What’s black and white and completely over? Newspapers. — Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, Dec. 9, 2008
Even Stewart sees the bleak future ahead for newspapers. He followed up his twist on the age-old newspaper joke with commentary on the Tribune declaring bankruptcy. Moreover, the New York Times company is said to be next.
The New York Times Company has a $400 million debt payment due in five months, and management has not yet explained how it plans to meet this. The company is nearly out of cash, its operations are now burning cash, and its attempts to sell assets have, so far, been unsuccessful.
As part of my digital democracy class for MCDM, I created a mini-site on how newspapers are (finally) embracing the Internet. Certianly, however, it’s going to take more than a shift in business models, newsroom strategy and attitudes on the part of newspaper companies for them to stay alive.
