Written: September 5, 2013
Newspapers need some disruption.
The founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos’ buying of The Washington Post is the kind of shake-up that will push newspapers into the digital future.
The selling of The Washington Post in August sparked both anxiety and a renewed hope for the future of newspapers. Several Post employees lamented the switching owners from the Graham family to Bezos in columns and editorials. Bezos also bought several smaller, local newspapers under the Post-Newsweek Media umbrella, including The Gazette.
Bezos isn’t a newspaper man. He doesn’t know about conflicts of interest, the separation of editorial and opinion or the importance of media ethics. But he seems interested in learning. Bezos visited the Post’s Washington D.C. office on September 4, observing staff meetings and newsroom roles. He is a successful entrepreneur and his business knowledge is exactly what the industry needs.
It’s not news that the newspaper industry has been struggling. Print advertising revenue is now 45 percent of what it was in 2006, according to the State of the News Media annual report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Steadily decreasing newspaper revenue and circulation has also caused extensive newsroom cutbacks and layoffs. Since 2000 the newspaper industry saw a 30 percent decline of newsroom staff, according to the Pew report. Can newspapers continue to produce quality products with lessening staff?
In 2011, 450 daily U.S. newspapers out of 1,380 had or planned to create paywalls for their content, according to the Pew report. But paywalls are not the ultimate answer for the industry’s revenue woes.
Advertising is a declining and outdated model, according to Steve Buttry, the digital transformation editor at Digital First Media. And Amazon, the company that fundamentally changed how people read books, succeeds at building a customer base by using data to personalize the experience, according to Fortune Magazine. The newspaper industry needs to learn how to personalize a reader’s experience with a more digitally focused business model instead of relying on advertising. Data and personalization is a big part of the future of digital modes of information.
Digital news sites have extensive information on readers’ likes and interests—and do very little with it. News sites can track email addresses, topics readers like to read, how long a reader stays with one article, where readers live and more, according to The New York Times. Newspapers need to apply these analytics. Amazon collects details of customer likes and guides them to products that might interest them. News sites should better pair reader preferences and stories to increase readership and experiment with a more effective advertising method.
If more newspaper websites are designed with apps in mind, like USA TODAY’s site, more readers will flock to them. These sites are more user-friendly, cleaner and attractive to younger readers.
Bezos’ experience as the founder of Amazon will encourage more digital, tablet and mobile-oriented interactive journalism. His technological expertise will help The Washington Post—and newspapers in general‐make a digital transition quickly and intelligently.
If newspapers can figure out how to effectively design their sites and better use reader data, there will be a great future for them.