Is this the end of newspapers as we know them?
Photo by aloshbennett 
In a few months, the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News will scale back their home delivery to three days a week so they can focus their operations on digital content. Although they are the first major metropolitan newspapers to undergo such a momentous shift, I suspect that many newspapers will soon follow their lead. This raises the questions: What will be lost by the shift to all-digital media? And what will be gained?
Before I get too carried away, I should point out that the papers will still be available daily on newsstands. But it’s hard not to see this as the beginning of the end of newspapers as we know them – that is, in paper form, published once a day, supported in part by paid subscriptions.
Printed news often carries more authority, while the rush to break news stories 24 hours a day online can lead to unreliable reporting and the spread of rumor as fact. Then again, the great promise of blogs and other online news sources is that they put journalism in the hands of everyday people, they offer news for audiences that might be too small or marginalized to receive the notice of major newspapers, and they provide an opportunity for readers to comment directly on them.
For further reading on the topic, I recommend consulting the great collection of links provided by Top Contributor W. C., as well as the many answers to idiomic’s question “Are newspapers obsolete?”
Whether the shift to all-digital news will fundamentally change how news is reported and consumed remains to be seen. But I can say that I will certainly miss starting my Sunday with a cup of coffee and The New York Times spread out in front of me.
What do you think will be gained or lost by the shift to all-digital news?
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I been in the printing business for 35 years. When i started in 1975 if you had a job in newspapers you were set for Life. Once color printing came into play WOW printing was KING but in 1994 when online starting in to home it marked the end for printing. Someone said it will take 25 years . I think when all the older readers are dead the young will never pick up
a paper. Look at kids today all they do is text. Printing is a DEAD INDUSTRY.
“so they can focus their operations on digital content”, Nope thats not the reason. America is turning on liberalism.
I think the demise of the newspaper industry is multifaceted, with the increase of digital content being only one reason. The majority of the information online is, for the most part, accurate. If it weren’t, few people would rely on it.
The fact is, more people are spending time in front of their computers instead of the coffee table. Productivity on computers has gone way up. From my computer I can read up on the latest news, look at my bank account, play an online game, listen to mp3’s, instant message friends, do word processing, etc.
Cultural change has a big part in this as well. Most teenagers are not growing up with newspapers but with iPods, mp3 players, laptops, and cell phones and this is how many are getting their news. With the ability to download Podcasts, retrieve news instantly with your cell phone or laptop there’s no reason to run out a buy a paper. You’ve got it all there!
Personally I love the writing done by newspaper journalists. I think they are very insightful, and very eloquent writers and know how to keep me interested. If they made articles that would show up on my Home Page I would definitely take a look at them. Right now, the way iGoogle is setup, all the articles are from AP. Their writing style is often very generalized and downright annoying because they often lack the knowledge and scope of a small town writer whose focus is more limited.
If they could take the best writers from the SF Chronicle and put it on my desktop every day I’d be thrilled!
the daily optic in the 15,000 people town i live in is also going to be issued 3 days a week from the usual 5 days…it totally sucks it is now 50cents a copy i just hope the price wont go up!
While I do get a lot of information online, there is something about actually holding the paper and reading through it. It’s the same thing with a book. the feeling is different when you can actually hold the material in your hands rather than staring at a screen
The only thing I will miss if newsprint stops is what will I line my pet cage with. All the news I could ever want to read is online and free. News I see on TV and in print are several days behind and are already old news anyway.
it’s what’s called progress. when it was found that papyrus could be formed into a material upon which writing was permanent (as such), that was the end of impressing characters into blocks of a soft material, such as clay. another reason, important to me, at least, is that newspapers have ceased to be objective reporters of the news. all too often what passes as news at this time is an attempt to influence, if it is not outright propaganda. the computer, the internet and everything that goes with it are here forever. the visionaries, such as steve jobs and bill gates, will make a fortune from it, and we will be left with the most timely, most accurate and best suited vehicle to convey events to each individual.
newspapers cut their own throats by pushing globalist agenda free trade and immigration lies
why pay for propaganda?
BUH-BYE journalists
you have only yourselves to blame
The same thing is happening in Denver to the Rocky Mountain News. Personally I read news online and the only thing I ever get it for is coupons. A million tree’s die to print them and they mostly have ad’s that I don’t care about and liberal viewpoints I don’t agree with so I think people would rather have a choice about who they read about and not be subjected to ad’s or the driveway mush if you can’t get it off of your driveway quick enough.
Hello, they are NOT the first. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will soon either disappear or go internet-only.
I haven’t read a newspaper or magazine in 10 years. Not because I’m not a reader (I read books daily!), but because it’s just to inconvenient, and by the time you get the news, it’s already too old. I’m not young by any means, I don’t think it’s a generational thing. It’s just convenience. Good bye newspapers. Good bye magazines. You have no place in the digital world.
Americans are smart enough to see through the lie that digital content and a troubled economy are the main reasons newspapers are failing.
The truth is that many Americans are sick of having the anti-military, anti-religion, anti-family, and pro-gay Liberal/Socialist agenda shoved down their throats.
Look at the NY Times for example, they don’t even bother to fact check anymore and Americans are starting to pay attention.
I certainly hope this is the end to newspapers “as we know them”. I used to subscribe to the New York Times, but the reporting is horrible. This is because the people that work at the New York Times, along with the entire paper itself, is so biased.
The bias displayed in the “reporting” is unbelievable and that’s not just in politics. Any article written is just sopping wet with the one sided view. I’m not talking about the articles where it clearly states at the top that it’s the reporters opinnion, I’m talking about the actual news.
The media was not always so blatantly biased. Yes, there has always been bias in the media and there always will be, but there is a limit. You can pick it out now by reading the first few sentences of an article.
The media as a whole needs to seriously step back and reevaluate their position and rekindle the whole purpose of the media, which is to report the facts to the public and be as objective as possible.
I don’t see this too much anymore and it’s ridiculous not to mention depressing.
Good riddens to these media hacks.
That is what’s happening where I live. The Bristol Press in Connecticut is also shutting down. I wonder what will happen to the people that lost their jobs because of this.
I think the newspaper is dying and it is sad to. I like reading a newspaper early in the morning and drinking a cup of tea. You just don’t get the same affect while reading it online. Plus it is not like I can carry my laptop in the bathroom while I am handling my business. That is when I also read the newspaper and read the wonderful articles.
newspapers themselves may somedaey die out. The Reprtes, Editors will still have jobs since they will be doing the stories, interviews and all the online news setups and work. It’s the people who are in the printing part of the business who may want to look for a new career path.
edit- see clearly we need Editors. lol
*someday
*Reporters
How are we going to train puppies in the future?
I believe one overlooked factor in the demise of daily papers is the loss of the local neighborhood carrier. Newspapers used to be delivered with customer service in mind. Gone are the days when the paper could be found by my front door. The street curb seems the closest any contracted delivery service wants to get to my home. Payment can only be taken by credit card, right along with a tip. Why would anyone wish to pay to read headlines covered with tire tread marks?
Wow, i never thought that would happen. Makes you wonder what other changes will take place soon enough. I love reading the paper and will certainly miss it. Can you imagine kids growing up never knowing what the paper was?
Things evolve and with the media becoming so crazily biased I am relieved at the death of everyone of these “papers”. I mean my father takes the paper and when I would happen to look obama is in every section even the sports pages. This is bad propaganda and it is not selling in the marketplace, let us all just pray that they do not get paid off for their loyalty with bailout or stimulus money regardless of whatever they call it. Good riddance! Today the papers tomorrow network news!
The Denver Post Newspaper has been around for as long as I can remember. I feel sorry about all the layoffs this will bring about. Delivering papers was a great first time job for both boys and girls.
I think it’s great. I, too get sick of all the propaganda in the news. Plus it would be wonderful if we could save all of those trees. And by the way- it isn’t the death of journalism or anything…they’ll still be needed. Just the end of printing and newspaper routes. Also, since everyone seems to drive around nowadays to deliver newspapers (at least where I live), it would help the environment to take those vehicles off the road. Maybe that’s a bit mean to all of the newspaper delivery guys left out there in the world, but it’s true. This is a wonderful thing!
And not to mention the Rocky Mountain News in Denver has been looking for a buyer and looks like
this newspaper is gone as well been around for many
generations in Colorado
Well isn’t technology just great. It just makes the rich a lot more richer. The same old America. Yeah let’s rely on everything being digital and we as consumers will be paying for it all in highers prices and constant breakdowns. Look at all the problems that we have with computers, cell phones and everything else that is going digital. Just wait until the TV switch is made, whenever that will be, the government can’t even get that right. There will be major problems with that as well, count on it. But as long as it makes the big companies alot of money, it doesn’t matter what the consumer thinks. I will no longer be reading any print news after the changes are made here in Detroit, the quality of the paper has gone down drastically in recent years anyway. And I won’t sit in front of a computer to read a paper neither, so I guess I’ll get my news second and third hand from others. I sure the stories will be accurate after going through many others first.
Didn’t the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News “merge” back in the 80s? If so, why are there still 2 newspapers? Especially when you’re talking about a city that’s been imploding in on itself for the past 40 years.
Why don’t they just drop one newspaper altogether? It’s not like you’re really missing anything if you just read one or the other.
It’s just another industry that has rested on it’s laurels for so long they don’t know quite what to do. You’re going to see the same thing soon I suspect with the evening news shows. I highly doubt people under 30 watch the local news because they’re all getting their information up to the minute off of the internet and so those old news teases aren’t viable anymore since anything that gets teased during prime time can be looked up online in a matter of moments and you don’t need to wait up for the 11:00 news.
Put the newspaper on something akin to the Kindle that would update via RSS feeds and they’ll survive, otherwise they’re done.
It might also help if they went back to actual reporting instead of editorializing every story they print and started reporting real news instead of worrying so much about the current entertainment star sightings, but that would require the citizenry to actually be interested in something besides the color or lack of Britney’s undergarments.
The local newspapers here have been shrinking like crazy for the last year or two, eliminating features, combining sections (with fewer pages than before) or cutting some sections out completely. My local paper cut my favorite column out a couple of month ago. Prices, however, either remain the same or continue to rise. This may produce a vicious circle effect where the reduced product for the money leads more subscribers to cancel, which could cause the papers to shrink even more, which could lead more subscribers to cancel, which could…
In fact, as a result of this I switched from my longtime paper to a different paper for a 3-month promotional rate (less than 1/2 the monthly cost I’d been paying before). What I’ll do when the promotion ends I don’t know — perhaps I’ll end up as another full-time Internet news reader?
I foresee a lot of consolidation in the print industry, but I doubt it will all go away. I see possibly two major papers surviving that will go on newstands, and the local city papers dying. Those two papers will incorporate some local news within, but that will be it. Competition will get a lot fiercer, and perhaps many of today’s established print companies will succumb to internet start-ups.
Someday, the only place you’ll be able to find a newspaper will be in an antique shop. The world is changing, and unfortunately, not entirely for the better…
In our case it would be no big loss. The Austin Unamerican Statesman is a Communist inspired rag which can’t reasonably be called a “News” Paper. All it is is one big leftist opinion column.
I don’t think newspapers are obsolete yet, but there seems to be a day in the future earmarked especially for this occurence. Then again are we talking about newspapers merely in the format which they are in or about the whole thing, so that “newspapers” per se will cease to exist. If it is the former then my first response applies, yet needs some refinement.
Newspapers will definitely change format so that you can read them on your iPod, Blackberry, or whatever digital device may be capable of doing so a couple of years from now.
We are living in the future which we constantly speak about. We need to face that fact. Flying cars are already being sold on the commercial market.
To close off my second response: We are curious creatures and will never be able to do without some form of news on what is taking place around us. Just look at gossiping… it is more alive and kicking now than it has ever been.
As someone who writes for the Detroit News website, I see this as a trend in media overall. You can get your information (news, music, etc.) anywhere these days and on your terms. The only thing newspapers (or websites for that matter) will have to really “sell” is the stuff you can’t get at other sources and that will be personalities. In a time when radio is chopping off the head of all their DJs to save a buck they will become obsolete when we can get their cookie-cutter formats everywhere else.
Milk use to be delivered to yor home as well, until it became less profitable to do so. It didn’t spell the end of milk only as we knew it, then, and still now people drink it everyday. Another case of maximising shareholder return is all, internet or not. Be well.
The end of newspapers. oh, wow goody. No more people throwing trash in our yard!
The editorial content of the newspapers has nothing to do with their demise. Advertisers, online information, and anybody under the age of 30 never touches them. Ask a 25 year old about the yellow pages. Why would they look in a book that is one to two years old,when I can look online for immediate info.
This is similar to land line phone companies. NONE of them could survive on that alone. Welcome to 2009
Are you people really so stupid to believe that bias is non-existant in the world of digital media? I especially got a laugh from the one who posted that the internet is so much more truthful than the written word. LOL! What a dork. And, you’re tired of ads in the newspaper? Good grief, how many frigging pop-ups jump out at nearly every internet news site? Too funny.
the new york times already beat you to this and quashed such dumb myths
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/business/media/02askthetimes.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
Blogs, which are emotionally posted, unverified, unedited, pieces of mostly very poor writing, could never replace books and newspapers that have to stand the cleansing brought on by genuine editorial criticism.
Well for me…I havent read a printbased newspaper in nearly 10+ years.
In fact we get only the Sunday per coupons (still get 50% off internet even so)…and a house related section.
Both of which are internet available but preference here is print.
News I can get better on internet.
Even with a newspapers own website.
One thing that will likley go away more often is the old style of printing. (the old print presses’)..
Old versus new ways that do better.
Im not missing the real thing.
The only exception for me was:
1/1/2000 issue.
And a early 1970’s sunday issue about the PortofCatoosa (oklahoma).
… America is turning on liberalism … This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. Newspapers tend to be, overall, conservative. Do you even *know* what liberalism is or do you just repeat what they tell you on A.M. radio?
When we had 2 local newspapers, a weekday paper was 25 cents, Sunday was 50 cents. When one closed, a weekday paper immediately went to 75 cents and Sunday went to $1.50. That was when I gave up on newspapers. I didn’t feel like throwing my money at greedy monopolies. I didn’t pick up a paper for many years after that. When digital news started, there was really no comparison. Either you know what’s going on as it happens, or you wait until someone writes about it the next day. I want to know what’s happening now. Newspapers still have a good use though, they’re excellent for soaking up oil and lining bird cages.
I’m from Detroit and the “focus on digital” is an excuse. ALL major media have cut experienced reporters and now just use crap pulled from the web. The days of journalism are dying along with our country.
One of the main reasons the papers are doing this is that Detroit is NOT a major city, nearly 40% of Detroiters are illiterate and there is NO need for two daily papers competing over shrinking population.
Michigan is dead and our economy has been in a depression for years. Now thanks to “globalism” it is spreading nationwide.
And just like in Michigan, the powers-that-be refuse to see the truth and will continue down this path until we are all starving. Hope your own savings are stocked as you guys at Yahoo are going to be axed left and right and cheap foreign labor will replace you.
Off shoring fired the world’s best customers, now the world will pay for it.
no not at all… im 21yr old and have never bought a newspaper in my life until all this started going down… now i get one everyday, no i cannt go out and buy a new car or home to jump start this ecomony and save jobs but i can boycott walmart, buy newspapers, and support strippers…yea their losing jobs too
I live in Houston TX and we only have one newspaper. Not onyl do they not deliver the paper 7 days, just 5 now; but they also only print the classified (job section) on sundays now.
I would think that if the onyl paper in a city the size of houston cannot afford to keep a paper printing and all sections i might add, and delivered daily, that is not just a sign of the times, but a sign of the economy.. this is a new thing, the classified sections, that the newpaper has recently removed. I wish it was different. i enjoy reading the newspaper.
they also only send out spanish auto and housing sections in certain areas of town! i subscribe, and dont read freaking spanish. i guess thats my problem these days tho
Good riddance to newspapers, a waste of paper & ink, not worth reading, full of inaccuracy & bias. I’d love to see a paper that actually tells me things I need to know to plan my week ! Like the Eugene Weekly.
Yes I think it is the beginning of the end for newspapers. But I don’t see it happening for the next 10 years.
The loss of newspapers is another blow to the sense of community. The internet is after all World Wide. A newspaper gives one a sense of local community. That won’t be the same on-line. There is something great about seeing your kid’s picture in the newspaper (for something positive). You can clip it out and save it. You can laminate it. You can carry it in your wallet or put it on your fridge. With everything we gain we lose something also. I think newspapers will certainly die soon. I’m not sure that is a good thing.
If newspapers -from the nationals to the locals which are actually owned by giant national companies rather than people with any real connection to the places they are allegedly serving- printed news instead of one-sided propaganda and fluff, they wouldn’t be having these problems.
As things stand, good riddance to the lot of them.
I find it hilarious that so many people think that bias and incorrect facts, etc., are going to go away with the newspapers! Who do you think will be doing the writing on-line? What makes them more authorative than a newpaper/media journalist? What you won’t get is a face to go with the percieved facts, and a whole lot less accountability! Anybody can post anything almost anywhere, and who’s to say it won’t be taken as fact? At least with newspapers, you can find the person reponsible for that favorite or not-so-favorite piece of information!
I certainly hope so. The media has abused their rights of freedom of the press for far too long. Instead of presenting honest factual news issues with supporting research material, all we are subjected to is left wing rhetoric, lies, fabricated stories against the right, and political hackery. We have character assasinations, we have supression of news the public has a right to know, we have coersion, we have promotion of sick agendas and ideals of special interests and advocates, and we have political corruption. All media outlets are to blame, papers, magazines, TV, hollywood, they are all guilty. Good riddance to them if they all go, I’ll be very pleased.
Helium.com is a website taking bold steps to answer many of the concerns and questions presented here. Having come out of Beta only 2 and a half years ago Helium has made amazing strides in not only the publishing of user-generated content but in developing a way in which the writers themselves affect the way the content is organized. Through a patented rating system Helium asks the writers to determine the value/quality of an article that might be competing with a multitude of other articles written to the same title. All of the issues of gaming and or cheating the system have been handled well and while there is no claim of perfection, the system works. Having developed partnerships with organizations such as Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and The National Press Club it is clear the the inherent value Helium brings to the table is being recognized. Helium invites any an all who are above the age of 13 and who can write well in the English language to contribute their unique knowledge, opinion and or life experiences.
I don’t think this shift will stick to newspapers.
I no longer get the newspaper locally.
I do not subscribe to the nightly news anymore.
I have seem too much distortion. I think the overseas news networks have different takes on stories that relate to the USA. Therefore a blend of news from all over is better to get a clear picture.
Journalists in the USA have sold there soul and I do not intend to go along.
At the same time I do not like the other extreme of hate from the talk radio crowd.
They are having a rough time, as any industry. If the newspapers go out, digital tv and internet goes in, what about a getting news after a hurrican hits, or flooding, fires take away the power source…..
We still get the paper because my father still reads it but I swear I almost never touch it. I use it for a placemat when I eat in front of the TV.
Once newspapers make the final transition from print copy to digital content it will be the final blow also to the “free” internet. Sure, you pay a certain amount per month to the provider but you get to access so much content on the Web for free, even newspapers. The media industry will be the biggest lobbyist for this and it will eventually come because there is a lot of money to be made by providing internet content, which for now is given away for free. Too many people assume that the free Web we have today is going to be the same tomorrow.
The age of digital technology is a convenient excuse, but that is not the real reason that the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News are cutting back on home delivery. The once-great city of Detroit is now a wall-to-wall slum, and it is simply not safe to be out and about. The two newspapers are obviously having trouble finding anyone who is willing to go out before dark and subject themselves to rape, robbery, and murder just to deliver newspapers.
There’s still something to be said for cracking open a crisp printed newspaper to leisurely explore while enjoying a cup of coffee. A great diversion after staring at screens all the time at work. Digital newspapers and magazines are good for a quick fix, but not as easy as browsing the articles in print. I foresee a film cameras regaining popularity to an extent. Being a digital photographer myself, I often observe people using their small digital cams to take pix at weddings and parties, and see them struggle with under exposed shots. Those little cams don’t offer much control over the sensors that measure the light, at least not for the novice user who simply wants to point and shoot. Film is way more forgiving than digital which means the exposures are much easier to get right. Today’s cameras have gotten way too complicated for the average user. In the end, all one usually wants is prints they can hold in their hand, no computer required. Often digital images remain captive to the camera with which they were taken and only viewed on the little screen. Film needs no batteries or backup, and can simply be dropped off for processing, once again, no computer required. I must confess that I enjoy using my digital cameras and likely won’t go back to film since I am in the photography business. But for the average user, film is hard to beat. Likewise for the print newspaper.
I was in a media class about 12 years ago and we were discussing how things might change in the future. We were given an assignment to write about daily life 20-25 years into the future and how everyday life technology would be different than it was in 1996-1997.
most people had these fantastic stories that would have made a scifi author proud. these were things that would be more like 100 years or more in the future. Meanwhile my story which at the time I felt was more realistic and in keeping with the assignment, got all kinds of comments along the lines of “why would anybody want that?”, “that’s dumb”, “I don’t think that’s very realistic”. some of those comments came from the teacher. I was given an A for composition but a C for not being more “imaginative and realistic” w/ an overall grade of a B.
Almost everything I wrote about has come to pass. What hasn’t passed is being worked on. (I described small cell phones w/computer capabilities, something similar to the bluetooth, fully digital and personalized news w/ newspapers being rare and hard to find, finger print and retina print tech for your ATM cards and personal computers for security purposes–what is currently called “biometric tech”, ID theft was in the early stages in the 1990s and I described it as being much more common and a bigger problem in the future.)
I ran into that teacher last time I was home. He told me everytime he sees something from my paper come about he calls himself an idiot.
I’m afraid they may go the way of the dinosaurs within the next twenty years or so. I’m 48, and can remember when, as a child, we got both a morning and an evening newspaper. It was something everyone in the family looked forward to, for news, sports, obits, comics, puzzles, TV listings. Then, the evening paper was dropped. Now, I rarely read the local paper, don’t subscribe at all, but my 75-y-o mother does. And even though she’s pretty computer savvy, she still can’t live without her daily paper. I only buy one after very newsworthy events, to save for posterity. I can definitely see the dailies moving to fewer times a week, and then disappearing altogether.
You can see some of the major newspapers around the US struggling…I recall hearing about the Chicago newspaper , can’t remember. But I know that the Seattle PI is desperate for a buyer and may go out of business.
The newspapers which I grew up reading and appreciating are slowly being phased out by the internet. It is a shame , and I wonder whether how the companies plan to generate profit. Paying for online content?
I would be sad to see the paper go. It’s sometimes nice to take it places with you (ahem, bathroom). What about the store ads that accompany the newspaper? It’s much harder (slower) to view store ads online than just flipping through real pages. Plus sometimes I take a store ad with on a shopping trip to help find the item on sale. Guess this means I might have to bring a laptop with me!
I’ve never subscribed to a newspaper in my life (I’m in my 30s). Honestly, I don’t see a reason to. I can get newer news on the internet for free without killing trees. I’m always sorry to see people loose their jobs, but newspapers are dead.
Our local paper just announced their umpteenth “slimming down”. In the past 20 years we have gone from having 2 home editions by the same publisher, to one slim, ad-overfilled and basically expendible piece of birdcage liner daily. Unfortunately there’s a snowballing effect: As the paper sells less, they cut content in order to cut cost; they try more desperately to increase ad revenue too. The net result is a piece of junk no one under 20 can be blamed for thinking boring and unnecessary.
As a dealer for newspaper presses I have seen many newspapers shut down as companies consolidate in an effort to save costs. Paper size and pages continue to shrink, as advertisers find new and better ways to cut their costs and bring more customers in. I find it truely sad, in high school reading the newspaper everyday was a ritual for me. After finishing reading the Chicago Sun-Times cover to cover I would pass it to a friend. I bet at least 10 people read that paper daily before it ended up in the trash. What I wonder is in a future where everything is handled via the internet what will happen if the internet becomes disabled?
Boy this is terrible I’m 15 though I’m young I tand to prefer many old fashioned things, plus I want to be a journalist and not an online journalist a serious one at a newspaper/ magazine.
Yes, newspapers are on their way out. I was raised in a newspaper house too. My dad and mom both worked for newspapers and we always got two, sometimes three newspapers daily, but now I rarely read them because it’s to easy to pick up the same news online.
I miss reading them, but of course other junk has replaced the pile of old papers I used to save.
Give it a few years, maybe ten or twenty and there will still be a small amount being published, but the vast majority will be history and collectors items someday too.
On the other hand..if some big catastrophe occurs to the internet newspapers might just stick around longer than anyone would guess.
I’d like to think that the fact that people love newspapers – the real kind they can hold in their hand while drinking coffee on Sunday morning – means they aren’t being phased out…that they’re just succumbing to tough times like the rest of us. But you can’t ignore the stories. Apparently some papers are seeking donations to stay afloat: http://tinyurl.com/cqcltw
I still think that the newspapers will be around for a long time, no more daily’s but definitely on the weekends. People want to read stuff in hand, not everyone has a computer. Not that many want to read the daily dribble.
Our MINNEAPOLIS Star Tribune has gone through their FIRST layoff, struggling to stay in business.
It appears that the end is coming in the next years, how soon? Don’t know. A good guess is probably in 20-30 years.
Why? Plainly because of the internet AND the 5 o’clock news on tv and the every hour news on radio.
Many moons ago I started a career in newspapers as a photographer on the Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer . . . . after a few years I went to IBM. A good move. Things are changing.
the transition to digital is happening everywhere now
i think it’d be pretty horrible to lose newspapers because they have been around a long time.
but there’s a positive side because if we go digital with newspapers we won’t waste so much paper! =)
What traditional media outlets have failed to understand is that the information they provide to consumers hasn’t gone away, simply the delivery method.
Think about communication. First there was the telegraph, then the rotary telephone, then the touch-tone, then the portable. As the technology advances, the ways in which the information is both received and perceived changes, but it doesn’t change the quality or neccessity of the same.
Newspapers are no less viable, no less important or necessary in today’s digital world, but the means of transmitting that data via pounds of paper is. Because the world is basically between two medium: no longer reliant on paper but not quite entwined with the technology of portable digital files, it only seems as if the newspaper industry is disappearing. There will always be local interest papers, of small circulation, but as technology becomes more ubiqutous (think portable helobyte (1,000 terabyte) planners/cellphones/storage devices) so too will be the ways in which information can be received by an individual (think daily editions of whatever newspaper is desired downloaded automatically each and every day.) There won’t be less reporters but more, not less reporting but more reporting, and more of it done in the environment best suited for it expediancy, news stories typed up at home and sent to a central site for compilation and preparation.
It’s about time. Newspapers waste paper and it’s inconvenient, just like the daily mail.
HA!!!! They say they are scaling back – RIGHT!!! It’s called having to scale back becaue nobody wants that rag anymore – prob b/c it’s a liberal suck rag.
I’m very plugged in but there is no sub for the physical paper in my hand that I can do stuff with. Like go to the John, eat breakfast without looking like a total H-mo etc…
Both Detroit’s dailies are big money losers. The Free Press is the worst newspaper holding in the entire Gannett chain whose advertising revenues are the absolute pits. There are plenty of other sick puppies, though.
At least 30 major dailies in the US are up for sale–with no takers, essentially. So other dailies will surely fail during 2009, according to the financial follower of the newspaper industry–Fitch.
A few weeks ago, Gannett had fired over 1900 of its employees–reporters, editors,etc. at most of its smaller to medium-sized dailies throughout the country. One can follow this on the Gannett Blog: (http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/).
Two of Gannett’s largest newspapers–USA Today and the Detroit Free Press–were not directly touched in that first wave of massive firings. However, about 200 in Detroit were eventually fired afterwards (http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/roll-call-iii-say-goodbye-to-more-of.html).
A long time ago before i lived some papers put out two editions and did Extras for special occasions. Localy in Enid they cut ome of the Sunday Comics. Including my favorite Mallard Fillmore. The Monday isue is so small that they just a well drop it all together. I probably just go internet if it the paper was an eveing edditon and not morning.
I live in Japan and the situation is equally bad here. Just the other day a man begged me to sign up for a subscription. He even offered to pay the first 3 months out of his own pocket if I signed up! The funny thing was that even though I can speak some Japanese, I can’t read or write at an adult’s level but he still tried to sell it to me! I told him ‘what am I supposed to do with it!?’ ‘I couldn’t read it even if I wanted to!’
I ain’t surprised that there’s less newsprint 2 line the bottom of my sister’s birdcages these days, not unlike my newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian. That paper just merged its Eye Street [entertainment, comics, TV listings] into its Local section. Well, I guess this is environmentally beneficial. Why bother recyclin’ if u don’t need 2 use any paper!
I have enjoyed reading the posts here, what I find amazing is the amount of people that actually get it. For the ones that seem to cry foul about the alleged liberal bias , these were the most fun of all. While there may be other factors involved in demise of newspapers as we know it, it overwelmingly due to this. I know this is a bitter pill for our liberal friends to swallow but I believe they should spend some time reviewing the numbers of tv viewers on what used to be the main networks. I for one am actually looking forward to their demise also. Once this happens, then they will realize that if they get back to basics, then they will get their credibility back.
“Is this the end of newspapers as we know them?”
…Hopefully.
You can only see one CRTC (or similar governing body) ruling after another that does absolutely nothing to hold (the media) accountable for blatant fabrications and errors in reporting, before you realize that (virtually) all “media” these days is little more than entertainment. So why not view the media the same as one might view Youtube, Facebook, or porn? …At home on the computer. …No expectation or assumption it’s educational or factual.
Sure, I admit I’m lumping all media together, here. It used to be that so-called “journalists” (mainly newspaper reporters) were considered more credible than their television or radio counterparts. …Not anymore.
For a short time, I was a bit of a media watchdog, concerning a specific issue. If I didn’t know it before I began, I soon learned that anyone who gets his/her information primarily from media outlets is a fool who should never form a strong opinion about anything. On that issue, I don’t think I found a single, factually-correct report by a staff member. The few accurate reports I found were usually in response to a inaccurate one from a staff member, and the media agency (television or print) allowed a freelancer offer a contrasting view…usually after a great deal of outcry from relevant experts in the field.
You can’t help but realize that reporters aren’t expert in every subject. So the information they provide is purely the result of their “research”. If they consult disreputable, inexpert sources, the information will reflect that. But the inexpert public won’t be aware they’re not getting a balanced view. Any story can be slanted in whatever way the author chooses. One line in a story can be viewed as offering “balance”. I view/read very few truly objective reports.
Face it. Most people who get involved in the media are doing so in the hopes of becoming famous or otherwise respected in some way. That kind of motivation tends to corrupt, and certainly doesn’t preclude a person from unethical, unprofessional, dishonest, or just plain apathetic or lazy practices.
I no longer read newspapers or watch television “news”. I only fell into this blog topic by accident. I’m only human, so I can get caught-up, from time to time, being sucked-into a compelling, salacious story intro. But I don’t walk away believing I’ve been educated, or heard/read a balanced report of the issue. What scares me is, all the people who think they have.
Good riddance newspapers. Bon voyage television news. Welcome back good, ol’ fashioned, credible research! The field is clear, and you’re positioned to bring facts back to the public.
This is no surprise. I canceled my paper years ago. The world of internet and 24 hour cable news has simply made reading about events after the fact all but pointless. Sure, there is always a place for an in depth review or story but we get information so quickly nowdays… who sits to read the news… I have to believe magazines like TIME and Newsweek are next. All a newspaper is today is a way for companies to get advertisments in to your home and then into a landfill.
I hope not
No way!
When the radio and TV came out, people said same thing. But newpapers endured and will endure.
After all, people couldn’t wrap fish with radios or TVs.
And you don’t want to wrap fish with computers.
Beside nothing can replace newspapers to clean your windows.
There seems to be a lot of argument about why newspapers are declining in circulation. It seems clear to me that it all boils down to value. Is the item worth its cost? If it is, people will buy it. If it isn’t, they won’t. Newspapers are declining in circulation because they are declining in value.
For some, the actual content of the paper is not worth the cost. For others, the medium is slow and inflexible compared to other mediums. For still others, the rising cost and changes in frequency and quality of service are the issue. But this all comes down to the newspapers not being worth their cost.
What you must also realize is that when subscriptions go down, revenue goes down and therefore the organization has to cut something. As they make cuts, they eliminate features that were of value to some customers so the net value of the product goes down. That causes additional readers to cancel their subscriptions and the cycle continues.
In order to produce a quality paper, the organization needs a qualified and diverse staff. In order to support that kind of staff, they need wide readership so they can bring in subscription and advertising money. The papers discussed here have reached the point where they can no longer provide a reasonably valuable product for the revenue they are generating. Even with a loyal following, it won’t be enough to keep the machine running.
The traditional newspaper business model is failing because not enough people value the products they are producing to pay the price they’re asking. If newspapers want to stay in business, they are going to have to convince a lot of people that their product is valuable. It will be very difficult to do.
I hope that newspapers will continue to be delivered to MY front door, if that’s what I want. I enjoy the feeling of having the freedom that actual paper affords me and being able to cart it around with me. At best, I would be carting my laptop around, which is much heavier!
We NEED hard copies! WE NEED print publications!
I hate that this is happening. I don’t like how society and big business today is eliminating the very principles that have been around longer than 100 years. I am the type of person who likes the old materials of america. Why do people in this day and age have to go and change everything, and make everything better. Can’t we keep something aged, or must we change everything??
Who cares?
I think this just may be the case. Our newpaper “The Tucson Citizen” is going out of print after almost 140 years if a new buyer isn’t found. That’s sad. The other paper “Arizona Daily Star” raised it’s daily rate from 50 to 75 cents. Who’s going to pay that? I guess maybe they want subscriber rates to go up so they can change advertising rates or else they are trying to recoop the money lost from people just not buying the paper anymore.
I was just watching ThinkTank today and this was their topic. I personally would hate to see the newsprint vanish. I am only a thirty something and I still enjoy reading the paper as opposed to reading it online. Apparently one of the problems is that the advertisements in the print are not translated to online. I believe there are only a few that charge for the online paper, Huffington Post and New York Times for example. If the newspapers can find a way to be profitable from the online paper then maybe just maybe than can stay in print, too.
If all papers were printed on a 2 page format like the NY POST i would read it more. Its just folds out too big. you cant eat your breakfast and read the paper easily