Old Media Obituary: The Demise of Newspapers Was Not Greatly Exaggerated

Newspapers' "rivers of gold" are down to a trickle as advertising sales increasingly move online. With the exception of Asia – where newspaper sales have leapt 13% over the past five years – the need to switch from newsprint to a subscriber-based digital format is urgent and inevitable. In the new media scramble, the shift online was "disastrous" as news powerhouses gave away their content free, says University of New South Wales' research fellow David McKnight. But is the tablet the right medicine for a sunset industry that's writing its own obituary much faster than the next business plan?