PressEthic

Back on the cover of the NY Times Business section is a double feature about the coming sale of Knight Ridder. I wrote about this a while back, but now it appears the sale is definitely going to happen.

These articles see a future in newspapers, albeit one that’s at least partially dependent on how well Knight Ridder sells. Given the high profit margins these companies make and the quality of their brands (the importance of which can’t be overestimated), the conclusion is that newspapers, on a whole, aren’t going anywhere for a while. Actually, they’ll be going to the internet, which the sidebar says has been undervalued in terms of online advertising.

I just had a conversation with an advertising director this week about print sales. Part of print success will depend on a company’s ability to find a way to fit in with the way people are now absorbing information. When you can prove that an ad message is hitting it's target, ad dollars will come. They’ll need to become more sophisticated. They’ll need to find alternative ways to bring in money now that classifieds are a thing of the past.

In the Geraldine Fabrikant article, she says that Bruce Sherman is “challenging Wall Street’s view of the newspaper industry.” The newspaper industry is much different from many others. The business and editorial sides of newspaper publishing seem to be confused by the changes that have occurred in media and technology over the past years. Maybe this sale will be the impetus for adjustments across the industry.