Imagine this, Amazon Kindle Store pushing new issues of your daily newspapers right into your Kindle 2 reader. In the commuter train most of the passengers no longer holding the latest issue of their broadsheets but are reading the latest news either on their iPhone, Kindle 2 or even some on their netbooks. Such could be the near future of newspapers and newspaper reading. With the growing popularity of electronic and online copies of newspapers, it seems inevitable that printed newspapers are bound for extinction. Apparently the 24/7 Wall St. also believes so. It even predicted 10 major newspapers which are either bound to stop publishing on print or to go electronic.
Basing its prediction on the financial conditions of these newspapers’ mother companies, direct industry competition, and some data on how much these major newspapers are losing due to low subscription and patronage, 24/7 Wall St. listed down these 10 newspapers which are likely to stop operation or channel their efforts to online publishing.
First on this list of major newspapers which are predicted to close down in the next 18 months is the Philadelphia Daily News which is owned by the Philadelphia Newspapers LLC. The company has recently filed for bankruptcy and will most likely combine its major daily and tabloid format newspaper into its online site – Phily.com.
The other nine major newspapers are The Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Miami Herald, The Detroit News, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Sun Times, The New York Daily News, The Forth Worth Star Telegram, .The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Is your favorite major daily newspaper included in the list? Are you prepared to read them online instead?
Interestingly the common reason why most of these newspapers might not be able to sustain their operations is because of the lack of advertisers. And where could these advertisers turning to? Your guess is as good as mine.