The Way Local Newpaper Survive And Develop In The New Media Environment

New technologies, such as mobile communications and the Internet, have greatly changed the way we communicate. It brings unprecedented challenges for traditional media, such as newspaper, radio and television, etc. Among these, the newspaper industry has suffered most. In America, a number of time-honored newspapers have stopped publication totally or release online edition only, including Christian Science Monitor, which has won the Pulitzer Prize for seven times.Though large-scale collapse has not taken place among Chinese newspapers, they have felt great pressure. While new media is advancing rapidly, the newspaper industry is faced with shrink in circulation and precipitous drops in advertisement revenue. Whether the newspaper industry will survive remains a debate, however, a consensus has been reached among the industry on the necessity of transformation. How to adopt specific measures for transitioning has become a hot topic among many newspapers in recent years.Among the 1943 newspapers in China, there are 877 local newspapers. Though local newspapers are relatively weak in power, the number of them is lager than that of provincial newspapers and national newspapers. Thus, local newspapers are a significant part of Chinese newspapers. Facing the challenges of new media, local newspapers have got the advantages in localism and profits as well as the disadvantages in distribution, scale and competence. Taking Jianghai Evening at Nantong as an example, this study attempts to investigate how local newspapers maximize their own strengths and minimize the weaknesses so that they could adapt to the new technologies.This study finds that though new media is challenging the authority of newspaper, it does not pose a vital threat. Indeed, professional news reporting is still in great demand and internet users can’t replace journalists in terms of authority and professionalism. Besides, with the help of new media, the spread and influence of newspaper can be promoted. What new media affected most is the profitability of newspaper. On one hand, the bundle sales of newspaper context and advertisement has been disrupted, as the context of newspapers is widely used free of charge by the webs. On the other hand, internet media erodes the advertising income of newspapers with its advantages in cost,This study suggests that it is inevitable for the newspaper industry to decrease its profit with the existence of new media. Paper should still be favored as a carrier in the long term, as new media projects initiated by the newspapers can’t become a beacon of hope for transformation in a short time. To meet the challenges from new media, local newspapers have to strengthen localism, return to public properties, improve the expressions, scale down and reduce print cost. To combine with new media, traditional newspapers should also set clear profit targets for the projects and put them in the right place.