Google in talks to the Post and the Times: print to the end?

Written By: Ming Zhuang on May 12, 2009 No Comment

(www.physorg.com)

According to reports from the Washington Post [[WPO]] and the New York Times [[NYT]], Google [[GOOG]] is talking with both of them about a partnership or collaboration of some sort.

The argument arises again – are the newspapers seeing an end when the economic downturn emphasizes the challenges from digital and expedites the print’s decline?

In a Monday column by the Post’s Howard Kurtz, he shows his worries that newspapers are moving too slowly to react to the Web. He said:

Post Co. chief executive Donald Graham and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and their lieutenants have been holding talks about a possible collaboration. This could range from creating new Web pages to technological tools for journalists or readers. Hanging over the talks is the reality that the search giant, while funneling vital traffic to news sites, vacuums up their content without paying a dime.

Post executive Philip Bennett confirmed the discussions, saying: ‘We’re talking to each other about improved ways of creating and presenting news online.’ He calls it ‘an informal collaboration’ that ‘has produced some interesting ideas already. I’d say that on the journalism side of the conversation we’ve learned a lot.’

The Times’s Brian Stelter also reported via Twitter on Monday.

At a digital strategy meeting at the Times. News nugget: Wash Post isn’t the only paper in talks w/ Google. NYT is, too.

It’s not surprising for us to hear about this information as we’ve seen a huge decline in newspapers’ revenues and how they are struggling in such a tough economy with both circulation and financial problems.

According to Kurtz, the Post had circulation of 786,000 in 1999, but now the print circulation is 665,000, while the Web site’s traffic has surged to 9.4 million unique monthly visitors from around the world. That’s probably why most Web publishers realize that Google can be a huge boon, drawing more audience to their content.

The Times is also suffering from the downturn in print as well as high debt levels. Richard Siklos, who worked for the Times between 2005 and 2007, wrote an article Monday for Fortune magazine, giving some insights about the Times’ financial problems. He wrote:

The steps the Times has taken since the beginning of the year – selling much of its two-year-old headquarters, borrowing $250 million on steep terms from billionaire Carlos Slim, threatening to close The Boston Globe, putting its stake in the Boston Red Sox up for sale, and so on – are intended to keep the company solvent. The company lost $74 million last quarter and if it lost roughly another $600 million between now and 2011 (not counting special charges) it would face default on its chief line of credit, according to John Puchalla of Moody’s.

Based on a survey by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg center, Net users are now spending 53 minutes per week reading online newspapers, up from 41 minutes in 2007. It results in, as you might have heard, a continuing plunge in print advertising when advertisers are moving faster to online advertising, though it so far just bring in a fraction of the total revenue.

“Combine that with an Internet culture built on free content, and newspapers suddenly find themselves on a starvation diet,” Kurtz wrote in the story.

But David Eastman, a media and marketing expert, is to some extent optimistic on the issue.

“It’s always interesting that a ‘last iceman’ always makes money,” he said. “There’s always going to be the last print media in variety of different areas that is going to hang on there.”

The question is: Who’s going to be this last iceman?

Tags: Google, newspaper, The New York Times, The Washington Post