Today I woke up and one of the first things I did was sign on to check the days news.
What has happened in Iran’s elections? What were the scores? What happened locally that would affect me today or in the future?
Then I moved over and started to check some of the blogs I read daily.
It dawned on me at that point…is the newspaper dead?
According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations which monitors just activity, it is not dead yet but well headed there.
Newspapers such as the NY Times, Chicago Sun, LA Times and so forth have seen a decline of readership of up to 20%. The average came in around 7% for the quarter. That means roughly 7 out of 100 people canceled their newspaper subscription in the quarter. One of the only newspapers with an increase in readership…The Wall Street Journal.
It also appears that this has been happening a while so it is not economy based.
There are many reasons why this could be going on. Here are a couple I think could be causing the problem.
1) Social media is on fire. The youth are getting their news on breaking tweets, web sites, blogs and so on. It is easy, fast and can be tailored to your world.
2) Journalists have lost a lot of credibility. There are tons of stories out there of inaccurate reporting in the newspapers. This especially became prevalent during the elections and the use of mis-quotes. At the end of the Bush Administration it was rampant. Many news papers became ultra agenda driven instead of news reporters.
3) A morning newspaper is old news. Usually when the paper hits the doorstep, we already know. It has been on TV, web, blogged, called, you name it. We have already heard about it so the paper becomes nothing more than a kitty box liner.
Do you think the newspaper is dying? What is the cause if so?
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June 12, 2009 at 8:38 am
I think newspapers are dead & doubt they’ll be missed. The Internet is a factor but, for me anyway, news should be news (on the Internet or otherwise). I don’t need the writer’s opinion (venom) or a publisher’s ideology incorporated & presented as fact in a news story. Editorial pages – fine – they’re presented as opinion, take it or leave it. The media in general (in all forms) is pathetic. Newspapers disappearing into oblivion? No big loss.
June 12, 2009 at 9:01 am
Amen. I am so sick of opinion.
One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that I really think that papers and media think people cannot think for themselves. So they interject opinion.
People do think however and don’t like this…hence cancellations.
June 12, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I don’t think we can forget that all the news we catch on the internet is just as “tainted” as what we read in physical newspapers. It’s still presented by reporters, just in a different format. Most of what we consider as reliable facts presented on Wikipedia are compiled by people who consider themselves knowledgeable, but may not have any credentials at all. Then too, pretty much everything on blogs is based on personal opinion. The onus is always going to be on us to sift through the morass for truth and accuracy. My mother was right: “Use your brains first; that’s why they’re found at the top of your head, above your eyes and mouth!”
As to whether newspapers will die… well, I hope not. I suspect their subscriptions will decline significantly but I hope they level off. I check the web for my instant dose of news, but there’s nothing like settling in with coffee to read at leisure all the items in the other less newsy sections.
June 12, 2009 at 9:21 pm
If newspapers actually disappeared….. What would we use to cover the table before eating crabs? What would the Brits wrap their fish in? How would puppies get potty trained? How would kidnappers prove the dates in those pictures that ways acompany ransom notes?
That’s it – We gotta save the papers!!!
June 13, 2009 at 7:38 am
Here is one good argument for the paper….crabs!
June 12, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Exactly!!! Well said!
June 12, 2009 at 10:44 pm
I admit that I now get most of my news via the internet, but there is nothing I love more than sitting down in the morning and reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. When I was working in San Francisco I would grab the San Jose Mercury News (best Bay Area Newspaper) from home and read it on the train ride into the City. On the way home, I would grab the afternoon SF Chronicle (the Examiner was printed in the am) and see what had happened during the day. Much of the afternoon “news” was recycled AP stories I had read that morning, but there was always something new & interesting to read. Plus, I was always very up to date on current events!!
Now, I hardly have time to read the newspaper, but I still relish doing so….it’s a tradition that I hope does not die out. I agree that we must save the papers!
Unfortunately, the media is completely biased, whether to the left or to the right. If I want opinion I’ll watch Bill O’Rielly or The Colbert Report where news is mixed with entertainment! If I’m really interested in a subject, I just google it and I can find the opinion of the left, the right and everything inbetween. It’s up to me to filter it through that thing on the top of my head!!
June 12, 2009 at 10:50 pm
i agree with Carol’s first point – maybe even more so… the internet is possibly More a source of ill-informed unchecked opinion or shoddy journalism because of the fact that makes it so popular – Speed. (Yes, you heard it here first folks, i just didn’t bother properly checking my story before i brung it ya!)
There are SO many copies of stuff on the net ( because it is so easy to copy and can be published so fast) and if you see the exact same copy on a thousand different websites you may think it has to be true when there are plenty of cases that show it was just popular ‘rubbish’ once the True facts are known.
Getting back to newspapers. I think they are declining in popularity for the reasons mentioned but also:
People are getting smarter ( well better ‘infomed and awake to the way we are being manipulated by the media.
People don’t have the time they used to to read and they are becoming manipulated through ALL forms of media ( including the dreaded ‘twitter’ into being fed information in smaller and smaller ‘fast’ soundbites, and not fully considered factual reporting for our evaluation – we just want the news we don’t want to have to work it out for ourselves ( a generalisation but with truth in it)
And as a result of those advertisers are taking the lifeblood of newspapers out of the paper business and more into the electronic business. Papaers are nothing if they can’t sell advertising space.
They go broke and so do their owners ( unless they have an electronic media to back up their fortunes and sell more ads).
<B
June 13, 2009 at 6:14 am
I still read the news, but online. I read the Jerusalem Post everyday, but instead of buying it just go to the internet. Its the same stories, just free
I do like reading newspapers though, I just don’t personally get them. When I was on furlough I would always love reading the Sunday paper after church at my parents house with all the adds and inserts etc. I think I would be sad if they are lost forever. Whats next?? Books???