Surprise, surprise: Dow Jones
Dow Jones has hired a former Viacom
Interestingly, Poynter Institute's journalism site Poynter Online recently posted an article pertaining to newspaper execs' attitudes at the Mid-Year Media Review conference from the Newspaper Association of America. Among the interesting observations reporter Rick Edmonds made was that many of the newspaper executives at the meeting were not focusing so much on their core, traditional newspaper operations, but on the great opportunity they see in their online properties and initiatives.
Indeed, the sense is that online revenues will reach 25% of all newspaper revenues by 2011, compared with an average of 6% now. And Edmonds' article points out that there's excitement brewing as companies try to think up ways to capitalize on what looks like a huge opportunity; he pointed out that many of the participants didn't even mention old-school newspapers until well into their presentations. One presenter supposed that once newspapers really gear up their efforts, Google
Of course, this is the type of idea many of us here at the Fool have contemplated before. People may be changing the way they digest news and information, increasingly shifting to the real-time convenience of online newspapers (not to mention blogs and other more interactive mediums), and it hasn't been too hard to imagine that some of the bigger, national newspapers would be able to capitalize on the opportunities well. Consider names like Gannett
As has been apparent in many areas of the media lately, an industry threat can also become an opportunity, and it appears that newspaper companies have become well aware of that fact. Change is under way, and it's about time for investors to consider which of these companies are best positioned to capitalize on the future.
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Alyce Lomax does not own shares of any of the companies mentioned.