'There is no longer a viable audience for print-based news.' Do you agree?

It seems clear that news-based print media are in trouble. Most newspapers now offer online versions, often offering practically all of the same content for free (apart from the cost of an internet connection, of course.) Local news, in particular, is struggling; many local papers have gone out of business, others (the Detroit Free Press, for example) can only go to press three times a week, where once they were daily. The reasons for this are obvious; digitised news services offer many obvious advantages over print versions.

Some papers, like Hong Kong's South China Morning Post are still largely print-based (they have an online service, but it is subscription-only), but this is a different case; this particular paper has a virtual monopoly on its (English-speaking) audience and thus is not subject to the same pressures as newspapers in other parts of the world. Most newspapers, it seems, are struggling to cope with the digital revolution.

Firstly, they are quick and responsive. Online news is, or can be, updated constantly, offering an ecen quicker and more responsive service even than 24-hour rolling news channels like CNN, and clearly a much quicker service than print news. Given that (presumably) the main gratification offered by news publications is surveillance, this speed and responsiveness is a major advantage.

Secondly, they can offer a news experience that is both wider and deeper than that afforded by print. In recent coverage of the Jade Goody story, for example, online services can offer everything that print does but also a great deal more; hyperlinks to related sites, forums for public discussion, downloadable information on cervical cancer, video footage of interviews and television appearances and so on. Newspapers try to replicate this connectivity with sidebars offering supplemental information, but thay are a necessarily static, limited form and can not compete in this way. Again, this can offer increased gratifications in terms of surveillance and diversion (depending on the story and news institution) which can not be matched by print publications. Online news offers a more interactive experience for an active audience; the one-way flow of information offered by print news (notwithstanding things like 'Letters to the Editor') is built on a flawed assumption of a passive audience.

Thirdly, web use over print simply appeals more to a large part of the audience. Younger 'digital natives' (Prensky) are, apparently, much more likely to use digital than print services; an increasingly huge older audience is joining them. The fact that online news is basically free is also a huge pull factor in enticing people to use web services.

However, it would be false to say that there is no audience for print news. It is still hugely popular (Britain's most popular tabloid, The Sun, sells over three million copies a day and has an estimated daily readership of almost eight million, although this is declining.) There are some obvious reasons for this. People are used to using newspapers and older readers in particular – who form the biggest part of the news audience – will find newspapes easier and more convenient than digital publications.

It is also important to note that newspapers are very cheap, at approximately thirty pence in the UK for a tabloid. While online services are free (paid for, as they usually are, by advertising), computer ownership is still not ubiquitous and people further down the dempgraphic scale will still prefer cheap print options. (Obviously, this holds true on a global level also: the digital divide, whilst it is narrowing, is still a reality. In Africa and Asia, for example, print news is still by far the most popular option.) Broadsheet papers may suffer in this regard more than the tabloids: their audiences are more affluent and tend to reside at the top of the demographic scale; as such, they are more likely to have access to computers and thus to make use of web services. Likewise, they tend to have a higher level of education, and thus may require the aforementioned wider, deeper and more personalised options available online.

At an institutional level, it is clear to see why organisations like News Corporation prefer digital options. They are cheaper in every way (printing and distribution, for example, ceases to be a cost) and thus allow for more profit. There are problems, however; online sevices rely for profit on selling advertising space and, as such, these advertisers may well exert power over what is published and push organisations towards providing 'infotainment' aimed at the biggest available audience. Also, these more tenuous profit margins have led to an increased reliance on user-generated content and generic reports from wire services (Reuters, for example); the corresponding deprofessionalisation of the news industry has led to accusations of 'dumbing down'. An obvious result is that several large institutions have already closed their bureaus in many parts of the worls, relying instead on news form the agencies. This leads to a homogenisation of the news that is available; the resultant lack of divergent opinions and challenges to hegemonic positions may mean that other options – online forums or blogs, for example – replace the traditional 'news' services as guardians of the public interest.

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