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There will eventually come a day when The New York Times ceases to publish stories on newsprint.
终有那么一天，《纽约时报》会停止在报纸上出版新闻报道。
Exactly when that day will be is a matter of debate.
但究竟会在哪天到来就需要辩论一番了。
"Sometime in the future," the paper's publisher said back in 2010.
该报的出版商曾在2010年这样说道：“或许在将来的某一天吧。”
Nostalgia for ink on paper and the rustle of pages aside, there's plenty of incentive to ditch print.
撇开对油墨字纸张和翻页的沙沙声的怀念，舍弃纸质版的动机还是很充分的。
The infrastructure required to make a physical newspaper — printing presses, delivery trucks — isn't just expensive; it's excessive at a time when online — only competitors don't have the same set of financial constraints.
如今做一份纸质版报纸所需要的印刷机、配送卡车等硬件设施不只是贵。在这个只出版电子版的同行报纸都没有这种资金限制的时代，这些硬件设施的开支算是离谱了。
Readers are migrating away from print anyway.
反正读者正在从纸质版转移到电子版。
And though print ad sales still dwarf their online and mobile counterparts, revenue from print is still declining.
尽管纸质版报纸的广告销售额仍让在线和移动报纸相形见绌，但是纸质版报纸的收入仍在下滑。
Overhead may be high and circulation lower, but rushing to eliminate its print edition would be a mistake, says BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti.
“BuzzFeed”首席执行官乔纳·佩雷蒂说道：尽管日常开支会很高，同时发行量持续走低，但贸然停止纸质版将会铸成大错。
Peretti says the Times shouldn't waste time getting out of the print business, but only if they go about doing it the right way.
佩雷蒂说，《纽约时报》不该浪费时间去想着如何停止纸质版，而应该找到一种正确的方法去解决这件事。
"Figuring out a way to accelerate that transition would make sense for them," he said, "but if you discontinue it, you're going have your most loyal customers really upset with you."
他还说，“对《纽约时报》来说，花时间去想出一个能加快其转型的办法才是有意义的，但如果《纽约时报》决定不再出版纸质版，那么这将让该报的最忠诚的顾客们失望至极”
Sometimes that's worth making a change anyway.
但不管怎样，有时候转型还是很值得的。
Peretti gives the example of Netflix discontinuing its DVD-mailing service to focus on streaming.
佩雷蒂给出了“Netflix”终止向顾客邮寄DVD业务，而专注去做流媒体的例子。
"It was seen as blunder," he said.
他说，当时那被看做是愚蠢的错误。
The move turned out to be foresighted.
但此举证明是很有先见之明的。
And if Peretti were in charge at the Times?
如果佩雷蒂负责《纽约时报》，他会有何行动？
"I wouldn't pick a year to end print," he said "I would raise prices and make it into more of a legacy product."
他说，我不会选择在某一年停止出版纸质版，相反，我不仅要提高价格，还要将它变为一种可以传承的产物。
The most loyal customers would still get the product they favor, the idea goes, and they'd feel like they were helping sustain the quality of something they believe in.
这样，那些最忠诚的顾客们依旧会买他们一直喜欢的产品，产品的思想就能传播，并且他们会觉得这是在支持他们所信任的产品保持质量。
"So if you're overpaying for print, you could feel like you were helping," Peretti said.
“因此，如果继续高价购买纸质报纸，人们会觉得自己是在伸出援手，”佩雷蒂说道。
"Then increase it at a higher rate each year and essentially try to generate additional revenue."
“然后每年使其价格以比较高比率增长，以此获得额外收入”。
In other words, if you're going to make a print product, make it for the people who are already obsessed with it.
换句话说，如果你想做一份纸质版报纸，那就选择那些已经痴迷于它们的人吧。
Which may be what the Times is doing already.
这或许也是《纽约时报》已经在做的事。
Getting the print edition seven days a week costs nearly $500 a year — more than twice as much as a digital — only subscription.
每周七天都订一份制止报纸，一年就要花近500美元——比只订阅电子版的费用贵了一倍多。
"It's a really hard thing to do and it's a tremendous luxury that BuzzFeed doesn't have a legacy business," Peretti remarked.
佩雷蒂指出，要不要舍弃纸质版确实是一个艰难的决定，但BuzzFeed没有的遗产业务，这一点极其难得，
"But we're going to have questions like that where we have things we're doing that don't make sense when the market changes and the world changes.
但当市场和世界形势发生变化时，我们正在做的事情就会变得没有意义，这时候我们也会面临“要不要舍弃报纸的纸质版”类似的难题。
In those situations, it's better to be more aggressive that less aggressive."
在这种情况下，更激进的举措要好于不痛不痒之举。
