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.
The general consensus that newspapers are slowly dying is undeniable. The fact that anyone can post anything on the internet does give online journalism a sense of anarchy. This is not something that should worry us right now.
ReplyDeleteSilverblatt points out, "Few bloggers find full-time job opportunities, little original reporting is produced." We do not see a lot of misinformation from bloggers because people that want to blog want to be credited. In the event that someone is falsifying information they would quickly be called out.
We have already seen blogs getting credit (The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post) because these blogs have built up their reputation. Whether these blogs sway politically one way or another should not matter. We have already dealt with this in broadcast and print media (Fox News, The N.Y. Times). Journalists and society will find a way to organize and give the current state of the internet some kind of system. Do not forget, anyone could have started their own paper that printed inaccurate information. What would have happened to that paper?
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ReplyDeleteI can definitely understand why people are embracing the internet and turning to it to get their daily news. “They say that television and radio deliver news much faster than newspapers; therefore, newspapers should not be as concerned with getting information to readers quickly as with getting more complete and accurate information” (Stovall 121). Stovall is right in the sense that both TV and radio deliver their news much faster, and one would assume that the internet does too, since it can be checked at any time. You stated, “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.” I certainly agree with you, and you are definitely right that the internet can be accessed much faster, and that articles can be posted right away. At this point, most people do everything on the internet, and on some level, it makes sense that the newspaper would demise at some point.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole, it seems as though younger generations are less concerned with the demise of the newspaper. I think this is probably due to the fact that older generations are more dependent on newspapers to get their news. For those who are not adept at using a computer, it may be difficult to get all the news they would like. That being said, if the newspaper were to disappear completely, although there would still be television access to receive the news, the print aspect of a newspaper would be gone for them.
Personally, I do not like the idea of the newspaper disappearing completely. While having newspapers transferring their work online is probably cheaper, and much more convenient for readers, I do not think that it can replace something as traditional as a newspaper, or print journalism for that matter.