Newspaper and Internet - Case Study Example

Survival of the Newspaper, Impact of the Internet It is a known fact that the newspaper is a product of man's innovativeness and desire to improve the life by finding a way other than tales and stories to communicate and record the events to other members of the society. One can decipher from the history of newspaper that it was a product of necessity and invention as civilization matures, the emergence of middle class, promotion of democracy in the spirit of free enterprise and rising standard of professionalism. The first newspaper was published in Beijing in 748 (newspaper-industry.org, n.d.). The paper reported further that the first daily newspaper circulated in 1702 in London and was called The Daily Courant. It was further revealed that in 1754, the first commercial newspaper The Daily Advertiser was published in London. In the U.S., earlyamerica.com, (n.d.) revealed that their first daily newspaper Boston News-Letter came out of circulation on April 1704. Since its inception, the newspaper is strictly for news and it was only in 1856 that commercial advertisements was discovered as a profitable endeavor by newspaper New York Ledger (Bellis, 2008). The invention of the radio in 1920 and television in 1939 did not affect the popularity of the newspaper as source of news and an effective ads placement alternative. Williamson (n.d. 23rd par.) revealed that "Most all the major stores are getting back to the basics and finding the print advertising to be the best return on investment". In 1973, the internet was discovered by Vinton Cerf (ideafinder.com, 2007). It is a known fact that the internet is also a provider of news and ideas much like the newspaper. Critics conclude that internet will cause the slow death of the newspaper and the people economically dependent on it. The conclusion is based on the fact that the internet provide what the newspaper can for free. Based from this, one need not spend a dime to buy newspaper just for the news and ads because there is the internet, providing them what they need free of charge. This paper 2 aims to document and analyze the strength and weakness of the newspaper compared to internet and come up with strategies in order to survive in the context of customer service operation and excellence. Business Management experts agree that the obvious first step in order to come up with strategies for survival of a business enterprise is determine the developed perception of the customers about the business. The general truth suggests that this is of prime importance for the reason that perceptions should be well addressed in the formulation of strategies and action plans. Burns (2000), a university professor and a web site owner said that in case of a daily traveler, newspaper is still the choice over the internet for the simple reason that he has to download and print the crossword puzzle in order to work at it while on a public transport going to office. He continued by saying "Well, now you have to print it out, or download it onto a laptop for the trip. You're back to hauling things around again." (24th par.). A blogger by the pen name Lockergnome (2005) reported that what he usually read from the newspapers today are the news he read from the internet site yesterday. The blogger continued by saying that if all readers will finally realize this, surely they will not buy newspaper anymore, waste their time reading because what they are reading is already history. In the end, the perception being shown here is with newspaper, the happenings are not in real time unlike with internet. Another blogger by the name of Farsha (2007) feels that internet is not effective as newspaper in areas where access to the World Wide Web is limited. Farsha further said that if continues presence in the mind of the customer is needed to promote a product or service, then a heavy bombardment of ads in the internet is need if the area is accessible to the web. In areas where local campaign for products and services is needed, then newspaper is the answer. It only shows according to the blogger, that internet 3 and newspapers are complimenting each other. On the real estate advertising, real estate on line listing is the quickest and easiest to find as claimed by free-press.com (n.d.). The website also reported that in the case of on line real estate advertising, one can view the actual pictures in vivid colors compared to black and white pictures in newspapers. Also, claimed by the free-press.com is the ease of following up the status of the real estate for sale as the ad is being updated weekly and so the customer interested can easily follow-up at a click of a mouse whether the real estate is already sold or still available for sale. The point here is that in on line real estate advertising, the customer can easily make follow up and make decision compared to newspaper wherein the customers have to make cumbersome phone calls to follow-up. The other perception that customers have in mind is the free news and ads offering by the internet. The big question is how long can the newspaper survive in the face of these free offerings. A BBC Click reporter said "The big question facing major papers is how they can compete with free. News used to be a saleable commodity, now they seem to be giving it away" (Reid 2006, 13th par.), Analyzing very closely the statement, the developed perception is, it will be the end of the line of the newspapers; they are making money by selling the news and ads and now the internet is giving them away for free. It must be remembered that before one can be a columnist in a newspaper, one should be a journalist. Bloggers in the internet cannot be compared with journalist in the way they report news. A blogger named Jason (2004), stated that "Newspapers have to show people that they provide services that you simply can't get anywhere else. Blogs can't produce 6-part series' exposing unsafe working conditions, they can't produce in depth features on politicians, businessmen, [']". The statement in effect is saying that journalist is the strength of the newspaper and they 4 should operate around using their strength. Closely analyzing the business situation, one will agree that newspapermen are not well aware in operating website platforms for them to go on line. Their strength is writing and reporting news . A number of newspaper owners have shifted their operation gradually on line; meaning they have their own version of their newspaper on line. The philosophy here is patterned from the move of one of San Diego newspaper owners by name of Rupert Murdoch. This was reported by blogger Mike Hogan (2005). This blogger reported that "Murdoch is spending big bucks-$1.5 billion so far-to become a big player in the Internet. Ironically, these acquisitions are well outside the News Corp.'s traditional newspaper business" (Mike Hogan 2005, 3rd par.). According to the blogger, the philosophy of Murdoch is "hey if you can't beat 'em join 'em." (3rd par.). The question now is how about the website platform. Journalist cannot effectively set up this for them to be operational online. The answer came from blogger Jeff Jarvis (2008) who suggested that in as much as Google or Yahoo is adept in computer technology, marketing and selling ads, newspaper should give the internet job to them and concentrate on the journalistic content of their on line web site. The blogger further said that if Google can freely accommodate bloggers in their site, there is no reason why they cannot accommodate the newspaper. Both Google and the newspaper will make profit from advertisers than with bloggers alone. From the perspective of customer service operations and excellence, the perceptions and problems to be addressed were now identified. They are as follows: 1. The news in the paper is not in real time compared to the net. 2. From the perspective of a customer interested in real estate ads, the ads in the newspaper are not attractive enough to gain genuine attention now that they can see vivid pictures 5 on line. Moreover, the newspaper ads are not updated regularly unlike in on line ads. 3. The over-all perception is that the newspaper industry is slowly dying due to the fact that the internet is offering free of charge the news and ads that represents almost 40% of the newspaper's revenue. As regard the news quality content in the internet, customers are saying that it lacks depth and analysis unlike in the newspaper. From the information we have presented, it appears that the columnists are bloggers and lack the training and knowledge of a journalist as to how reporting of the news should be handled. Moreover, the internet can only be accessed with the use of computer and those areas with no internet service suffer. Those in the newspaper industry can feel the winds of change and they are trying to adapt to the preference of the customer. As early as 2005, the American Society of Newspaper Editors realized the changing preference of the customer towards news media. This acceptance of needed adaptation to changes in order for them to survive the onslaught of the internet was reflected in the speech of Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corporation and Fox News. The CEO declared the following ( Murdoch, 2005, 10th par.): We need to realize that the next generation of people accessing news and information, whether from newspapers or any other source, have a different set of expectations about the kind of news they will get, including when and how they will get it, where they will get it from, and who they will get it from. This speech gave rise to development of on line newspapers to cope up with the expectations of the reading public. This move by the newspapers erased the perceptions that the newspaper industry is dying and setting aside the changing preference of the public. The setting up of the newspaper on line gave an energizing shot to the new breed of reading public, the young and adult alike. The naa.org (2007) released a survey result conducted by 6 Nielsen//Net Ratings which favorably attest to the acceptance of the public of the on line newspapers. Among other things, the survey revealed the following: Newspaper Web site visitors are online much more often than other Internet users. 72.6 percent are online every day, versus just 57.8 percent of overall Internet users. In addition, 87.8 percent of newspaper Web site visitors are online five or more times each week. Newspaper Web site visitors are better educated, are more likely to have higher household incomes and more likely to hold professional or managerial positions than other Internet users. They are more likely to make purchases online than other Internet users. The findings revealed that the newspaper reading customers have shifted their preference of accessing the information they need to online newspapers; whether it be news or ads for the things they want to buy. The survey company also revealed the newspaper offline activities directly related to shopping as a result of online newspaper ads as follows: 88.1 percent purchased online in past 6 months vs. 78.9 percent of all Internet users. 60.3 percent shopped online for airline tickets and reservations in past 30 days vs. 47.4 percent. 54.8 percent shopped for books online vs. 37.9 percent. 53.6 percent researched a product for purchase for home in past 30 days vs. 37.2 percent. 21.2 percent shopped for real estate online vs. 14.8 percent. 14.8 percent plan to purchase computer hardware online vs.9.4 percent. 41.7 percent went online for travel purchases in past 30 days vs. 31.1 percent. 52.2 percent planned a trip in past 30 days vs. 38.8 percent. 21.8 percent shopped for music online in past 30 days vs. 13.4 percent. 24.5 percent shopped for home electronics in past 6 months. vs. 15.4 percent. The survey also revealed that increase in households with Wi-Fi connections was also observed. This shows that consumers really appreciate the presence of online newspaper news and advertisement and if possible will do away with the print media. Moreover, these findings prove that the perceptions and shortcomings of the newsprint were given answers and properly addressed. Much more important is the volume of money going in to the online newspaper company owners as a result of their change in strategy. A proof to this statement 7 is provided by Schonfeld (2008). According to this techcrunch.com guy, a total of about $1 billion dollars worth of advertising campaign was funneled to the web at the expense of TV and print media. This also showed the changing preference of advertisers in favor of the net over the newspaper and TV. This can be favorably correlated to the findings of Nielsen related to the increased shopping activities of the consumers as influenced by on line newspaper advertisement. This paper identified the arguments for and against the newspaper in the light of its survival from the onslaught of the internet from the standpoint of customer service operation and excellence. In order to survive in the business battle, it was once again proven that the customer runs supreme. The philosophy is listen to them, know what they want and deliver to them no more no less. Incisive examination of the situation revealed that newspaper business is really in the verge of collapse. More and more people are attracted to the internet due to its real time presentation of the news and video reporting of newscasters. The ads are excellently placed and key words were chosen and in placed. The print media people were somewhat slow to react to the changing preference of customers for the reason that they have been in the business for centuries and knew already the in and outs. In short, it is really very hard for people who are in their comfort zone to wake up and try new alternatives. It is for the reason that they believe too much in themselves and feel that no new comers can try to slice the share of the market they developed for centuries in so short a time. The internet did a lot of studying before they finally penetrated the market. They followed the general rule in marketing and that is give the consumer what they want and they will give in return what you want. The internet was discovered in 1973 and it took about 20 years before the newspaper 8 industry realized that they will be really driven to extinction by the newcomer. The decision of the newspaper industry to unite and closely analyze the situation, go out of their comfort zone and accept their shortcomings in terms of forcing the customer to take what they have been offering in place of a new innovation that will change their lifestyle and be more productive is a right move geared for their survival. The customer prefer a much better product. The newspaper industry joined the producer of the product to show to the customer that they are very important people. By electing to have an on line presence, the newspaper industry did a very excellent customer service. Their on line presence is further strengthened by the journalists who were the polisher of the news and everything they bring in online. The news now were analytically presented in addition to its depth and excellence which a common blogger cannot do. They let the other internet functions outsourced so that they can concentrate operating on their strong points. By doing this, you also helped your nemesis which turned out to be your partner in order to be successful in this case, they are the internet savvy people. In summary, we have pinpointed the preference of the customer and that is to enjoy a real time access to news with depth and excellence in presentation and at the same time as handy as the newspaper. The industry will survive because they gave an excellent customer service by electing to have an online version of their newspaper. Increased commercial activities followed as reported by Nielsen and witnessed in real time and in vivid color. Both the newspaper and the internet are now making money as a result of them joining hands and not trying to eliminate each other. Investment in newspaper business can be pulled out from developed countries and channeled in less developed areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America where the internet is not yet well established 9 References Newspaper-industry.org. (n.d.). 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Available from http://www.lockergnome.com/political/2005/11/01/the-internet-vs-the-newspaper-and- my-dog/[Accessed 1 August 2008] Farsha, ( 12 January 2007). Newspaper should really worry. Newspaper vs. The Internet (on line). Available from http://www.betachurch.org/2004/11/24/newspapers-vs-the-internet/. [Accessed 1 August 2008] Free-press.com (n.d.).Newspaper Real Estate Listings vs. Online Real Estate Listings (on line). Connecticut.Connecticut Real Estate Agent Directory. Available from http://www.free-press.com/article.cfm/id/308547. [Accessed 1 August 2008] Murdoch, R. (2005). Speech by Rupert Murdoch to the American Society of Newspaper Editors.(on line). Texas. News Corporation. Available from 11 http://www.newscorp.com/news/news_247.html. [Accessed 1 August 2008] Naa.org. (2007). Nielsen//NetRatings Data Highlights Attractiveness of Newspaper Web Site Audience. (on line). Washington. Available from http://www.naa.org/Resources/Articles/Digital-Edge-Nielsen-NetRatings-Data- Highlights-Attractiveness-of-Newspaper-Web-Site-Audience/Digital-Edge-Nielsen-NetRatings-Data-Highlights-Attractiveness-of-Newspaper-Web-Site-Audience.aspx [ Accessed 1 August 2008] Shonfeld,E. (2008). Top 100 Advertisers Shifted $1 Billion To The Web Last Year At The Expense Of TV and Newspapers. (on line).California. Techcrunch.com. Available from http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/top-100-advertisers-shifted-1-billion-to-the- web-last-year-at-the-expense-of-tv-and-newspapers/. [Accessed 1 August 2008] Read More