The Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers’ Association (PANPA) has just held it’s annual conference and today’s Australian newspaper reports several interesting items from the event:
Andrew Jaspan of The Age talked about the need for newspapers to have brand clarity. At least five speakers quoted the Rupert Murdoch speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in April where he said newspapers had been ‘caught napping’ by the digital revolution. (Following the speech News Corporation has dramatically ramped up its Internet strategies.)
The challenges faced by newspapers (and their supply chain), often discussed in this tiny space in the blogoshpere are: faster, easier and funkier mobile access options; disconnect with the younger demographic; relevance; lack of brand respect; growth in citizen desire for involvement in reporting news; and, a dramatic new paradigm for advertising which challenges the economic model of newspapers.
Newsagents are well placed to have a conversation with publishers about these matters since we are at the coal face every day and interacting with current and would be newspaper consumers.