The Chicago Sun-Times is the first major US newspaper to stop publishing daily share price listings as announced in this story. Their comprehensive listing has been replaced with a two page summary.
While the Sun-Times story was upbeat and full of spin, the Chicago Tribune reported the story as an imporant news item – heralding a new era:
The Sun-Times appears to be the nation’s first large-circulation daily paper to do away with the tables, though many publications have been trimming them for more than a decade.
Sun-Times business editor Dan Miller did not return a call seeking comment on the move, announced in the newspaper’s Tuesday’s editions.
“It’s a recognition that for a great majority of readers it’s redundant,” said Sun-Times Publisher John Cruickshank. “It’s not an easy way to present the stock. It’s a whole lot easier to go on the Web.”
And further on is this telling par:
Since the dawn of the Internet, newspapers have wrestled with the question of which content should appear in the printed publication and which should be duplicated or appear exclusively online.
This might be a tipping point for newspapers. Publishers are a proud bunch and would not want to be first out of the gate with a change like this. Now that the gate is open it will be interesting to see who follows. The decision demonstrates the power of mobile and online access to time sensitive information. Also, it frees the newspaper to do what the medium does best. It will be crucial that they embrace that opportunity to ensure relevance.