The first advantage that comes to mind when speaking about newspapers is how they are established as part of the global society. This is particularly true in Switzerland, where newspapers are a big part of the Swiss‟ everyday life. Newspapers are the oldest media that is still a major factor in the 2010 media mix.
For instance when you take the train in Switzerland you will surely see a great part of the passengers reading the paper. This is accentuated by the free newspaper business, but there are still a lot of people reading subscription press. Such a presence forces respect. For a lot of people newspapers are essential to the functioning of society and it could not simply disappear like other media did before.
A second advantage is its mobility. It is not an advantage over the new media strictly speaking. Obviously you can take a smart phone wherever you want as well. But you will not have service everywhere. Anyway the newspaper can be taken and read absolutely wherever the reader wants to. The example of the train in Switzerland could be used here as well. Another benefit that comes from the format of the newspapers is their readability. What is meant here is that they are much more convenient to read than smart phones or computer screens. Only a few people will pretend the contrary. The print is easier and more suitable to read on paper than on an electronic screen.
Another advantage of the newspapers is the time their journalists have to write their articles. This leads to two important parameters. The first is mistakes. The amount of time that daily newspapers have to be prepared allows preventing the majority of mistakes and false information. Given they do not have the urge of being the first to publish a certain information, they can verify theirs sources and check if the news are really correct or not. It is unfortunately not always the case for newspapers to do that, but they should use that advantage to ensure their articles do not contain mistakes. The second aspect of the supplement of time they have is the possibility of developing, investigating or going deeper for the articles. This is their biggest competitive advantage.
Newspapers can offer their reader information of quality, no matter the subject. Since the daily press cannot compete in time of reaction they have to offer a superior content as the ones the new media offer. Information of quality is the signature mark of a great newspaper. This advantage is amplified by the fact that many people still do not trust news that come from the Internet: “The relative newness of the Internet, the lack of clearly established genres, and the scarcity of explicit editorial policies for most Web sites suggest that information obtained vie the Internet might be dubious or difficult to appraise.”(30) Moreover people generally take the time to read their papers and so are looking for added content on a particular story. Generally if something big happened in the world, the public generally knows very quickly what went on because of Internet access. The newspaper cannot simply relate an event. They have to expand on that very story to help their readers understand better the situation.
30 Gunter, p.158-159
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