PR pros optimistic about future of print

The future of the printed press might be on shaky ground but many PR professionals are optimistic about its future. According to a recent report on PR Week, 254 PR professionals featured in their Global Power Book (GPB) believe that print media has a long term future. This is compared to just 74 who think that newspapers have had their day.

Some argued that print titles were better suited to long-form, investigative and opinion-based journalism (although this still has to be funded somehow) while celebrity gossip and more throwaway journalism would probably be more at home online. Others argued that print served the needs of consumers who demanded a choice in how they consumed the news – and choice is good – right? But is it profitable?

Such positivity is largely based on an argument that new media has ever fully replaced an existing media. Radio didn’t replace print, television didn’t replace radio, etc.

But is such positivity misguided?

You could argue that while electronic media outlets like TV and Radio can compete with the Internet in terms of breaking news content, a printed product will always be somewhat behind the times. You could also argue that a generation brought up consuming content on a screen will be more than happy reading long-form, investigative news via their laptop, tablet or smart phone than on a awkwardly shapped, dirty, sheet of paper (consider how many people read entire books on mobile devices like the Kindle, iPad or iPhone).

Could the Internet be a much more powerful and disruptive force than the great and the good of the PR industry believe?

Less optimistic voices in the report suggested that print newspapers were “dinosaurs” and will cease to exist “after the boomers generation dies”.

I hate to be so pessimistic, but the less optimistic minority probably have a point.

It’s not just the challenges of declining circulations and advertising revenues that threaten the industry. We’ve also got to consider the print world’s distribution networks. Surely as newspapers decline, the economics behind putting printed newspapers on trucks and distributing them to every corner shop and supermarket in the country become less viable and as a result more expensive.

Some GPB members suggest that print titles in countries where Internet penetration hasn’t quite reached saturation point will continue to fair well. But again it is surely just a matter of time before the digital wrecking ball takes its toll?

As we reported recently, the smartest minds in newspapers are looking to manage the decline of their print products and capitalise on their online efforts.

How optimistic are you about the long-term future of the print newspaper? Is it just a matter of time before they disappear or will the best print titles find their niche and rise again? Share your comments below: