

There is a wide debate on why newspapers are declining. Debate ranges on the emergence of new technologies, leading to a slump in advertisement sales, as people are able to get alternative avenues of advertising their products. Take for example Google. Google, through its advertisement program ad sense has managed to attract a large volume of classified advertisements, and at the expense of the print media. It is because of these kinds of technological revolution that debaters argue has led to the decline of the print media. Other argues that it is not the emergence of innovations in information technology, but the failure of newspaper organizations to adapt to the changes and embrace these new technologies. Debaters who argue on these grounds provide an example of large newspaper organizations such as the New York Times, which have managed to stay relevant, because of their capability to adapt and use the tools of information technology to provide their services. This paper provides a discussion on the growth of the internet and the impact it has on the print media. The major argument of this paper is that the growth of the internet has contributed to a significant decline in the print media.
Get a free price quote
The print media has faced a significant decline because of the emergence of the internet. This is because the internet has made it possible for people to easily access information from bloggers and other reputable writers. Furthermore, the social media, which is a tool of the internet, has made it possible for people to easily collect and disseminate information. This is the traditional role of the newspaper companies. The impact of the internet on the print media is seen in 2009, when a number of newspaper organizations in the United States managed to close, because of the failure of these companies to make profits, and a series of losses facing these companies. Furthermore, it is important to assert that most of these companies closed their businesses because of the failure by owners of these newspaper organizations to identify buyers for their companies. Examples of main metropolitan newspaper organizations include the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post Intelligencer. Another newspaper organization that narrowly escaped closure is the San Francisco Chronicle. This newspaper company managed to escape closure because the employees of the organization made concessions, regarding a cut in their pay, and other cost cutting measures that would enable the company to meet its obligations and raise money that can help it conduct its operations.
A company such as the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press managed to reduce the volume of productions they produced within a given week. Furthermore, these newspaper organizations managed to reduce the number of times that they supplied their newspaper products to three weeks. The Detroit Newspapers encouraged their readers to visit their online sites for purposes of getting information emanating from the sites. A company such as the Tucson Citizen closed its business operations in Arizona, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs. It is important to denote that the Tucson Citizen was the largest newspaper organization in Arizona, and its collapse was an indication of the difficulties that the newspaper industry was facing. It is important to explain that the closure of the newspaper businesses is not the only effect that the emergence of the media has had on newspaper organizations. Another effect is the buying of these companies at a very low price. An example is the San Diego Union-Tribune which was sold for about 50 million dollars, against its value of $ 1 billion dollars as of the year 2004. Newspaper organizations that have filed for bankruptcy as of the year 2010 include the Sun-Times Media Group, The Tribune Company and the Freedom Communications Media Group. The reason for filing for bankruptcy is because of the inability of these companies to find readers of their products. It is therefore possible to assert that the emergence of the new media has had a negative effect on the print media. This negative effect is based on the failure of these organizations to get readers for their articles, because readers prefer to use the internet to acquire the necessary information they are looking for.
Despite these negative effects of the new media to the print media, the newspaper is not dead. This is because newspaper organizations are beginning to experiment with a number of ways that they can earn revenues. One of the methods that these organizations use to stabilize their incomes and increase their revenues is through offering services in social marketing. These companies have also sought to increase their presence in the digital media, and in the United States, almost all the leading newspapers in the country have a digital platform where they can write and produce content for their readers. A good example is the New York Times, and the Washington Post. These companies, together with their print versions, have managed to increase their revenues. By the provision of the social marketing services, newspaper organizations have managed to increase the sources of their revenue streams, hence reducing their over-reliance on advertising. It is important to explain that these strategies are working, and as of the year 2012, newspaper organizations were beginning to make profits, and their share prices increasing. Furthermore, unlike in the 2000s, these newspaper organizations began attracting investors from the year 2012. A company such as the Berkshire Hathaway managed to buy the Omaha Paper and the newspaper plant belonging to the Media General. This is an indication that the newspaper industry is gaining the grounds it lost, through the new strategies adopted by these organizations.
Another important method that the newspaper organizations are using to increase their profits and maintain their market share is through the use of the social media. These companies have a heavy presence in the social media, and example is the New York Times. The New York Times has about 280,000 followers in twitter, while the Chicago Tribune has about 5200 followers. These companies use posts and twitter feeds to highlight their readers on what to expect on their print media, hence increasing the interest of their readers. These companies have also engaged in the business of buying social media platforms, for purposes of using them to collaborate with their advertisers, and link up with their markets. An example is the decision by Gannet Publishers to acquire Ripple6.Inc, which is a social media platform that has the capability of linking marketers to the users of a product. Through these acquisitions, newspaper organizations have managed to improve their revenues, as they are able to access their target market, linking them up with respective marketers.
Finally, the growth of the new media has led to a significant decline in revenues that newspaper organizations get, and the number of these organizations. Because of the internet, and the ease in accessing the internet, it is possible for people to get any type of information. People rely on bloggers, the social media and specific authors to get any kind of information they need. This has resulted to a significant decline in the number of people buying newspapers, hence to loss of profits and business. Most of these newspaper organizations have been forced to close their operations, and some selling their business at a very low amount of money. However, from 2012 onwards, newspaper organizations have come up with a number of strategies aimed at improving the manner, which they are carrying out their operations. They have resorted to increase their revenue streams by engaging in social marketing, and using the social media to create awareness about their products, and to link marketers to the potential users of their substances.