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Print media in the digital age
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September 5, 1996: 1:38 p.m. ET
Mort Zuckerman talks about how his publications are faring
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) -- Print publications are a long time away from making money online, Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of U.S News and World Report, the New York Daily News and Atlantic Monthly, said Wednesday.
In an interview on CNNfn's The Media Show, Zuckerman noted classified advertising is a big money maker for newspapers. He said readers may go online for ads at some point "way into the future," but the demand is just not there yet.
"The first time we find somebody who's making money at it, we'll do exactly what he's doing," Zuckerman quoted a colleague as saying. He added that readers buy the Daily News for its local advertising -- not just its classifieds.
The immediacy of television is a bigger competitor for print publications, but Zuckerman is confident his print properties can combat that by providing context, color and perspective.
"Television goes at the speed of light; we go at the speed of the U.S. Post Office," he said. "So we have to do a better job in terms of the editorial side."
Publications of all sorts felt the squeeze last year, as newsprint and paper costs soared. Although the price of newsprint has dropped this year, the coated paper that magazines use is still expensive, putting a squeeze on the magazine industry.
Noting "(ad) revenues have remained pretty flat, as have the circulation revenues," in the magazine business while paper and postage costs have risen, Zuckerman said, "There's still a great deal of cost pressure in the magazine world."
In addition to dealing with costs, publications have often had to carve out a distinct identity by adopting a particular editorial slant. Zuckerman said his magazine, U.S. News and World Report, is moderately conservative, but its readers like the objectivity of its content.
"We do not grab them by the lapels and tell them what to think," he said. "We do our very best to stay away from opinion traveling in the clothes of news."
Zuckerman also has a new magazine hitting the stands: Fast Company. It focuses on information technology in the context of the business world.
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