The Australian Press Council has looked at the future of newspapers.

Traditionalists believe that the Internet is no more likely to bring down newspapers than the advent of TV half a century ago. The special attributes of newspapers, their immediacy, involvement, credibility, creativity, consistency and flexibility of use will continue to ensure their longevity.

Traditionalists are, however, being stalked by doubters, including most recently The Economist (August 2006) which is following the line that extinction of all or some of the papers in the UK is only a matter of time. It claims '…that newspapers are on the way out and that it is only a matter of time before there are closures with half the world's newspapers likely to close in the foreseeable future because 'business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers, which has sustained their role in society, is falling apart.'

It is important for us to follow what is happening.

I do not believe in the demise of newspapers. I think they will take their place as an alternative channel and that publishers will learn that news (views and opinion) can be transported through many platforms and across many channels and, with content optimised for the platform and channel, they will do really rather well.

PR in the meantime will have to help provide optimised content which will mean the death of the press release as we know it today. It is also why we need XPRL