AN BOCEL EAR Sr aE Peet the good news (Guess who gets 1.6 billion hits a day?) Prior to 1996, iF you'd trotted up to someone and sid, "Hey, so what have you ‘Googled’ today?" you would have met with a blank stare and quite possibly a straiht jacket. Thankfully the days of those carly misunderstandings misdiagnoses eve ave long tone and today Googling objects, and often people is not just common parlance but common practice too. In fic, the rte ofthe internet hasbeen well ceived in the minds of most; except allegedly the newspaper industry, which is supposedly “ling spar” because ofthe digital age. ‘Theirony is thatthe digital mania brought bout bythe internet adits phenomenal progress sactully contributing to the growth of the newspaper industry ton The USSabllin investedin newspaper technology during the past I8 months hae given rise to digital smmagery, competerised printing processes and specdier information-exchange, all of which serve to enable newspaper executives to deliver a beter, mare poled product, ister than ever before ‘The lies, or pechaps that should be headlines, ae being blured because strangely enough, i's those same executives whose plentiful pockets ae providing the backing for the new media, And with a recent online news report claiming that browsing the net has usurped watching TV as one country’s preferred leisure activity, it makes sense for media owners to have theirinky fingers ina number of progressive pies But despite the fact thet the majority of newspapers are already online, thee are some ierefutable truths 5 t0 why millions of readers around the world will continue t favour the rustle of a newspaper to the trindings of search engine. Unlike electronic medi, the newspaper may be actively consumed atthe reader’ pace, 8 opposed to the reader being pusively exposed to barrages of byte Sioa bulletins 1 the only news you can sead on the run, anywhere, any time, Because it not only requires no battery, it also needs no power source. And you know what? Nobody ever pot Repetitive Strain Injury from reading abrowdsheet The newspaper has freedom of length, breadth and depth, in content, thought snd deta. In fact we might even be so bold as to s8y ‘that award-winning journalism requires more than a cursory glance. Pardon the pun [Newspapers enjoy the luxury of being able to tell you everything your news broadcaster quite simply doesn't have ime to communicate They dont crash or hang, yet they provide breaking news the minute you sit down to read it, Talking of sitting down, when last dd you settle into a comfy chair to read your downloads? What's more, advertisers, rather sensibly 4a ae closet newspaper fins too Rated as the worlds second largest advertising medium (29.8%) newspapers exceed the combined spend of radi outdoor, cinema, magazines and even, believe 1 or not, the internet. To which we say “Yahoo!” Iisa common misconception that we are ‘has ‘been’ newshound sully licking our wounds since the net's phenomenal success. But the point is that there always has been and always will be a place for newrspapers 550 milion people worldwide stil view the presi as the most authentic form of news, with thote newspapers geting into the hands ofa est 1.6 billion readers per day. We employ nearly two milion employees who produce the nearly 11,200 patd for daily Uiles workdwide, And our globil newspaper circulation siles were up 2.39% in 2006, a consistent ‘increase over the past 5 year, Last time we checked, the newspaper was thriving as the most lightweight portable, easy to consume news source in the word, ‘which explains why the newspaper industry is valued ata whopping USSI9Obilion globally. ‘And that brings us neatly tothe good news That ‘we will continue to provide it’ in whichever format you would prefer, fora lng as you remain interested ‘nsecevingt because the news ofthe future, whether obtained online oof thestree corner isalready being supplied by us Ves we Feely admit thatthe digital age Ins radically altered the mass commsnication media Jandscope And yes, the net hashed profound affect con the way we all do business. And should the day cventually come tht Google can boast daily readers ot just inthe millions but in billions ae newspapers 4a well be the first to report whether in your paper ‘ron your screen, g ‘World Association of Memspapers