The need to sustain good newspapers

As a boy, I didn't read newspapers a lot. Instead, like many other boys and girls of my age I used to deliver them. I used to carry a bundle of those inky sheets through the usually wet and cold streets of my hometown in the United Kingdom. As a result, the newspapers often landed on customers' doormats a little damp and smudged, even slightly ripped. But people didn't mind that as long as the newspapers arrived in time for the breakfast read.

Later as a student, I brought my progressive newspaper loyally, so did my friends. And the newspapers, or what was printed in them, became a focal point of our discussions. We hardly ever questioned the veracity of the reports or the authority of its journalists, so it was ridiculous to buy more than one paper. Indeed, newspapers were considered essential for our education.

Obviously this was before the pre-digital age. But now the Internet has brought about massive changes in news distribution and readers' consumption and behavioral traits, which are heading in the opposite direction to my early experience. Yet as newspapers struggle to adopt and survive in this new landscape, there is a feeling that this is a critical juncture in the trajectory of experimentation to converge new technology, market share and news values.