(image via unadorned)
Not too many things in the world frighten media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Garlic, Crucifixes and, perhaps, Holy Water might have some lasting effects on Murdoch. Other than that, Murdoch is pretty much immune to conventional means of involuntary mortality (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). The future of newspapers, however, caught Murdoch's attention at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit this morning. According to paidcontent:
"'Newspapers are increasingly vulnerable and we have to learn to look at them differently, so with that in mind, I don’t think the Tribune bid is going to happen,' he told Steve Adler, BusinessWeek’s editor. Holding forth on the state of newspapers, he said, 'It scares me. Young readership is going down. The culture has changed. No one sits down and readers the paper with breakfast anymore. It’s a shame, because it gives you the opportunity to learn a great deal about the world. If you just read the news on My Yahoo, for example, you’ll miss a lot.'”
Heidi Dawley of Medialife begs to differ, writing:
"As conventional wisdom would have it, the newspaper is in a state of decline, battered by the rise of the internet.
"But in fact the numbers say quite the opposite. Newspapers are actually gaining in circulation worldwide, and rather substantially, by 10 percent between 2001 and 2005, to 479 million copies daily, according to a new study from the World Association of Newspapers, based in Paris.
"There are now also more newspapers than ever before, in excess of 10,000 dailies, a record number.
"To some degree the growth reflects the rise of free newspapers, and it’s a phenomenon both in the U.S. and Europe, as well as elsewhere around the globe. But paid newspapers are also seeing circulation growth globally."
We tend to side more with Rupert Murdoch, after all, it is rumored that he can turn into a wolf, or a whisp of smoke in the moonlight!
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