newspapers face uncertain future amid scandal
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

Short-term sales followed by long-term collapse

Newspapers face uncertain future amid scandal

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today Newspapers face uncertain future amid scandal

Rival publishers are desperate to woo the News of the World's former readers
London - AFP

Rival publishers are desperate to woo the News of the World's former readers Media groups vied Sunday to attract readers of the defunct News of the World tabloid, but analysts warned that a short-term sales surge could be followed by long-term collapse in the market. The closure of the paper a week ago amid the phone hacking scandal could see many readers abandoning newspapers altogether, while the problems facing Rupert Murdoch, an avowed fan of newsprint, are bad for an already ailing industry.
In the past week, paper owners have hiked print runs, launched marketing campaigns and plans are reportedly afoot for at least one new Sunday title.
After years of falling circulations, rival publishers are desperate to woo the News of the World's estimated 7.5 million former readers.
Douglas McCabe, an analyst at London-based media watchers Enders Analysis, told AFP the next few weeks could see Sunday newspaper sales rocket.
"There is going to be an enormous amount of activity over the next few weeks," he said. "Every single title will massively increase their print runs."
He added: "Circulations might actually be quite robust. I think they might go up, really go up significantly."
It is unheard of for the most popular product in a market place to disappear almost overnight and rivals of News International, Murdoch's British newspaper wing, have piled in gleefully.
The most striking response has been from the Daily Mail which is reported to be planning a new mass-market Sunday tabloid.
A dummy edition will be circulated internally in the company this weekend and it could launch as soon as the following week, the Guardian reported.
The Mail on Sunday, which normally sells just under two million copies, is printing more than three million this weekend, while the Daily Star on Sunday is more than tripling its print run to 2.2 million, reports said.
The Sunday Express, the People and the Sunday Mirror are all said to be increasing their print runs.
But rival media companies may have only a narrow window to benefit from the disappearance of the 168-year-old News of the World.
News International is rumoured to be laying the ground to launch a Sunday version of the Sun, which sells 2.8 million copies a day.
This may not happen for several months, however, as News International waits for public outrage over the hacking scandal to subside.
Allegations the paper hacked into the phone of a murdered teenager were the first of many hacking claims to emerge in the past fortnight, which have heaped pressure on Murdoch's News Corp., the parent company of News International.
Most analysts said the effect of the most popular Sunday title disappearing could only be negative in the long run.
"I think the Sunday market will shrink because when any newspaper closes some of its readers are lost," said Ivor Gaber, a professor of political journalism at London's City Journalism.
And despite his optimism about the short term, McCabe at Enders Analysis saw a bleak future, predicting up to half of the News of the World's readers would desert newspapers for ever.
"To take a longer and broader-term view... up to half of News of the World's sales could effectively vanish," he said.
Murdoch, 80, has a sentimental attachment to his papers, despite the fact many of them do not turn a profit, and most analysts play down the likelihood of him selling off News International.
But with Labour leader Ed Miliband calling Sunday for Murdoch's British empire, which also includes pay-TV giant BSkyB, to be broken up, commentators believe anything could happen.
While the left in would celebrate the fall of the once-mighty media mogul, some raise fears about who would fill the void.
They point to the acquisition of the Independent newspapers by Russian billionaire and former KGB agent Alexander Lebedev last year, and the ownership of Express newspapers by Richard Desmond, who made much of his fortune from the pornography industry.
"A media baron who is a devotee of newspapers, a breed that is rapidly becoming extinct, (Murdoch) has patiently pumped money into 'quality titles' such as The Times of London and America's Wall Street Journal," noted the Economist magazine in an editorial this week.
"If he sold his British papers to, say, a Russian oligarch or Richard Desmond, the cost-cutting mogul behind the Express and the Red Hot TV porn channel, how many journalists would cheer?"

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

newspapers face uncertain future amid scandal newspapers face uncertain future amid scandal



GMT 08:09 2018 Wednesday ,10 January

Indian airline fires pilots over mid-air row

GMT 07:06 2017 Saturday ,09 December

Indie music publisher goes for $150 mn in latest deal

GMT 12:46 2017 Thursday ,09 February

Syria rebel fire kills three

GMT 01:29 2017 Saturday ,07 January

Russian hackers penetrated US electricity grid

GMT 17:11 2016 Tuesday ,25 October

Battle lines hold firm at global whaling huddle

GMT 06:11 2012 Wednesday ,18 April

Top 5 trends in contemporary dance

GMT 19:26 2011 Friday ,24 June

Yugoslav wars continue in history textbooks

GMT 18:27 2016 Thursday ,22 September

Climate Change deal passes key threshold

GMT 14:36 2011 Thursday ,14 July

Dewa launches Dhs140m substation

GMT 02:15 2017 Friday ,14 April

Football bus attacker was IS member in Iraq

GMT 09:00 2015 Thursday ,10 December

'We will not bend to fear'

GMT 10:05 2014 Sunday ,21 December

French resort turns to quotas
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday