*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
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The idea of a tangible source in our modern day and age is a very interesting idea. I enjoy purchasing cds for the very idea that I get to hold it in my hands. Why, I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteOlder generations act in very similar ways. Is it because they prefer the tangible aspect of a newspaper, or is it because they grew up without technologic advances, unlike us.
We have been bombarded with computers and the internets from a very young age. Perhaps we haven't had the choice of whether or not we really want to choose from a newspaper or an internet source. It has become more of a habit because of how we interact day to day. Instead of writing letters, we write emails. This is sort of a metaphor for the way people nowadays go on the internet rather than read the newspaper.
Although I like to hold my cds, I must admit, I too have bought them off itunes. With that said; today's ways have changed from tangible to techological. There still are those who have preferences regardless of technology. However, today's culture has begun to subconciously choose technology over other tangibles.