Newspapers and other publishes made a kill from their importance to audiences by attracting huge interest from business advertisers who wanted to sell their goods and services through the print media now reaching far and wide. Even the onset of radio and the more popular television did not shake off the importance of newspapers, magazines and books, because of the advantages that the print media offered in news communication and information dissemination.

Unlike radio and television which are transient, published material offered that extra value of permanence and reference as sources of news and information, and could be ‘enjoyed’ at one’s time of wish, and when anyone wanted so long as they could get the particular copy.

New technologies and their impact on economic and social importance of newspapers

Then came the Internet and new media publishing capabilities online that have not only provided all these advantages of newspapers, but also allow for particular search of what a member of the audience wants, are accessible any time with chances of on time news and information, and not having to pay for the paper. Many people especially in the developed world have been increasingly getting their news without the need for paper, thus making the newspaper less relevant as a conveyor of news and information.

Since businesses depended on news papers to reach to audiences and to get information from the public, new technologies have enhanced access to specific audiences for businesses looking to sell their products and services in ways that the newspapers and other traditional media could not fathom.  Apart from technologies allowing people to search for the information that they want, there are enormous news and information sources online dedicated to particular issues and audience segments. The new technologies and publishing platforms have also giving advertisers a chance to reach a big section of the audience directly through own publishing and online information distribution. As many people go online to access news and information, spend more time online, advertisers are also spending increasingly online targeting those very online audiences. This has impacted greatly on the revenue of print publishing houses, with some sacking journalists to reduce costs, while some closed down. While newspapers have made a spirited move to go online with their print content, they have provided for free their key asset- an array of well researched and produced news and information.

Even the book publishing industry is while remaining relevant to get out in print form is now relying heavily on the internet, not just taking advantage of self owned websites to market books or publish articles for audiences, but also taking advantage of such new technologies like Twitter and Facebook to market books and other published materials.  Many more books will soon be available online in their original manuscript if Google Books completely takes shape, giving book publishers another opportunity to reach wider audiences, earn more money, but also challenges of engaging and retaining relevance to the widened audience accessing their work.

These new technologies are opening up a lot of opportunities for reaching to a wider and more engaging audience but also dictating that success comes on continuous engagement of the audience and producing what the audience enjoys, want or find relevant on a continuous basis. How book writers and publishers will be equal to this task will depend on their ability to reach a bigger audience, acquire and retain interest in order to deliver the knowledge and understanding they wish to put across through their published works.

SO what is the way forward for traditional media success in new media era?

I strongly believe that Newspapers and other published materials will continue to be relevant to some people. But as more people go online to fulfill their news and information needs, online and mobile phone avail more news and information products, the shrinking newspaper buyers will no longer attract advertisers, and with less advertisers and less readers will come less revenues to support the publishing industry.

The history of publishing shows that newspapers and magazines have kept adjusting their business models to suit and take advantage of the new technologies to deliver more information, faster, to a wider audience and in more engaging ways. But while the new technologies like computers and digital presses have come purposely to help publishes do better business, the internet,mobile and online publishing platform are meant for all to do good business.

It seems to me that those who need to benefit from the new online and mobile based news and information revolution have to produce new products that boosts news and information sharing online and mobile, instead of just taking current products online (read print newspaper articles). Just like we don’t produce the same content for radio and television, new media, especially online and mobile publishing is another media all together and needs products aligned to the kind of platform new media offer. Those who understand this and get to work in that direction while taking advantage of all their resources, and with a genuine commitment to give audiences what they want will be the winners of the internet enabled news and information era.

***This article is an excerpt from a paper that Gerald Businge presented to the New Media class at the University of California Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where he is a Gates Africa Fellow

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