Newspapers: dead (wood) on arrival?

Image by Pexels from Pixabay.

The future of newspapers is the topic of conversation today over on the PR Week blog. It includes a brief quote from me, so here’s the director’s version (i.e. the full-length original comment):

Paper is still a fantastic medium: cheap, light, flexible, versatile, environmentally friendly and never has a flat battery. People are still willing to pay for information too, not just books but magazines like the Economist are seeing their circulations prosper. Print media can’t just continue as before but there are plenty of opportunities for it to survive.

Paper as a format has much to commend it and printed newspapers have seen off reports of their demise before. Perhaps the future is more likely to be like that for vinyl records – a niche medium which hangs on while the bulk of the business moves to other formats.