Positive comment on the future of newsprint is hard to come by yet an article in The Economist today (disclosure: Speed client) is optimistic. It finds that newspapers have escaped closure by cutting costs.

The decline in the fortunes of print has been widely reported. Consumer appetite is in decline and classified advertising has moved online to sites such as eBay and social networks such as Facebook.

The Economist reports that the response from publishers has been to cuts costs (staff and paper), raise prices and use syndicated content. Only a handful of papers have succeeded in persuading their readers to pay for online content.

The post recession prognosis calls for newspapers to “become more distinctive and customer focussed.” Success says The Economist relies on carving out niches. Survival depends on the broader issue of persuading young people to pay for news.