In my American government class my junior year of high school, we had a representative from the Chicago Sun Times come in a talk to our class about the importance of keeping newspapers alive. His argument was very weak because all he said was, “it’s something you can pick up and set down whenever you like.” Even then, when I did not know a lot about how the media worked, I remembered thinking, “why should I pay for something when I can just get it for free?”
This the ultimate problem facing all newspapers companies nowadays. And why not? It’s just common sense to get something that’s more affordable and faster than its competitor.
According to Philip Meyer from the article www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory, he calculates that the first quarter of 2043 will be the moment when newsprint dies in America as the last exhausted reader tosses aside the last crumpled edition. While this makes perfect sense, it will also put many talented reporters and writers out of a job and will end a few hundred year long tradition of excellence.
www.newyorker.com claims that, “most managers in the industry have reacted to the collapse of their business model with a spiral of budget cuts, bureau closings, buyouts, layoffs, and reductions in page size and column inches.” This means that since the rise of the media internet, more and more companies are being forced to cut jobs in order to keep their company above water. Personally, I am all for online newspapers rather than print media for a number of reasons. First of all, online media reports current news much faster. For instance, tonight the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles (Donavan McNabb) was traded to the Washington Redskins. If I were strictly updated by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I would have found tomorrow morning. Instead, I heard about it about forty minutes after the trade went down on espn.com.
It’s plain and simple: print media WILL and SHOULD be extinct. Who knows, maybe fifty or hundred years from now, something will be developed that’s faster and more efficient than the internet. But until then, make hay while the sun still shines.
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I agree with you that is newspapers become extinct that it will end a few hundred year long tradition of excellence. But don't you think that the last paper will be sold way before 2043? Newspaper sales have declining annually since 2006. According to this article, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/business/media/28paper.html, over the last year out of the top 25 Newspapers in the country only The Wall Street Journal cashed in a profit, of 0.6 percent.
ReplyDeleteThe reason is clear why sales keep decreasing; the internet. I agree that newspapers can't keep up with the internet because new news always comes out the next day in Newspapers, and the next hour for the internet.