Something I’ve been hearing more and more about lately is the lamentation of the possible demise of the Newspaper… And frankly I don’t get it. I never have. Being perhaps from a younger generation like many of you on sharenotes.com, it’s perplexing to me how the slowing of an industry strongly rooted in the distribution of printed news could in any way be linked to a demise in the dissemination of information. Not with the web around.
Granted, you cannot believe a great deal of what you see on the web, but what are we talking about? Small opinion / rumor based blogs? Not really. There are plenty of legitimate news sources, moving at the speed of life, keeping pace with the world in which we live. So why the sudden concern? The news will be available, with our without newpapers.
They are talking congressional bailouts and the failure of democracy if newpapers die. Who are we kidding here? The speed at which news changes and develops can never be matched by mass paper distribution. There was once a time when that’s all we had but those times are long since gone. When Michael Jackson died, everyone I knew found out via TMZ almost before the coroner had pronounced him deceased. Are we really trying to hang on the idea that there are people out there that found out about this the day after in the morning paper?
Afraid we’ll lose some form of free speach, or perhaps thought provoking discussion? Not likely. On the web as I speak there are probably more discussions happening right now, than were generated by a year of a local newspapers circulation. I don’t have any stats to back that, but what better forum to provoke discussions, than a .. forum? Blogs like sharenotes.com are provoking thoughts every minute of every day. On every site you may leave your comments, thoughts. emotions, ideas, are being expressed probably more so today than ever in the history of the world. We are connected now in ways that the printing press could never do.
I was reading an article on Newsweek.com on this very topic and they pointed out quite deftly that a bailout of Newspapers stands to benefit only the newspaper themselves. The truth of the matter is that newspapers were once a very very profitable and powerful endeavor. Ever been to Hearst Castle? You can see for yourself the kind of opulence newspaper money could buy back in the day. But readership is down, and these once giant corporations are tanking and panicking. Time to call in the favors in Congress like a drowning man clings to his last gulp of air.
It’s not like I am against Newspapers. I don’t read them true, but if they were wildly successful then so be it. But I don’t want to take part in saving them from the inevitable. The Digital age has been here for quite some time, I cannot remember the last time I picked up a news paper? Probably when I was a kid, but as an adult? No way! Where were you during the inauguration? Waiting around for the paper to cover it or were you steaming live coverage on the web?
Have an opinion? Well here’s a great way to start a new discussion… leave your comments below and let your fellow readers hear your voice. Should we bail out the Newpapers? Think they should die a slow death? Lets hear your thoughts.
