In an article on the
future of journalism, Mathias Döpfner, head of Europe's biggest publishing house
Axel Springer AG, elaborates how traditional publishing will continue to co-exist despite the increasing emergence of online media, and - this is what we love to hear - how print paper as an information carrier will be replaced by electronic paper:
Quote:
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Newspapers must focus on their own strengths, and that means being a horizon medium, creating and satisfying wishes and interests which readers did not even know they had. As in the past, this remains the newspaper's future, regardless of whether it is delivered on paper or electronic paper. One thing I am sure of is that the future of newspapers is digital. They will cease to be printed on paper as soon as electronic paper exists that fulfils the following criteria: it has to be thin, foldable and rollable, capable of reproducing high-resolution colour images, ensuring foolproof touch-screen operation, with no need for heavy batteries or chargers, and it must be cheap. Then we will roll out our newspaper out of a mobile phone or ballpoint pen. Then we will call up our subscription at the click of a button. Work on developing e-papers of this kind is well underway. Eventually - in five, ten or twenty-five years - we will distribute this electronic paper to our subscribed customers. Costs for paper, printing and distribution will sink dramatically - but our business model will not have changed at all. Information and entertainment for a range of target groups. In other words: exclusive news, independent opinions and captivating language. In a word: journalism.
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You find the English translation of the full article over at
signandsight.