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Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Considering that newspapers have had online presences and reported on technology for years, it's pretty clear that "failure to change the business model" isn't the problem. Unless, of course, you agree with Murdoch that paywalls are a good idea.
The issue is that the news outlets cannot make enough money from online advertising to sustain their business. One of the key ways to cut costs is to slash the number of reporters, which means a deterioration of quality, especially with investigative reporting. In the long run, this doesn't look like a beneficial trend.
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Having worked in print, it's not so much a failure to change a business model as it is that papers haven't been able to find an online model that can sustain operations.
Gathering news isn't cheap and people have become accustomed to the idea that everything's free online. I'm not sure putting everything behind paywalls is the answer, but it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.
But as to the original question, no e-readers certainly aren't the answer papers have been looking for. Amazon's attitude toward newspapers and their subscriptions on Kindle is the sole reason I will never own a Kindle regardless of how appealing or capable Amazon makes the device.
Demanding 70% of revenue and the right to set pricing for subscriptions is the height of arrogance. Amazon tried that with book publishers, they wouldn't have ebooks to sell.