Newspapers on the WWW 

By Chris Gulker

In June of 1994, there were perhaps 4 small weekly and daily newspapers publishing on the World Wide Web, a part of the global Internet. 

By March of this year, there were more than 60 newspapers, and dozens of magazines as well. At the current rate, 200
newspapers may be on the WWW by year's end. 

The New York Times, The San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, MacWeek and Time Inc.'s
magazines are some of the better-known names that can now be accessed, typically for free, on the WWW. 

Users need an Internet connection (available over a modem and phone line from a local service provider) and an Internet
browser program like Netscape or Mosaic. Browser software is typically inexpensive and, in some cases, free. 

Some publications, like MacWeek and an 8-page edition of the New York Times, are provided in Adobe's portable document
format which requires a free reader program. 

The Wall Street Journal is available by email - it can be read in innovative software from WAIS, Inc. called Relevant that links
the daily content to a a WAIS database via the World Wide Web. A reader can make a custom version of the paper's content,
and can use the WAIS search engine to find out more about a given topic via a link to a WWW browser. 

The WWW offers much more than the output of traditional publishers, however. Universities, libraries, business and
enterprises of all sorts, as well as individuals are among those publishing on the World Wide Web. 

Why are publishers lining up to give away their content away for free? 

The answer is that publishers, for the most part, don't make money by selling content. They make money by selling
advertising, hopefully for more money than it costs them to create and distribute their publication. 

The WWW is possibly the cheapest publishing medium in the history of civilization. Publishing costs amount to the time and
effort it takes to place files on a server - far less than the cost of printing and delivering a newspaper or magazine. 

If the content is being accessed by hundreds of thousands of readers daily, then the potential exists to sell advertising. Since
production costs are low, margins can be excellent. 

Advertisers are a bit wary of new media, but as evidence mounts that the WWW and its millions of users are a viable medium,
their interest is bound to grow. 

More importantly, the medium also offers the potential to target reader groups far more accurately than competing media that
have eroded newspapers' too-broad market coverage. 

WWW surfers indicate their interests with their mouse clicks - as they navigate the home page they also are providing a
demographic profile. It would be reasonable, for example, to assume that someone who reads every story about four-door
sedans and regularly reads the auto classifieds is interested in buying a car. 

Many challenges remain for traditional publishers, however; not the least of which is discovering the best uses of the new
medium. Simply shoveling a newspaper's content onto the Internet makes for a tedious experience at best - reading a
newspaper at a computer is not as easy as reading the paper product. 

Finding the ways for publishers to add value to the new products - value that will lead to readers that will lead to revenue - is
the current holy grail of savvy publishers. 

Another challenge is the low barrier to entry for budding publishers. The WWW has grown from 300,000 home pages to over
3 million in just 9 months. Some with-it startups, unburdened by print traditions, stand to prosper in the new environment. 

Future developments, like the recent introduction of low-cost, easy-to-use Web servers by Apple, promise to make the
electronic medium an even more interesting place in the future. As it becomes routine for schools and homes, municipalities
and businesses to routinely publish information, new possibilities, like autonomous agent programs will arise. 

The new paradigm, many-to-many (as opposed to one-to-many) publishing will offer new opportunities to traditional
publishers and newcomers alike. If the Internet's deepest thinkers are to be believed, it will likely change the world
profoundly, as well. 

Chris Gulker cg@gulker.com