Reflections of a Newsosaur
Alan Mutter argues that publishers can find success on the iPad precisely because it is the “first digital platform that turns print-style substance into a strength, instead of [a] weakness.” As others have said for years, Mutter asserts that publishers failed to convert the Web into a profitable platform because they tried “shoveling the usual words, pictures and ads onto the Web” rather than create new, digital-native modes of presentation.
But with digital tablets, print publishers may have an advantage because “they have a depth of content” compared to online-only operations. “If magazine and newspaper publishers execute smartly,” Mutter says, “their unparalleled advantage will make them hard to beat.”
