BOL Round Table

Chris, how much longer in your opinion will newspapers even be around?

It was only a matter of time. I'm amazed they lasted this long going 7 days a week really. In a way it's sad to see the end of an era but the world has moved on.

Journalism doesn't have to die, just change the way it's delivered. Adapt or die IYAM

Publisher to the newsroom/company: "It's bold and it's scary...But the time is right. The time is now."

I've always thought that newspapers were simply evolving, that eventually all would have pay walls and continue to exist in some shape or form. However, at the same time I think there's now more writers covering the Alabama beat for on-line services than newspapers, or at least just as many.

Nevertheless, it's still scary (publisher chose a good word there) for those of us in the industry because it's such a huge departure and the next step will be to publish one day a week, etc.

Next month I'm attending two conventions, 247's and the Alabama Sports Writers Association. I expect them to be about as different as can be.

Yeah the pay wall model never really worked for them. Too many free sources for basically the same stuff, and they couldn't do enough to differentiate. WSJ was one of the very few to successfully charge for content.

If you think about it, sites like this are one of the few types (other than porn) who are able to charge for their content. ESPN insider does ok but not a big money maker. And there's only one ESPN.

I usually get most of my news online (especially Alabama football from BOL) so this won't affect me much. I thought that newspapers would shift more to digital media eventually and I guess that time has come. I bet a lot of long time newspaper readers will have a hard time adjusting to this change. I just hate it for the people who are losing their jobs.