Tomorrow's print edition of Media Week contains an interesting interview with Tim Brooks, managing director of Guardian News & Media, in which he is forthright and trenchant about the future of print media.
As The Guardian settles in to its shiny new headquarters in King's Cross after finally taking its leave of its Farringdon home, Brooks admits he will never launch another print product and predicts that a number of newspaper and magazine brands will disappear in 2009.
Of course, The Guardian has long been a strong advocate and forerunner for digital media and its web presence is one of the most comprehensive and established of all the national newspaper sites. The knockers will say it has found it easier to do this because the paper isn't subject to the same commercial discipline as its rivals, given that its unique ownership structure means the paper doesn't have to make a profit as a stand-alone operation. But it has undoubtedly shown the way forward for other nationals, which are gradually catching up. As discussed previously on this blog, making enough money out of these operations to replace the print ad revenues that have disappeared from newspapers over the past few years is another challenge entirely.
Anyway, check out the interview with Brooks in tomorrow's (print) edition of Media Week, or access it online at http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/, and let me know what you think.
