The Magazine Publishers of America website is a goldmine of information about magazines and while it’s designed for publishers, independent magazine retailers will find plenty of good ideas. They have posted a link to this article in the Wilson Quarterly publication which paints a bleak picture about the future of mainstream media. Here’s the opening paragraph which several commentators have found alarming:
“It’s premature to write an obituary, but there’s no question that America’s news media—the newspapers, newsmagazines, and television networks that people once turned to for all their news—are experiencing what psychologists might call a major life passage. They’ve seen their audiences shrink, they’ve had to worry about vigorous new competitors, and they’ve suffered more than a few self-inflicted wounds—scandals of their own making. They know that more and more people have lost confidence in what they do. To many Americans, today’s newspaper is irrelevant, and network news is as compelling as whatever is being offered over on the Home Shopping Network. Maybe less.”
It’s good to see the MPA engaging in dialogue about the changing world by drawing attention to pieces like this now in the Wilson Quarterly. We need to extend the discussion to considering the impact of changes on the supply chain, the long term partners of publishers.