
Competition for "lousy pennies" on the Internet
There is competition on the Internet. The competitor hoping for the same advertisers is just a mouse click away. As a result, the margins on advertising revenue that used to generously finance editorial offices are shrinking. "You get lousy pennies on the web" - the lament of online pioneer Hubert Burda could just as easily come from an American publishing powerhouse.
And there is another trend that is affecting publishers: If you are looking for a new girlfriend or want to sell your car, you can now advertise online for free if you are not a trader yourself. The classifieds business, which accounted for 40 percent of newspaper publishers' advertising revenue in the USA just a few years ago, is collapsing at a dizzying pace.
The influence of PR is getting out of hand
The third cornerstone of the Bermuda Triangle receives the least attention in the professional discussion about the future of newspapers. Hardly any other sector of the economy has been as highly upgraded in recent years as the public relations industry. An armada of over 243,000 people are now employed in this sector, compared to only around 100,000 journalists. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency comparable to the Federal Statistical Office, predicts that the number of PR people will grow by a further 18% over the next ten years, while editorial offices will continue to shrink at a no less breathtaking pace.
This further opens the floodgates for public relations work, with editorial offices increasingly turning press releases from companies, ministries and other interest groups into unchecked "journalism" at the click of a mouse. Because this is the case, at least the smarter readers increasingly doubt the credibility of their media - and see less and less why they should pay for it.
Conversely, those responsible for communication in companies, in politics and administration and in non-profit organizations are asking themselves whether they should spend as much money as before on expensive advertising. Many messages can be placed more cheaply and credibly as PR releases in the editorial section. This also takes resources away from the editorial offices. And where these are lacking, it is not possible to do sufficient research; journalism degenerates into sorting work and is in danger of disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle.
However, if journalism no longer works, PR also lacks the most important prerequisite for successful media work: the counterpart in the editorial offices who alone can help their messages gain credibility.
Stephan Russ-Mohl
> Graphic Bermuda Triangle: Trends
This article is an excerpt from Stephan Russ-Mohl's new book "Kreative Zerstörung. The Decline and Reinvention of Newspaper Journalism in the USA" (UVK Konstanz, to be published in mid-September). Stephan Russ-Mohl is Professor of Journalism and Media Management and Director of the European Journalism Observatory (www.ejo.ch) at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.
Long before the banking and financial crisis came to a head in the fall of 2008, 19 of the 50 largest American newspapers were already in the red - as Dean Singleton, CEO of the MediaNews Group and ruler of an empire of 57 US daily newspapers, announced last summer. Many media experts believe it is possible that some major American cities will soon have to manage without their daily newspapers. As things stand, the wealthy and educated cities of Boston and San Francisco are among the first to suffer this fate.
After the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer had to file for bankruptcy protection, Michael Hirschorn, managing editor at Atlantis and himself an icon of US newspaper journalism, speculated how the New York Times could go bankrupt before the end of the year. He has titled his piece "End Times", which is as simple as it is ambiguous: "End Times" can mean that, but it can also mean "the end of the Times". In it, he also reflects on the consequences such a bankruptcy would have for American society. The conclusion he comes to is not exactly flattering: "Ultimately, the death of the New York Times - or at least its print edition - would be a sentimental moment and a severe blow to American journalism. But a catastrophe? In the long run, maybe not even that."
In America, however, it is not only newspapers whose existence is under threat; along with them, serious journalism is also in danger of disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle, which can only develop to its full potential in large editorial offices with a division of labor. The picture is apt, because newspapers and journalism have come under massive pressure from three sides simultaneously.
Audiences migrate to the Internet
Firstly, readers are migrating to the internet in droves. Of course, publishers had to expect this, especially as they offer everything they print on expensive paper and deliver at high distribution costs for free on the web - usually even earlier and in a more user-friendly format.
Publishers put "everything free" online because they hoped that advertising revenue would migrate from print to the Internet along with users. If this were to happen, the newspaper publishers would be off the hook. After all, they could simply save on their biggest costs - paper, printing and distribution - if the public read their newspaper online instead of rustling paper at the breakfast table.
However, according to a report on the state of the US media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, despite strong growth rates in online offerings, the outlook is bleak here too: "Increasingly, the biggest problem facing traditional media is no longer where people get their information, but how they pay for it. It is becoming apparent that the advertising industry is not moving into the online news sector together with consumers. News offerings and advertising seem to be fundamentally decoupling."
Competition for "lousy pennies" on the Internet
There is competition on the Internet. The competitor hoping for the same advertisers is just a mouse click away. As a result, the margins on advertising revenue that used to generously finance editorial offices are shrinking. "You get lousy pennies on the web" - the lament of online pioneer Hubert Burda could just as easily come from an American publishing powerhouse.
And there is another trend that is affecting publishers: If you are looking for a new girlfriend or want to sell your car, you can now advertise online for free if you are not a trader yourself. The classifieds business, which accounted for 40 percent of newspaper publishers' advertising revenue in the USA just a few years ago, is collapsing at a dizzying pace.
The influence of PR is getting out of hand
The third cornerstone of the Bermuda Triangle receives the least attention in the professional discussion about the future of newspapers. Hardly any other sector of the economy has been as highly upgraded in recent years as the public relations industry. An armada of over 243,000 people are now employed in this sector, compared to only around 100,000 journalists. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency comparable to the Federal Statistical Office, predicts that the number of PR people will grow by a further 18% over the next ten years, while editorial offices will continue to shrink at a no less breathtaking pace.
This further opens the floodgates for public relations work, with editorial offices increasingly turning press releases from companies, ministries and other interest groups into unchecked "journalism" at the click of a mouse. Because this is the case, at least the smarter readers increasingly doubt the credibility of their media - and see less and less why they should pay for it.
Conversely, those responsible for communication in companies, in politics and administration and in non-profit organizations are asking themselves whether they should spend as much money as before on expensive advertising. Many messages can be placed more cheaply and credibly as PR releases in the editorial section. This also takes resources away from the editorial offices. And where these are lacking, it is not possible to do sufficient research; journalism degenerates into sorting work and is in danger of disappearing into the Bermuda Triangle.
However, if journalism no longer works, PR also lacks the most important prerequisite for successful media work: the counterpart in the editorial offices who alone can help their messages gain credibility.
Stephan Russ-Mohl
> Graphic Bermuda Triangle: Trends
This article is an excerpt from Stephan Russ-Mohl's new book "Kreative Zerstörung. The Decline and Reinvention of Newspaper Journalism in the USA" (UVK Konstanz, to be published in mid-September). Stephan Russ-Mohl is Professor of Journalism and Media Management and Director of the European Journalism Observatory (www.ejo.ch) at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.
