Wick, some DMNers who’ve e-mailed me take issue with Mr. Osborne’s opinion that “no new medium has ever destroyed an old one.” Their point being, what is his definition of “destroy”? It certainly has been maimed, if only as a business model. How else can you characterize circulation losses of 40 percent, stock devaluation of 90 percent, workforce cuts of more than 50 percent, diminished advertising revenue, the demise of popular news sections, and closure of bureau offices?
If he means completely wiping out their existence, then, no, the online media haven’t done that. But what if a new medium destroys an old medium’s significance? That did happen to radio, and that’s what is happening to newspapers. What if it destroys its widespread appeal? That happened to magazines, which now serve niches, and it’s happening to newspapers. What the online world has not yet destroyed is a paper’s relevance. It’s trying, though, and how newspaper leaders respond to the new media landscape will determine if they are, for all intents and purposes, going to be extinct.
