The professionalism of news-papers in mediating the world for readers will protect them and ensure survival in the world of competing new media, Press Ombudsman John Horgan told a conference on the future of newspapers yesterday.
Prof Horgan said there was no doubt but that new media using new technologies were playing a part in democratising media content and media access but new media would still have to interpret the world for users who can- not experience events directly.
Traditional media like news-papers already interpret the world for their readers, and their professionalism in doing so would protect their future in the ever-changing world of new media such as blogs, he said.
Prof Horgan was chairing a session of a conference organised by the University College Cork Journalism Society on the theme, Death of a newspaper: Is the traditional newspaper at risk of being replaced by the various strands of new media?
His comments echoed the view of Irish Independent editor Gerard O'Regan who said that newspapers needed to give special focus to people under 30 years old who are more technologically aware and use new media for their news.
However, Mr O'Regan expressed confidence that newspapers "will be able to embrace" the segment of the population under 30, particularly as time goes by and "as they get older, some will inevitably gravitate towards the printed word".
He said that it was obviously sensible for newspapers to embrace new technologies, but in a way that complements rather than conflicts with the printed media which will survive through quality journalism.
Technological advances could herald a new dawn for quality journalism, especially given that much of what appears on the internet is dross and quality journalism will attract people to newspapers, he predicted.
"All the established Irish newspapers have very strong brand identities - that's a very powerful asset; so if an established newspapers is writing something or taking a stance on a particular issue, it's going to have a certain credence, dare I say, over citizen journalism."
The improvements in newspaper design and additional supplements over the past 10 years, along with quality reporting, will be "a powerful armour [for papers] against the challenges posed by the web", he said.