Dawson was speaking at the event yesterday, which was at the Sydney Masonic Centre and had a heavy focus on new media technology, such as the Apple iPad.
“By 2022, newspapers as we know them will be irrelevant in Australia,” he said.
“However, the leading newspaper publishers of today may have transformed themselves to thrive in what will be a flourishing media industry.”
Dawson said newspapers “as we know them” would evolve and predicted they would be “created in very personal forms”.
He also predicted e-readers would cost less than $10 by 2020, and could even be given away by media organisations who want to push their content.
Earlier this month, Macquarie Group’s long-term media analyst Alex Pollak said it made financial sense for Fairfax Media to scrap its printed editions in Sydney and Melbourne and give away 100,000 iPads.
The PANPA Future Forum featured “Australia’s first individualised newspaper”, which was produced on an Océ JetStream continuous-feed, full-colour inkjet press. The event concludes today.
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