Prominent journalist Tim Burrowes, who edits media and marketing website Mumbrella, spoke at yesterday's Industry Review Night, where he said print media was a victim of its own negative publicity.
Burrowes told the 50-strong audience that one of the reasons advertising executives preferred to steer clients to digital advertising was because it had a more positive image and seemed to have strong growth potential.
He said a turning point for printed publications may come when their combined total of print and digital subscriptions finally began to rise. He also said the hype around online advertising had started to fade.
Burrowes said he was confident that print media remained viable, just as radio defied predictions of its demise when television appeared.
[Photos: Who was at the event?]
The function's other speaker, BT Financial Group chief economist Chris Caton, told printers that they should be glad that the Federal government looked set to announce a deficit of about $15 billion in tonight's budget.
"The rush back to surplus was unnecessary from an economic point of view," he said.
"We didn't need a surplus this year. It would have done more harm than good if it had been achieved."
Caton said both sides of politics were responsible for the deficit; he said the Howard government had given too many tax cuts and Labor had spent too much money.
Caton also told printers they should be optimistic about the future. He said Australia had low unemployment and inflation, and that it was expected to grow more than any other Western country in the next decade.
He forecast that the Australian dollar would fall and the local stock market would cool during 2013, but that world markets would rise.
The Industry Review Night was held on 13 May at the North Ryde RSL in Sydney.
It was organised by the Printing Industries Association of Australia, Junior Printing Executives Association and Lithographic Institute of Australia.
[LinkedIn: Do printers give enough support to industry events?]
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