By Mark McGowan
in Grenada
Carimac Director Dr Canute James says that while the traditional newspaper will continue to exist in the Caribbean for some time, regional newspaper companies have to adapt to the changing technology and aggressively pursue a dynamic presence online.
He also believes that if newspaper websites become more dynamic they will be more competitive regionally than other media forms such as radio and television, especially since the traditional form of the newspaper will eventually disappear.
Speaking on Friday during a CSME Workshop for Newspaper Editors in Grenada, James said, “the newspaper, as we know it, may go because of changing technology. It doesn’t mean that the newspaper will go.
The newspaper in its digital incarnation will stay but it may be morphed into a platform that delivers information [which] in addition to the text, delivers information with audio, video, stills, graphics, hyperlinks, and so on…,” James said. He was quick to point out that the same skills needed to produce a hard copy newspaper were still necessary even when the newspaper is digitized. “It doesn’t mean that writing to be read as we do in a newspaper will go out of the window. It doesn’t mean that designing a page in a newspaper so that it is attractive- [where] the lead story stands out, the placement of the visuals and so on… will go,” he said. According to him, when a newspaper is placed online, the same demands exist.
During an interview with Stabroek News, James, while adamant that the printed newspaper will eventually disappear in the region, admitted that it would take some time before this happened. He said the speed at which it happens will vary from territory to territory. He said though, that “in areas such as the Caribbean where the levels of internet penetration are relatively low compared to other parts of the world, that transition will take much longer.”
He said that the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (Carimac) has not done any research recently regarding the circulation of newspapers in the region but this needs to be done, taking into consideration the new dispensation.
James pointed out that right across the region, all newspapers of significance have embraced this new dispensation. He noted that newspaper companies have started websites where the content in the physical newspaper is placed.
Some newspaper websites, James opined, are more dynamic and as a result are more media competitive. He said that instead of updating the website in 24-hour cycles, some are updated as soon as a story breaks.
“So to that extent, they are now more competitive to radio, and to television. In that the reader doesn’t have to wait for the next 24-hour cycle to begin to see the new content. That’s one very important aspect of adapting to the changes.”
Quizzed about regional newspapers charging online readers to view content, James said it is not advisable since this may have a negative impact on the newspaper in the long run. “I don’t advise that there is a charge for access to the content, certainly not for the Caribbean,” James said adding that this may have an unfavourable impact on the news agency.
James said while some of the bigger newspapers as well as specialized publications are moving towards charging for access, generally web access content is free. According to him, economic support for the digital version should come from advertising as is currently the case with a newspaper in its traditional form. He pointed to the fact that the price charged for a newspaper cannot cover the price of publishing it and that it is the advertisement support that makes the money. This is why some newspapers are now free, he said.
According to him, newspapers will find the same challenges garnering advertisement for online editions as it does for garnering support for its printed format. He said there will be times when the advertisements will be at a high and when they will be at a low but stressed that this should still be looked at as the main revenue earner.
