On newspapers as imagined today 

In a leap of imagination Howard Finberg, interactive news director of the Poynter Institute, recently predicted the attributes of the succesful newpaper of the futurs. Here are excerpts from, “A Look Back from 2018” in which he writes:

” . . . most of the companies that print a daily newspaper, and there are (now, as in the future) about  700 in the country that print seven days a week, have gone to a tabloid format or something smaller  . . (such as on) . . .  an 8-by-10-inch sheet of paper. In Europe this is called an A4 newspaper . . .

” . . . The more innovative companies also realize this advantage won’t last forever, as more and more of their customers subscribe via a household printing “press.” This high-speed printer uses the WiMax networks in most cities to deliver digital content that can be printed [and bound] on demand . . .

“retraining the newspaper’s sales force to be more consultative and help businesses identify what success looks like. That meant eliminating the commission-based compensation model. Most companies went for a “retention bonus” model for the advertising sales staff. If the company kept the business, there would be a bonus.

“(an) indicator of a successful media company is the number of non-English-language publications . . .”