Poll: Inspired by "Heroes": Where will newspapers be in five years?

Cuts at the LA Times. Cuts at the Sentinel in Orlando. Cuts at the Baltimore SUn. Cuts at the Dallas Morning News last year.

Sobering times. Thanks in advance for responses.

(Yes, I know this thread gets done every few weeks now. The twist is this time . . it's a POLL! ).

 

I voted for "Continuing to survive." If I thought I wouldn't have a job in five years, I wouldn't be doing this.

 

People ages 40-65 form the core circulation of most papers these days, I presume. A great share will continue subscribing for 20-plus years, albeit with some slippage.
Meanwhile, more news goes online.
How is that paid for?
Newspapers are going to have to get smart like Google and Yahoo and MySpace about how to make money off advertising and marketing online.

Perhaps the future model of newsgathering media in cities are nonprofit trusts somewhat similar to St. Pete. No shareholder profit pressure, etc.

 

i haven't voted yet, because my initial response was "sending many talented people to pr." then i remembered, the pr field already is flooded with folks looking for work, too.

maybe i'll vote that an ice age will take folks like us out of our misery.

 

I wish this to stop.
I'm tired of people in industry looking at Dean Singleton for guidance or vision.
He is a pillager. He ruins community trusts, kills newspapers and ruins lives. His products, with a couple of exceptions, are a collections of wire reports with local government and prep sports.
It may work in the short term, and he will make his money.
But, as the years move forward, there are less reporters, less editors and less quality. And, his product parabola isn't a new phenomenon. He's been doing it for 25 years.
Let's look for guidance and vision. But, let's look elsewhere.

 

I have no idea where we'll be in five years, though I suspect we'll be still having this same discussion, but I do know for a fact that I was sure that a journalism topics thread would never be inspired by Heroes.

 

circulation and ad revenue further down.
layoffs and buyouts up.
smaller staffs in general.
less travel in sports.
shorter story lengths.
less quality overall, that will go largely unnoticed.
and arrogant, stupid local tv people laughing at us for being so dumb and naive as to stay in this dying business as long as we have. we've had only had, what, 20 years to see this coming?

 

Most of us will still be working. The bleeding has to end sometime. I still see people at bus stops reading papers every morning. A lot read on the internet. But reading the morning paper before work is just a part of so many people's lives, I don't think it will completely disappear.