The Need For Newspapers

Last week Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, wrote an article in the Huffington Post about the need for newspapers. The full article is here. In the article Rothenberg says that newspapers recent troubles started before the internet and that advertisers "who felt under-served by expensive classified and display ads, and so began departing for the AutoTraders and real-estate weeklies years before Craig even had a List." You would think that a guy who works for the Interactive Advertising industry would go on to discuss all the ways newspapers are dying, but instead he makes a case on why they will survive.

Community is the reason that newspapers will survive. Any when he says community, he's talking about a physical community, not a chat room. Rothberg believes that communities of people will still need some way to find out what is going on locally. Who's running for office, who bought the restaurant down the street, and all the small things that only matter to group of people who live close enough to these events to care. Local news "is necessary to the economic well-being of my community. For my neighbors aren't only consumers: They are producers, too. They are the plumber and the video store owner and the grocer and the propane gas distributor - and they need the local newspaper as much as they need each other."

I can't help but wonder what happens to our local newspapers when companies such as Yodle, ReachLocal, Fwix, and other new local focused news and advertising ventures finally get to the smaller towns and cities? I know that the local paper in my town has been around for over 100 years, but most people agree that it has lost its importance in the community. I think a couple of decent journalists who wanted to cover the local news, and an online advertising service that caters to local business could easily topple the 100+ year old newspaper. Rothenberg believes there will always be a need for a local newspaper, but I'm more skeptical. So many newspapers have been really slow to change their ways and some might have the vision to transform themselves into something relevant in the 21st century, but not all. The local news might not come from the local newspaper, or come in paper form at all.