It’s not hard to see that printed news will go the way of dinosaurs, typewriters and 8-Track Tapes. Much has been written about the demise of newspapers. Much more will be debated as daily “print” journalism craters and moves to electronic only. Disastrous quarterly earnings of publicly held newspaper companies not only reflect the downturn in advertising, they illustrate how quickly the industry’s distribution model is becoming obsolete.
Is it sad? I suppose if you work for a newspaper, or don’t own a P.C. or mobile device.
Should print newspapers be saved? Not in a free-market economy.
Will we be worse off without printed news? I doubt it.
There is more news and commentary now than ever before. More avenues for whistle blowers to blow whistles. More blogs to provide micro-local reportage and shine lights.
Yes, original reporting is primarily a domain of professional journalists, but raw feeds and tweets are getting noticed. Will the quality of these rise to the level of pro journalism? Only at well-run operations that earn customers’ subscription fees and deliver full context, not just breaking missives, complete with typos and grammar errors. That’s the price of progress when everyone can have their own broadcast channel on the Web.
How have we gotten here? Look at what you’re holding in your hand, or typing on atop your desk or lap.
Today, with the exception of Sunday morning, I carry a “newspaper” in my pocket. It’s my iPhone. Inside it is nearly everything that has come to replace or enhance what I used to glean from daily newspapers. Instantly. Not just in 24-hour intervals.
- nytimes.com (replaces The San Diego Union-Tribune)
- usatoday.com (ditto)
- voiceofsandiego.org (ditto)
- weatherchannel.com (replaces Weather page)
- Yahoo! Stocks (replaces Financial page)
- espn.com (replaces the Sports page)
- mlb.com (ditto)
- padres.com (replaces the Padres beat writer)
- yelp.com (replaces the restaurant reviews)
- craigslist.com and ebay.com (replace the classified ads)
- cyclingnews.com (gives me what newspapers only did around Tour de France time)
- velonews.com (ditto)
- techcrunch.com (replaces Business section)
- businessweek.com (ditto)
- time.com, newsweek.com, cnn.com (supplants National news section)
- youtube.com (local T.V. posts supplant Local news section)
- rottentomatoes.com (replaces Movie reviews)
- i.TV (replaces Television listings)
- twitter.com (replaces a bit of everything, including Crime Blotter and public school news)
- comments on any Web content (replaces Letters to the Editor)
I don’t do crosswords. And I gave up on food coupons long ago. I subscribe to more than a dozen printed magazine because they can provide context, originality and typically higher quality writing. Magazines will be the next to suffer in the digital revolution, despite their format, frequency and ability to entertain loyalists. It’s inevitable.
How did this all happen?
The question is really the reverse: how could it not?
1 Comment
May 30, 2009 at 2:17 am
less newspapers means cutting less trees