It means this is the time to start making changes that will keep the newspaper the dominant medium of the future. In actuality, people have more free time today than they did 30 years ago. People are simply choosing to spend their free time in ways other than reading the paper. Of course, there are various reasons that newspaper readership has declined. People make time for what interests them.
Newspapers have advantages that have been taken for granted for years.
This information is invaluable. Individual houses can be targeted for specific advertising messages and coupons. Much like a computer homepage, newspapers could be customized to fit the interests of each resident. The technology is available and the database is there. This is the newspaper of the future.