The Big Debate: Is print media dying?

In this age of real-time multimedia communication, news may be thriving, but printed newspapers are showing steady signs of potential demise.

Quoting a report released by ABC, a UK-based company that monitors and verifies media performance, The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) wrote that collective sales figures of top UK newspapers have dwindled by 3.4 per cent during the first quarter of this year as compared to the same period in 2007. This resulted from poor advertising revenues as a growing number of advertisers prefer to put their cash online.

News consumption habits in the US have also shown a trend leaning less towards the dailies, according to the Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com). A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center revealed that "fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online."

In the UAE, a recent poll run by Emirates Business showed 74 per cent of respondents get the majority of their news from websites while about 11 per cent source their news from print media.

Without giving any figures, Dr Ammar Bakkar, group director of New Media for MBC Group and editor-in-chief of AlArabiya.net, told Emirates Business that newspaper circulations in the UAE are indeed affected by the internet revolution. However, he does not see this as the industry's red card. More than a threat, the recent developments in technology should motivate regional media to be more creative without compromising their professional credibility, he said.

Tim McGuire, former editor of the US daily Star Tribune, was more forthright in expressing his opinion about the growing “obsession about the health of the newspaper species.” He said: “The fountain pen died and we still write!”

What do you think? Is there a bright future ahead for the print media industry or will it succumb to the massive developments in online technology? Have your say by submitting a comment below or sending an email to news@emirates247.com. The best comments will be published in Emirates Business on Sunday, August 24.