Paper vs Pad

The iPad's role in saving newspapers is far from certain
ANDREA CARSON
June 9, 2010

It may make delivery easier, but a different partnership is needed for quality stories.

THE young man with a new iPad sat in a city cafe, sipping a short black as he swiped electronic pages, seemingly effortlessly. A dozen or so of us gazed at him through the cafe window. And why not? This machine is many things: lightweight, clever, portable and - having outpaced the iPhone with 2 million sales worldwide in two months - also popular. But will this tablet technology be the miracle panacea for the uncertain future newspapers face?

Newspapers are expensive to own and run. The ''rivers of gold'' advertising revenue of the heady 1980s have slowed as new online tributaries compete for market share. Today, any popular online site can attract advertising. As competition watchdog chief Graeme Samuel can testify, healthy competition drops prices. Advertising rates are no exception.

This paper's technology editor, Gordon Farrer, is optimistic the iPad will provide the ''smart interface'', backed by a company's track record, to get consumers to pay for content. But writing online, Eric Beecher - whose long newspaper experience includes writing, editing and publishing - says it is unclear how the iPad will create advertising revenue for newspapers.

The truth is it's hard to know who's right, because the iPad is an infant. Like all infants, it brings excitement, has wonderful potential, and has some growing up to do.

But it is a winner for Apple chief executive Steve Jobs's marketing team. Even though it has built the iPad without convenient modern features such as a USB port, camera, memory card, Adobe flash and multi-tasking capabilities, Apple has forced a deliberate market space for the new device. It has ensured consumers ''need'' a laptop, an iPhone, an iPod and now an iPad. Why merge functions when you can sell more products?

This model is perhaps a precursor to a better servant for newspapers, but not yet. Salvation waits.

Here are some facts about newspapers:

■The internet is barely a teenager. Western newspaper readership decline began before the internet became a word in the dictionary.

■British research shows quality newspapers have lost fewer readers relative to their circulations than tabloids.

■Quality journalism builds public trust. US media doyen Philip Meyer asserts democracy is strongest when several conditions are met, including survival of ''quality'' newspapers. This is supported by studies showing a positive correlation between healthy democracies and hard-copy newspapers. Meyer says the internet serves democracy as a distributor of information rather than an originator.

■Research shows that online newspaper content is less diverse and more entertainment focused than its print equivalents. Content converges when a medium relies solely on advertising revenue rather than a mix of sources.

For journalism to serve democracy, it seems clear that the content is of most importance. With this in mind, the question is less about whether the iPad is the right delivery method and more about how to sponsor good journalism.

Relying on subscription-based online delivery is flawed because the modern trend is free, free, and free. Rupert Murdoch may think readers will pay for content, but that genie is out of the bottle. Also passe are family-owned newspapers. Moreover, public broadcasters provide a quality non-subscription alternative.

Only niche publications such as business mastheads can get away with charging for content because credible information is specific and not easily found free.

In the United States, quality journalism has been funded by philanthropy. The success story is ProPublica, which recently won a Pulitzer Prize for its investigative journalism. But a philanthropic model requires a steady flow of donations and goodwill. And there is a risk of perceived and actual conflicts of interest. Some Scandinavian and European governments subsidise newspapers. But seeing as we already have the excellent ABC, this seems indulgent.

A more effective model builds on this idea. Innovative partnerships such as a recent one between The Age and the ABC delivered a bigger audience and broader coverage of an important story about Securency, a Reserve Bank subsidiary, and allegations of corruption involving its polymer note contracts.

Time will tell if the iPad was a step in the right direction for delivering newspapers. But clever partnerships to pursue public interest journalism? That is cause for optimism.

Andrea Carson is working on a PhD on the role investigative journalism in broadsheet newspapers plays in a democracy.