University Wire
05-25-1999
(The Stanford Daily) (U-WIRE) STANFORD, Calif. -- Tony Ridder, chief executive of newspaper giant Knight-Ridder, addressed about 50 students Monday night in a lecture titled "Offline and Online Media Covergence." He spoke in room 71 of the Graduate School of Business about his hopes for developing an online service combining regional news and information.
A graduate from the University of Michigan and great-grandson of one of Knight-Ridder's founders, Tony Ridder began his speech by talking about the Internet.
"The growth of the Web has been incredible. It took the Web five years to reach 50 million people," he said.
He talked about ways companies use the Internet. "The Internet is a more efficient way to hire people. [Companies] use the Internet much more and don't spend as much in print," he said.
The rapid growth of the Internet has lured readers and advertisers away from newspapers to online services. With 80 percent of its $3.1 billion in revenues from advertisement and 45 percent of this coming from classified advertisement, this is a serious concern for Knight Ridder.
In response to those concerns, Ridder decided to go high tech. He created Knight Ridder Real Cities, the first comprehensive newspaper-based online service.
"There is a myth that the news business is not a healthy business. But the news business has never been stronger in the past four or five years. Financially it is very strong," Ridder said.
"[The newspaper] also has a civic role," he added. "We care about business but we also care about serving the community."
Real Cities is a network of 40 Web sites. It will eventually include regional portals as well as online versions of the publisher's 31 newspapers.
Real Cities does not charge for content other than the special services, such as electronic libraries. "We hope to generate enough traffic for advertisement, direct marketing and e-commerce," Ridder said.
In response to the concern that the convergence of advertisement and news on the Web could affect the objectivity of online news, Ridder said, "This danger is in print form too." He then added, "What good newspapers and online services have is the credibility of the institutions."
When asked about the possibility that the online media will substitute for the printed newspaper, Ridder said, "Getting information from the newspaper is a really easy and fast way, and I don't think that business is going away."
(C) 1999 The Stanford Daily via U-WIRE
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