Concerns: the future of Newspaper

A few decades ago, the traditional newspaper is transferring to multiple 360-degree products. Usually it has a paper copy, paper subscription, online website, online subscription or apps. The more ways to develop the newspaper the more concerns are raised among journalists. I have talked with a journalist from Asahi Shimbun (a Japanese top one newspaper  in Japan with over a hundred year history). They are trying to develop online vision and increasing tablet descriptions, however young generation contains the habit and a thought of “news is free” which results in sales decreasing. People especially young generations think the newspaper is a mean to convey information, and people can select what they feel interested in.

Therefore, a question is raised up: what is a good quality of the news the journalists can provide and eventually increase the sales volume  Actually, this question is complex and could be seen as paradox. Offering a good news might be on the other side of the business. Sometimes, a newspaper will relate to the politics and the business, too many advertisements embedded in the news will have a negative impact on the quality of the news. A good news to a information receiver might they get personal interest message receiving, however, that Japanese journalist think a good quality of news should get more close to the truth and dig out more background stories and express ideas  with all aspects but not only offer what people interest in.

Moreover, the free news provider like guardian also makes the other newspaper felt stuck in a trouble. Guardian can choose to offer free news because English is a world-wide language and has a such amount of readers. It can take this language advantage to launch to other countries but not only in UK. However, Japanese newspaper has a language limitation. It’s not like Chinese, we have a huge amount Chinese users in the world. If Asahi Shimbun wants to be international or global, it will take more time.

So, there is no way for newspaper to develop?

What about newspaper choose a business model that give free and quality news but gathering information through this platform and then use this gathered information to invest in other areas to make money, and eventually use earned money to develop newspaper. It’s more likely a producing circle.