Arthur Sulzberger Jr.: “We Will Stop Printing The New York Times Sometime In The Future”

by Hillary Busis | 3:16 pm, September 9th, 2010

» 14 comments

On Wednesday, New York Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. dealt Luddites a blow by admitting that eventually, the Gray Lady will exist only virtually.

Sulzberger made these remarks at the WAN-IFRA’s 9th International Newsroom Summit, a conference being held yesterday and today in London. The publisher was there to deliver the keynote speech during a session about getting readers to pay for online content—the New York Times is slated to introduce a metered paywall on its website early next year.

Though Sulzberger’s statement may seem shocking, it shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been following the plight of print media over the past decade. Mashable reports that the situation is rapidly growing more and more dire:

As newspaper circulation continues to fall, so do newspaper revenues. All told, losses amount to 27.2% or ad revenue lost year-over-year between 2008 and 2009. More and more consumers are using the web to stay updated about current events; in fact, in a poll earlier this year, only 21.7% of Mashable readers said they got their news from a newspaper.

Clearly, something has to change if venerable news institutions like the Times are to stay afloat. Sulzberger seemed confident about the paper’s imminent paywall, calling its adoption “a step in the right direction for us.” And if this experiment turns out to be a bust, like the TimesSelect debacle of 2007?

Well, that’s the beauty of working in a relatively low-cost digital atmosphere: “If we discover that we’ve tried something that’s not working, we could change it,” Sulzberger said.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., new york time paywall, New York Times, Paywall, The Death of Print, The New York Times, The New York Times Company

Azarkhan

“Arthur Sulzberger Jr. dealt Luddites a blow by admitting that eventually the Gray Lady will exist only virtually.”

Can’t wait until it ceases to exist, period.
Arkansas Steve

Mr. Sulzberger,

That will just be Step #1.

After that, you will lose your prominence in the liberal arena. This will happen because you are NOT a particularly good businessman.

Your WORST nightmare, however, will come when you look in the mirror and face the tragedy you allowed to happen and the pain it caused thousands of good people who work or worked for you.

All this to satisfy your phony-baloney liberal indoctrination!!
Big Eddie

Oh no ! How are people supposed to train their puppy ? Smack them on the nose with a rolled up computer ? Not to mention lining their hamster cages .
BatBoy

People just do not buy a daily rag of lefty fairy stories!
Keep reporting the way you do and it will be sooner than you think!

“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept,
the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
Prepared remarks for Barack Obama’s March 31, 2012 speech –
lifted from LBJ’s speech on 3/31/68!
MediaWorld

And Sulzberger has been saying this for 11 years.

http://www.ralphehanson.com/2010/09/09/sulzberger-has-been-promising-for-11-years-to-end-printing-of-ny-times/
felixw

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal grows its print circulation. But it’s always harder to sell propaganda than news, so the Times is toast. The elites at the Times decided long ago that they would rather advance a political agenda than report the new fairly. Now they are stuck with a shrinking circulation and and already shrunken reputation.

It’s important to see this as part of a broader, irreversible trend. Across the board, open and diverse media are thriving while closed-system, biased sources of information are collapsing. Fox News thrives while CNN destroys its brand. The Wall Street Journal grows its circulation while the New York Times and the Washington Post are in free fall. Air America goes bankrupt while talk radio hosts who don’t censor their callers for political correctness find a ready audience. Newsweek destroys its brand franchise, while fairer periodicals still appeal to readers. The individual players make their choices, and get what they deserve.
TeaPartyPatriot

The “All The News That’s Fit to Fake” NYT has become a sham of a joke of a travesty of a parody of a farce of a newspaper. It’s a propaganda sheet written by and for the most extreme radicals of the lunatic-left. The soon it disappears, the better for America.
ifpff

maybe if it weren’t $6 people would actually buy it every once in a while
jk76

well you can’t stop printing it in the past can you?
http://none pyrope

ifpff said:
maybe if it weren’t $6 people would actually buy it every once in a while

Maybe if it were not a liberal forum it would sell a few copies.

You’ve got the Boston Glob, the NY Slimes, the LA Slimes, the Philadelphia Inkwearer, the Atlanta Urinal & Constipation, the Tallahassee Deficrap, and numerous others who are on the brink of bankruptcy. One has only to look at their editorial policy to understand why. AGAIN: All rational minds are starved for the TRUTH, the rational mind will forever seek out the TRUTH. Hence, the success of the WSJ and Fox News.

I will take bets that Mr. -0bama (or one of his regime lapdogs) will advocate bailing out these bastions of liberal propaganda.
bones

Sometime during the first six months of the breaking reports on the “Food for Oil” kickbacks and corruption, I realized that the Times really didn’t give a damn about reporting all the news fit to print. The Wall Street Journal covered that story extensively, and the NYT ignored it then gave it lip service. That’s when I finally understood the gross liberal bias of the media: they really didn’t care about the children who died because of the billions that Saddam’s regime stole from “Food for Oil”. They cared more about the political damage that reporting the story would do for “the cause”.

The issue for the Times isn’t one about print. It is one about respect. For years, I have had no respect whatsoever for this paper. It would take a huge shift of the earth for the Times to get that respect back, and I see no indication that anything is changing. Look at the global warming hype stories that the NYT ignored just this week!

What is predictable: the NYT will continue to fade into insignificance.

Will the last one out the door please turn off the CF light?
Greg

Not nearly as successful as the Washington Times… The right is clearly on the rise!
sansan-0

our website: http://www.fashionshoppong.us

BEST QUALITY GUARANTEE!!
SAFTY & HONESTY GUARANTEE!!
FAST & PROMPT DELIVERY GUARANTEE!!
Helix

Years of lies, plagarism, and bad business and editorial decisions have finally taken their toll. Considering the amount of democrats in the NY area, I would have expected their propaganda to have some market. No big loss unless you are a fish or a parakeet though. Like Newsweek, they will run it into the ground rather than change things in an attempt to gain a larger audience. The paywall will fail since they don’t have anything worth reading IHMO. The failure of the paper will come soon afterwards.