The Newspaper Revolution: We can all be Newspaper Barons now

There is a fascinating piece on the BBC Business News Website about the future of newspapers. It is often said that the Internet means the death of newspapers and magazines, but - as the article notes - the invention of Television, did not mean the extinction of Radio - in fact the opposite, as Radio stations now proliferate and we now have Digital Radio as well as Digital TV.

The main point of the BBC story, is not that newspapers are dead-trees, but that traditional macro-mechanisms for printing them might be. It no longer costs millions to set up, print and dsitribute newspapers. In the same way would-be authors can now publish their books at will and are no longer as reliant on the traditional publishers.

It is now possible, through companies like the Newspaper Club to print 5,000 newspapers of 12 pages each at 30p a copy. For small businesses and organisations - like political parties, this represents an incredibly cost effective way of getting messages across, especially if the newspaper is payed for with advertising.

In previous times, to print a quality newspaper would have cost a small fortune. Now, with the advance of technology, anyone can be a newspaper baron. The effect this will have on freedom of speech and communication, could be enormous. We live in fascinating times. I wonder what William Caxton would think.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com