What will the papers say?

Although it is fixated on newspapers, many magazine journalists and publishers make a point of reading the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). Now this venerable magazine has undergone a transformative experience of its own, with a redesign showing up with its March/April issue. Of course, the cover story is a big piece by Robert Kuttner on the future of newspapers in the age of the internet.

Newspapers are embracing the Web with the manic enthusiasm of a convert. The Internet revenue of newspaper Web sites is increasing at 20 percent to 30 percent a year, and publishers are doing everything they can to boost Web traffic. Publishers know they are in a race against time, they are suddenly doing many things that their Internet competitors do, and often better.

The irony is that in their haste both to cut newsroom costs and ramp up Web operations, some newspapers are slashing newsroom staff and running the survivors ragged. At many dailies, today’s reporter is often pressed into Web service: writing frequent updates on breaking stories, wire-service fashion; posting blog items; and conducting interviews with a video camera. If journalism is degraded into mere bloggery, newspapers will lose their competitive advantage, not to mention their journalistic calling.

An equally impressive piece on a similar subject was written on the weekend by Toronto Star columnist (and former Report on Business Magazine editor) David Olive.

The ground is now shifting, and will do so at an accelerating pace over the next two or three years, as the interests of journalists and proprietors begin to diverge. Having dumbed down or at least homogenized their product, newspaper owners now are desperately trying to preserve margins – and keep impatient investors at bay – by destroying their venerable franchises with rounds of layoffs. The "content providers," worried about job security and pensions, are examining their options. So are those few proprietors who understand that you can't shrink to survival, much less greatness.