Newspapers Look to Internet as Opportunity Rather than Threat

Newspapers can transform one of their main financial threats -- the Internet -- into a lucrative opportunity by pursuing sometimes risky online experiments and partnerships, a group of industry executives said Sunday at the Newspaper Association of America conference here.
The Internet worries newspaper publishers because more readers are turning away from print media and connecting to the Web. The trend is driving more advertising to the Internet, threatening the newspaper industry's robust profit margins.
"We have to be willing to take a lot of swings with the bat and realize we are only going to make contact a certain amount of the time," said Hilary Schneider, a Knight Ridder Inc. senior vice president who oversees the newspaper company's online operations.