Newscoma

In the future newspapers might actually be able to pay readers for subscribing. Maybe filling out the bare essentials of a survey would garner someone a free print and Web subscription, but filling out extra questions, or visiting a certain number of advertisers’ Web sites would give them a cash rebate? People are willing to overspend on their credit cards to get ‘cash back’ or other rewards. Why wouldn’t they jump at the chance to read and make money doing so?

The possibilities for profit, performing a valuable service and growing readership are just around the corner. It will take visionary leadership to get there, but history indicates that with great risk comes great reward.

The end?

Times are tough indeed. An ailing economy does not make life any easier for the industry. All that remains to be said is that perhaps some of these ideas will work. Maybe none of them will. But this is a dialog that the industry needs to have amongst itself and with the public often.

Every day that real innovation is passed over to maintain the status quo, every day that the industry fails to innovate, is one day closer to the temporary or permanent failure of one of the cornerstones of a healthy democracy: a free and balanced press.

From Wired Journalists. Believe me, everyone is talking about print media these days. Well, those of us in the news are at least.