Apparently not everyone thinks that print journalism is dead.

From Forbes

The Big Trend

This year’s wave of experiments to charge consumers for news, like Steven Brill’s start-up, “Journalism Online,” will crash in 2010. The Web, an information firehose where the next source of news is but a click away, is a counterintuitive environment for micropayment platforms.

What will work? Online subscriptions and tiered charging for discrete types of news, following the lead of WSJ.com. Also coming: unconventional brand extensions from media companies, inspired by success stories like ESPN Zone’s sports-themed eateries. Rolling Stone magazine, for example, will unveil a major nightclub and restaurant chain in 2010.

The Unconventional Wisdom

Is that the bottom is here. It is not. The ad recession has slowed but a full rebound won’t occur until the first quarter of 2010. After 14 consecutive quarters of shrinkage, newspapers’ advertising pie will finally see growth. But lagging metrics like unemployment won’t reflect this. Job losses in the newspaper industry will continue until the 3rd quarter of 2010.

The Watch List

Barry Diller’s IAC is a Web conglomerate sitting on $2 billion in cash. In a conference call earlier this year, Diller stated his desire for a “transformational” acquisition. Watch for Diller to make a major play in 2010 in the U.S. or China, where he recently snapped up one of the leading Chinese dating sites.

Dow Jones will combine the staff of its respected Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal, creating efficiencies and cutting costs. The move will be based on findings from consulting giant McKinsey and Co. after McKinsey completes its work for Dow Jones in early 2010.

The Bold Prediction

The Comcast ( CMCSA – news - people )-NBC merger will set off a small bonanza of cable-and-content deals in 2010. Expect a flurry of marriages between cash-challenged content providers and cash-rich mini-Comcasts. The likeliest integrations will be between mid-sized, independent television groups and medium market cable outfits.

Maybe Smillie is right.  But after years of cutbacks newspapers aren’t really poised to be revived as much as they are in survival mode.  One by one the papers that are still printing have eliminated key positions such as copy editors and entire sections in an effort to save money.  Yet why would a reader want to continue to pay for a product tha now is poerly edited and rife with typos as well as containing less information when they can get the same thing on the web for free?

As I have said previously my office will be moving towards the KindleDX next year where we will pay far less for the news we do want and in a format that is more portable as well.  At least this way the papers will continue to get some type of revenue stream and I won’t be left with large piles of newspapers to recycle nor have to brave the elements to retrieve.

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