The Seattle P-I Changes Forever

The sad reality is that newspapers, at least in print format, are not being sought after any longer. Not due to a change in quality per se, rather due to the way the news is presented along with the fact that you must wait until it arrives at your doorstep to before enjoying any of the contents.

Others still, will point to how Craigslists kicked their collective butts in the classified advertising realm. Personally, I feel it is all of the above. Bundle all of this with the rough economy and it translates into a LOT of layoffs.

So while many newspapers continue to circle the drain or simply opt to just give up altogether, it appears the Seattle P-I is not going down without a fight. The Seattle newspaper has given up on print and to a perhaps more important degree, its true “newspaper” format. It will likely end up resembling something of “Jerry Springer meets CNN” with lots of commentary and much less news being reported. The P-I will also be going to an all out online only format. Yes, the printed newspaper is truly dead it seems. And I doubt this will be the first newspaper to make this change, either.

What is interesting is that I remember hearing about this type of prediction back in 2004 or so. You can discover more about how some people saw the end of the newspaper here at this old link. Yet unlike the story told in this video, it seems that it is blog content and Twitter distribution leading the way.

So I will ask again - is this the end of newspapers as we know it? I my mind, I would say it will be survival of those who choose to migrate online exclusively as the printed version is a money pit. That said, I would also point out that doing so does not mean turning your newspaper into a “commentary” website. People still want the local news, it is simply a matter of getting it for free and doing in a convenient, timely fashion.

And so those newspapers that continue trying to push the paid subscription model *only* online, coupled by the tired printed version, will fail at the end of the day. This is a fact that is happening all around us, each and every day.