A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist told newspaper executives on Thursday that the industry's recent turmoil makes it face a new reality.
"The great recession may have saved us from ourselves," Alex Jones told about 70 people attending the 88th annual convention of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association at the Hilton Scranton and Conference Center. "We saw in 2008 that the world had changed."
Newspapers folded during the recession, which hammered advertising revenue, accelerated a flight to electronic news sources and slashed the market value of publications. Some newspapers reduced frequency of publication or migrated to online platforms. Many eliminated staff and cut wages as profit margins shriveled.
"We were staring at the abyss," said Mr. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, a think tank at Harvard University.
But most newspapers survived because they emerged as better businesses, Mr. Jones said.
"We are leaner, we are opportunistic and entrepreneurial," he said. "We are paranoid, but we are not complacent."
Newspapers are important to the communities they serve, protect the First Amendment and enforce provisions of sunshine laws, said Mr. Jones, who won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the news media at The New York Times.
"A lot of people want us to survive," he said. "We have re-energized ourselves for a new reality."
A continuing challenge for newspapers is attracting younger readers who are skeptical of traditional information sources, he said. But many young people want to become journalists, he said, and newspapers can use them to connect to people in their age group.
"They can help you reach others who are like them," he said.
Tim Williams, former president of PNA, a Harrisburg-based trade group, said Mr. Jones addressed issues newspapers need to face in order to thrive.
"He has great advice," Mr. Williams said. "I think newspapers need certainly to take what he said and make the changes to address new readers."
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com