Eric Beecher, CEO of Crikey, Peter Lynch, Executive Editor, Editorial and Business development at Fairfax and Tony Hale, CEO of The Newspaper Works participated in a round table at the Media and Broadcasting Congress in Sydney yesterday. It was 2 against 1 as Lynch and Hale spun and denied for their masters about the impact of the Internet and mobile technology on newspapers and Beecher draw our attention to the move of advertising revenue away from newspapers and online, that newspapers are bleeding classified revenue and that this is their lifeblood. The audience was clearly with him on this – most were from the online space. While neither Lynch or Hale addressed the classified problem, Hale did counter with “Classifieds are moving online at the speed of a receding glacier”. Hmmm Not the best analogy. Hale talked up free newspapers and Lynch even hinted that Fairfax could play (again) in this space.
Beecher made the point several times that he likes newspapers and good journalism. His core concern is that newspaper publishers are in denial. Based on yesterday’s performance in the round table I’d agree. Lynch and Hale ignored the big issues and would have us believe that it is business as usual. The investments of their parent companies tell a different story. I would have thought that if newspapers were as valued by consumers as Lynch and Hale suggest, then the cover prices ought to reflect the added value. Instead, the cover price is used to restrict revenue share and to ensure consumers don’t have a reason to reconsider their habit.
Ten days ago at the newspaper conference I attended in Vienna I heard from newspaper publishers who would have laughed had they been listening to Lynch and Hale yesterday. In Vienna newspaper publishers were proud to talk about how they are pursuing revenue online and with free models to deliver the revenue necessary to fund good journalism. Many said the product as we know it today has no future.
Newsagents reading this should be concerned about the future of their current business model. Not next year and probably not in 2008, but soon, newspaper sales will fall. Just as publishers rely on classified revenue to fund other parts of their business, newsagents rely on newspapers for traffic, they are central to what a newsagency is. The fall in newspaper sales will bring about changes in the distribution model which will affect our businesses. This is why we need to listen to people like Eric Beecher – his newspaper editorial and management background make him well qualified to observe and comment. We need to be better informed about what lies ahead so that our business plans today can reflect a more truthful view of the future.