View From the Phlipside - Future of Newspapers

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media.  TV, radio, the movies and more.  I love them, and I hate them and I always have an opinion.  Call this the View from the Phlipside.

I’ve been chronicling the battle for the future of the newspaper here for a couple of years now.  Most of the news has been bad as readership plummets, advertising sales goes with it and newspapers have been closed.  I’ve noted that I personally will miss the comfortable physical routine of reading the paper, which section you read first, how you hold and fold the paper to read it.  I’ve also noted the very serious repercussions to a free and open society if the great traditions of journalism that are the legacy of the newspaper are lost.  It is, I believe, one of the most important questions to be answered in the digital age.  How will we be informed?

So I’ve been encouraged over the last year to see at least a few of the print giants finally making a move to create a viable business model.  It’s possible that that grand old lady The New York Times might lead the way into the next era.  Or it could be the folks at the OC Register in Orange County California.

The OC Register is one of 27 daily papers and 8 TV stations owned by Freedom Communications.  In a bid to keep their properties rolling Freedom is looking at doing some innovative work with an app for the iPad that would include interactive stories and advertising all through the use of the HTML5 technology.

What that means for those of us less technologically oriented is that instead of having simple print versions we would be able to select aspects that interest us.  In an advertisement we would be able to make the image of the product rotate so we can see it from all sides.  They’re also looking at making sure that the experience of the app remains interesting even when you’re offline with the content.  

There’s one decision that they’ve made that I think I like a lot.  The overall presentation will retain the look of a newspaper.  The reason for that is simple familiarity.  Rupert Murdoch’s entry “The Daily” went with a different look and got trashed for it early on.  So far indications are that it hasn’t taken the world by storm.

If the folks at the OC Register learn their lessons well and take the best of the old to go with the bright and shiny new we might just see what the future of the newspaper looks like.

Call that the View From the Phlipside

"The View From the Phlipside" airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY.  You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright - Jay Phillippi 2011