pro online
The Internet has been changing how we exchange information for more than a decade, from hard-hitting news to the latest dancing Indian midget video; The Internet has it all.
With such ease and accessibility of information, the Internet threatens the existence of print newspapers.
Major metropolitan newspapers, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have been shifting more attention to their online editions than their print editions. Online exclusives such as video footage of an event and late-breaking developments that could not make it to their print editions, are evidence of these shifts.
Unlike printed newspapers, online content has no boundaries in terms of word count; news stories can be as in-depth as possible and are not pressured to be short due to a lack of space. Print editions are also limited to texts and pictures as opposed to a web page that can contain video and audio as well.
Younger generations who do not appreciate the romanticism of the scent of a newspaper hot off the presses may also lead to the decline of print editions. The smell of paper may not be enough to compensate for the lack of excitement in print editions.
Past speculation foresaw newspapers being toppled by radio, and after that, television, but obviously, newspapers have survived both of them, but the threat of the Internet is a different story.
The reason why newspapers have withstood the ravages of television and radio is because only newspapers have the capacity to be in-depth. News programs and radio broadcasts on the other hand have the same Achilles’ heel, time slots.
In order for TV channels and radio stations to make profits, they both need to give airplay to their sponsors, forcing their content to be consolidated into 30-second overviews instead of actual reporting.
Newspapers on the contrary have more leeway content wise, because pages can always be added to fit advertisements and news stories.
Web pages have the benefits of all three combined with little interference from sponsors cutting into the content. A web page can contain an in-depth story with a video clip or a sound byte and still have space for advertisement because of the infinite space given by the Internet.
With the emergence of an increasingly sophisticated network technology each day, the world is becoming faster every moment and print newspapers are hobbling behind.
In a matter of minutes a journalist with the latest palm pilot and a WiFi connection can type up online content, send it via email to be edited and put up online in a split second.
In comparison to a print edition that has to go through layout planning, printing and distributing, the online edition beats it speed-wise by a mile. Although not all Internet content is true or reliable, online editions of credible publications are also available online and are easy to find.
Newspapers still make copious amounts of money, therefore ensuring their survival for a few more generations, but online editions are catching up with enormous leaps and bounds. Sooner or later all news will be online and the only thing left for newspapers is to either go down with guns blazing in a hail of bullets or go out with a whimper.
PRO print edition When you wake up and find yourself making it down to the kitchen table in the morning for breakfast or if you are like me dressing running over to the coffee pot and grabbing a cup of coffee as I run out the door, in order to get the news I don’t turn on the computer, I open up a newspaper. It is part of a morning routine, and without a printed copy of the newspaper my morning routine would be totally messed up. But that is neither here nor there, because the fact is actual tangible: Newspapers are starting to die out.
Only two months ago the oldest newspaper in history dropped its print edition permanently for an electronic version. Yes, this is great for the trees and for getting the news out there faster, but quite frankly there is a loss of tradition when it comes to losing the newspaper. Just like magazines, newspapers have a grand tradition of bringing people together, giving people their first jobs, and all of that is being taken away by the computer.
More and more children are going to miss out on all of the stuff that a newspaper has to offer that a computer cannot, like those lazy Sundays when you would wake up and grab the funnies first thing and read all of the comics even if they made no sense.
I know that I have a personal attachment to the print edition of the newspaper, because it was how I learned a lot about my favorite sport: baseball. I would always open it up and check on all the teams that I was keeping my eye on that season, and the newspaper taught me the importance of the statistics other than batting average and homeruns. Getting rid of the print editions of newspapers is like getting rid of a stove because you bought a microwave. The print edition still serves a purpose even if it is a slightly limited one; The fact of the matter is it is still important, if not as an icon, but as a tool for gathering people together. The newspaper has always been at various places of gathering. Like that corner barbershop where the old men that have nothing better to do than sit around all day, like to get together, or in the coffee shops, where people sit sipping coffee and reading Kafka and, that’s right; the newspaper. Even at the doctors office, when nobody wants to talk to anyone and everyone is sick of reading those Highlights magazines, the newspaper is there to lend a hand in killing the boredom. (I am aware that I am speaking stereotypically but these are iconic images I am referring to so bear with me on this one)
Yes you find computers at coffee shops now, but you have to pay to use them, the newspaper has always been a cheap method of getting the news to the masses, and it is still easier to get a newspaper than get a computer. Finally, people don’t take news clippings off of the computer to save, they clip them out of the newspaper one day hoping to find that clipping again and be reminded of an event or of themselves being in the newspaper. After all, anyone with a little know how can get on the computer, it is something special to get your picture or your quote in the newspaper. That is why the newspaper is a necessity and better than the online version of the news.