Stop the presses

I’m not entirely ready to let newspapers go. Lately though it feels like sitting at the bedside of an ailing friend and you know soon it will be their time to go. The demise of the daily news paper is the loss of a reliable media template. And it means that local news may get lost in the din of voices in our media saturated world.

Don't get me wrong, I think that digital news is great but I'm not sure that the Internet is an adequate substitute. Newspapers are cutting staffs and reducing their size it's true. The Internet is inherently small though. The resources it can commit to a story are questionable in this sense.

Local newspapers on the other hand still leave something to be desired for all the resources they have at their disposal. What I'm getting at is that it is not clear which medium is best or if either of them truly meet the measure of journalistic excellence.

As it is, news in all mediums doesn't really seem to be carrying out much of its investigative tradition. Mostly it's copy and paste reporting. Journalists have been reduced to stenographers. And most news we read simply reports on events, not the political workings in our communities. Partially it may be the corporate news environment that has either debilitated the ability for reporters to investigate stories even create decent reporters. Likely it's some of both. Bill Moyers captured this sentiment in an interview in which he decried the complacency of big media in the run up to the current Iraq war.

The Internet has provided an alternative to the corporate media system in its wake. The role it plays in local news is unclear though. It needs to cover local events and politics in a trustful and responsible way if it is to replace the paper. And it must be clear that these news sources are doing authentic journalism by seeking out the truth to its utmost.

Democracy will continue on as it has without the paper but the state of local news coverage and government is questionable. If the Internet can fill the void and exceed it, perhaps in ways not yet realized, then newsprint's time may have come. It won't be an easy obituary to read though.

Further resources:

http://www.slate.com/id/2214724/

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/techtonicshifts/archive/2009/09/27/don-t-bail-out-newspapers-let-them-die-and-get-out-of-the-way.aspx

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1147/newspapers-struggle-public-not-concerned

http://adrianmonck.com/2008/12/democracy-collapse-journalism-provide-political-information/

Remember the telegram? How about the Walkman? The VCR? Or dial up Internet? As technology develops, what used to be an amazing invention will inevitably become outdated and fade away. Is this the fate of the newspaper?

Looking back at the 20th century we saw this happen to many times. Big bulky records were replaced by cassette tapes, which were in turn replaced by CD players and eventually MP3. Technology became more and more specified until finally you are able to access thousands of songs through basically a little box that can fit in your pocket.

With the invention of the Internet, information about anything you could possible imagine is at your fingertips if you know where to look. Up to date is no longer what you read in today's paper, its what you read on the Internet or what you saw on CNN within the last two hours. On top of that this information is available 24/7 to millions of Americans via their mobile phones. Technology just keeps expanding and condensing and the newspaper becomes bulky, environmentally unfriendly and inconvenient. It's all about efficiency these days.

Personally, I get all of my information from the Internet and TV. But since being assigned this topic I have noticed so many people enjoying a newspaper around the city. To many, there is just something irreplaceable about taking a break from your busy day with today's paper and a cup of coffee. The newspaper may become a rarity, it may completely change form, but I doubt it will disappear completely just yet.

http://www.cybercollege.com/frtv/frtv038.htm

The End of Newspapers

The demise of the newspaper has been a shock to many people because of the fact that many have closed, and on top of that, many people have been laid off because of how badly newspapers have been doing. “Good Journalism is critical to the health of our democracy,” President Obama recently stated. (Reagan). http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/newspaper-48230-critical-appreciate.html. In any democracy, journalism is important because without it, no one knows what is happening around them, and it is for this reason that the newspaper was so successful in its time, because it was the best, and only source to distribute, spread, and communicate news with everyone, all at once.

With the economy being the way it is, this has caused a significant number of problems for many, if not all journalists and would-be journalists. With some of the most renowned newspapers going bankrupt and folding, that does not leave much room for hope among journalists. One of the biggest problems that is occurring is the lack of jobs for print journalists, considering there are very few major newspapers that are hiring, or that are even around. Currently, some of the top newspapers are running the risk of folding, those being, “The Philadelphia Daily News,” “The Minnesota Star Tribune,” “The Boston Globe,” and “The Chicago Sun-Times,” to name a few. (For more details click on the link: "http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785-2,00.html"

Another major problem has to do with WHY the newspaper demised. Of course, the economy is partially to blame for this, considering it is at an all time low at this point. However, although it would be so much easier to blame the economy, the newspapers themselves need to shoulder some of the blame too. If all the major newspapers had not been so quick to change everything by going online, then there is a good chance that the newspaper would still be around. Many newspapers, both major ones and minor ones alike, decided to continue with their traditional newspapers, but to also post all their articles online, and for free at that. As a consumer would probably see it, even though newspapers are relatively cheap, if the same material can be read online, and on top of that for free, then what is the need to go out and purchase a traditional newspaper. According to About.com, “Opinions abound as to what newspapers must do to survive. Many say papers must start charging for their web content in order to support print issues. Others say printed papers will soon go the way of the Studebaker and that newspapers are destined to become online-only entities.” (http://journalism.about.com/od/trends/a/dyingpapers.htm) If newspapers had not turned things over to the internet, or even if they had decided to charge people for reading articles online, newspapers would have still had a fairly large presence. Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore and it is really only a matter of time before traditional newspapers are unavailable

The Demise of the Newspaper

Printed newspapers are known for documenting and informing about topics and events in history. Internet technology serves the same function, and can be acknowledged as an extension of the newspaper. By serving more people, making news more interactive and widely accessible, the internet has made print newspapers old news.

The newspaper has been around for centuries, but in order to reach a wider readership of broader demographics and psychographics, news has transitioned from print to online. According to the CNN article "Newspapers fold as readers defect and economy sours", some of the reasons why newspapers are falling is because of "changing reader habits, a shifting advertising market, an anemic economy, and the newspaper industry's own early strategic errors." The internet has plenty of available space allowing companies, entrepreneurs, advertisers etc. to sell their products and services to more people than newspaper ad spaces, and for less money. Online news is available quicker than print news and can be updated and expanded upon easily. Print media isn't as quick because in order to update and expand information it must be reprinted and redistributed. With the characteristics of accessibility and timeliness, online news proves to be easier to receive and is more affordable than print news, just a few points of how online is more appealing than print.

Although online media has become a more widely received and accessed outlet, there are also negatives. The internet is an open outlet, enabling just about anyone to add information whether false or true, opinion of fact, making credibility and accuracy of online sources an issue. As citizens of our democracy we want to be informed with correct information that teaches us and shapes our opinions and perceptions. Online news, although very abundant, must be analyzed and questioned for accuracy and credibility.

The demise of newspapers in our culture, although difficult to accept, was bound to happen. Like most innovations and products in society, when improved ideas are created, they take the place of the prior product or service. According to Wikipedia, "as of 2009, an estimated quarter of the Earth's population uses the services of the internet," a statistic demonstrating the impact of this news medium on a majority of people's lives.

A Different Business Model

There is no question that newspapers are on a downward slope. However, there are instances of papers using a different business model with success. Maybe there is hope for the papers after all.

After reading some different articles about the newspaper crisis, I'm not convinced that newspapers have to be a thing of the past. The internet is easy to blame for declines in subscriptions, but the music and movie industries have and are still facing the same challenges. Did they give up? Just like other media industries newspaper will have to adapt and find a way to make a profit in a changing market.

Jim Moroney, the publisher of The Dallas Morning News says, "We are profitable, have remained profitable and basically have no debts, so we're in great shape." How can this be? Haven't we only heard of doom and gloom scenarios? Moroney added pages to his papers and asked his subscribers to pay more for his paper. They agreed.

A non profit strategy has also been used with effectiveness. These non profit papers have a deeper connection with their readers. They hold events and interact with customers. When you make someone value the product they are getting there is a much better chance that customers will be willing to pay for it.

Don't give up newspapers, adaptation is what you need.

Prince's Daunting Question

*Please excuse the video/ad auto-play while scrolling through the blog. I didn't intend for the embedded video to function like that.

“Just how far was the walk?/For the morning papers,” sings Prince in his 1992 hit, “The Morning Papers.” Since 1992, the walk has become excruciatingly long for the many citizens who now turn to the Internet for their news.

The Internet is the first suspect in the demise of the newspaper, and for good reason. People no longer cling to their morning papers. Instead, they turn to screens on their laptops and mobile phones. This method of attaining news is much faster and easier on the wallet. It’s more cost efficient to read The New York Times on an iPhone, rather than getting it in the mail every day. The click of a mouse is just as fast as paging through to find the sports section.

It’s also a matter of tangibility. The New Yorker reports, “As early as May, 2004, newspapers had become the least preferred source for news among younger people.” Apparently, the younger generation doesn’t cling to the tangible aspects of thought like the previous one did. Why purchase a hard copy of Prince’s masterpiece “Purple Rain” when you can download an Mp3 version right to your computer in minutes using illegal bit torrent software? Though comparing sound waves to news seems meaningless, it’s really not. The same people who prefer the tangible aspects of a CD or Vinyl Record would also probably prefer those same aspects in their media consumption. Blaming the Internet for all this seems futile, as it’s more of a personal preference. When technology give people options, they’re often hard to refuse.

Ted Turner-the founder of CNN-declared on newspapers, "When I die, they are going to die with me." For those who cling to news that you can hold, lets hope for a long life span for Turner and the newspapers.

-TS

Related links:

http://www.allbusiness.com/services/business-services-miscellaneous-business/4703614-1.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman

Less Print equals More Freedom

The ways in which we obtain our news information has changed dramatically over the past decade. Readers went from going outside to pick up their copy of the local newspaper and enjoying it over a cup of coffee, to ending their subscriptions and viewing the news online, sometimes from a PDA or smart phone.

The Demise of the Newspaper can be credited to technology. It is much easier and cheaper to just read the news online than go through an entire newspaper. Not to mention, you can easily filter through the stories that do not interest you online and find a better one within seconds. In a printed newspaper, the reader must flip through the different sections of the paper and then find the article within that section.

However, the decline of the newspaper does mean great things for our democracy and freedom of speech. Most online news articles offer room for comments and opinions of the readers. Readers are able to share their opinion on the matter publicly and anonymously. When reading online news articles, I always read the commentary left at the bottom. Some of the best insights are found there.

Thestar.com states that two decades ago newspaper daily subscriptions were 10 million more than they are now, and that number is only falling. While the effect that the decline on newspaper sales has on the economy, from a “green” standpoint this is beneficial consequence. No longer will endless amounts of day-old newspapers be thrown to waste. Instead, the American people get their news virtually.

http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/200650
http://www.dividendgrowthinvestor.com/2009/02/demise-of-newspaper-industry.html