A wide-ranging AP article surveying the European newspaper landscape finds editors “optimistic” about both the web and the survival of print. The gist: while US newspapers self-flagellate in pursuit of a purpose and a business model in this digital age, European counterparts “see the online media explosion more as an opportunity than as a threat.” A curious mix of surveyed European publishing execs expresses typical confidence in both the survival of newsprint and the expansion of online; Le Monde and Italy’s Corriere della Sera say the papers will likely become the space for longer-form investigations, with breaking news handled primarily on the web.
But, while titles like the UK’s Telegraph have fundamentally repositioned their business for multimedia publishing, some of the promises in which others express confidence (electronic paper, video) sound like the same kind of hypotheticals that have reverberated inside this business for several years. Though not as pronounced as in the US, European print circulations are falling, too, and many of the publishers now staying afloat have the online advertising boom to thank.
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— UK Telegraph