Newspapers Don't Get it

My dad and I were recently discussing the problems that newspapers are facing. He believes that the decline of newspapers is related to an intellectual decline of the potential readers. As someone who has quite possibly never read a blog or used digital media as a primary source for news, it is easy to see how he would reach this conclusion. There also may be some truth to the fact that people have become accustomed to getting their news in sound bites and are less likely to read an in-depth news story or listen to a lengthy report.

Regardless, I think the major problem facing newspapers is really an issue of the market. Newspapers simply do not usually offer something that you cannot get anywhere else. The product is no longer unique. For decades much of the content in newspapers has been nothing more than regurgitation of wire reports. With online media and round-the-clock cable news, we all get these stories on an hourly basis. Reprinting an AP story a day or two later in the paper doesn't give me much reason to subscribe. Except for local news, advertisements and the occasional original piece, they are really just a "me-too" product.

Mark Cuban has a great post about this on his blog today. I think he offers a credible opinion on this issue.