Future of Journalism & the internet

The main question hanging over the print media industry is whether the newspaper format, will live another 100 years? I would answer yes and no. As a transfer medium: no; as a creative medium: yes. Paper will be replaced as the transfer medium – by electronic paper. As a function, the newspaper is indispensable. On account of journalism. The Internet is not the new newspaper. It is a genuinely new medium. Not just a new transfer medium, but a new creative medium, too. This means that the Internet will establish itself alongside the media already on offer, not replace them.


There is a key difference between globalized Internet journalism and newspaper journalism. They have entirely different functions. On the Internet, I get faster access to more information about something I already know I am interested in. If I want to learn something about a specific illness, I go to the Internet. A few links later, I am on a special medical site, and a few seconds later a search engine has found the right doctor for my ailment. In the newspaper, on the other hand, I learn about things I did not even know I might be interested in. I wanted to read something about backache and ended up reading a text about holidays in Hawaii. The newspaper has breadth, the Internet has depth. The newspaper works horizontally, the Internet vertically. The second essential difference is that on the Internet, the user guides the journalist. In the newspaper, the reader is guided. The Internet has turned the hierarchy on its head. It is selflessly anti-authoritarian in character, profoundly democratic. Newspapers, by contrast, are confidently authoritarian.


Is this the future? Yes. It is part of the future. But what does it mean for newspapers? Do they have to become fast food, consumable on demand? Do they have to try to become like the Internet? I think not. Newspapers must focus on their own strengths, and that means being a horizon medium, creating and satisfying wishes and interests which readers did not even know they had. As in the past, this remains the newspaper's future, regardless of whether it is delivered on paper or electronic paper. One thing I am sure of is that the future of newspapers is digital.