In this weekend's Observer, Peter Preston said a determination is now emerging to fight the decline rather than merely manage it both here and in the US.
"It wasn't, on the face of it, a great year," Preston starts, quoting numbers from last week's ABC release for December 2012. However, he is "cautiously cheerful about 2013", referring to the way in which newspaper shares and salaries are recovering in the US, among other reasons.
"Media and publishing pay rose more decisively in the last three months of 2012 than at any time in the past six years," Preston explained - believing that what works in the US can work here.
"There's a little bit of belief out there again, and a recognition that words matter on paper as well as on screen – and thus that content matters most of all, because without it there's nothing to buy," he continued, praising the Guardian and Observer's 'The Weekend' strategy for following the pattern of actual reader demand. "It sees where the market is heading. It puts thought and effort into developing the print part of the equation."
Importantly, Preston says "when creative minds concentrate on media present as well as media future, they can still have an impact."
The latest ABC results are available here.
Source: The Guardian