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EU newspaper editors predict brighter future

Are newspapers set to become yesterday's news? Don't count on it, say editors at some of Europe's iconic publications.

The pressures on the industry -- in Europe as in the US -- are prodigious: tumbling circulation and ad revenue, competition from the Internet, the proliferation of free papers. Rapidly changing technology and consumer trends have made adaptation especially difficult.

But European editors interviewed by The Associated Press appear strikingly optimistic about the future. They see the online media explosion more as an opportunity than as a threat and express confidence they can provide the content readers need -- whether it's accessed on newsprint, a computer screen, a smart phone, or a futuristic electronic scroll.

Some European editors predicted the media revolution underway may even allow them to return to the deeper, more sophisticated journalism on which they took pride in decades past -- yet in some cases felt they had to dilute under the pressures of the 24-hour news cycle.

There was disagreement, however, on how that new emphasis on quality will play out -- whether it will ultimately find its greatest impact online or in print.

Bruno Patino, director of online and digital projects at France's Le Monde, spoke of an "inevitable fragmentation" between print and online editions in which the newspaper would go "back to basics, even more elitist" -- focusing on in-depth investigations. The Web site, then, would aim at more hurried audiences, he said.

For Marco Pratellesi, online editor of Italy's leading Corriere della Sera, it was exactly the opposite: The Internet, he said, is the medium that opens up opportunities for a return to what he called long-form traditional reporting.

"In a way we are returning to journalism of 20 years ago, offering more investigative pieces," Pratellesi said, adding that it costs next to nothing to post a 10,000-word story online compared to clearing space on the printed page and selling advertising to pay for it.

Where the two viewpoints converged was that traditional newspapers will live or die based on the quality of their content -- an authoritative perspective free papers cannot provide.

"Our strategy is quality, to select the themes that interest our readers," Pratellesi said. "Free newspapers, for example, are just quick reads, not newspapers that readers actually seek out."

There is no denying, however, that newspaper circulation is tumbling across Europe, as it is in the US market. The most recent figures available from the World Associated of Newspapers showed that daily paid newspapers in the EU saw a 0.61 percent drop in circulation in 2005, and a 5.26 percent fall over the five years through 2005.

Many European newspapers are investing heavily in online editions in hopes of growth.

Berlin-based Axel Springer, Europe's biggest newspaper and magazine publisher, is set to spend some 2 billion euros (US$2.67 billion) to expand its digital offerings both in Germany and elsewhere.

In Sweden, Raoul Gruenthal, managing editor of Stockholm-based Svenska Dagbladet, said the daily has started a financial news site, www.e24.se, in addition to its regular news site, www.svd.se.

"We are seizing the opportunity to use the position we have to grow in areas where we previously didn't have a strong position," he said.

Going online also helps newspapers reach a global audience, a factor that is particularly important for British papers that can count on a massive worldwide English-speaking readership.

Industry-wide in Europe -- as elsewhere -- it's not yet clear whether Internet growth will be able to soon offset declining print revenues.

But there are positive signs: Le Monde's Patino said that after recent loss-making years, the paper was expected to break even or make a profit this year entirely thanks to online services making up for print losses.

Peter Wuertenberger, managing director for Axel Springer's Welt/Berliner Morgenpost newspaper publishing group, said Internet revenues are growing 20-50 percent year-on-year, depending on the Web site.
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