R.I.P. Newspaper est. 59 BC – 2013

by Meagan HD

In today’s emerging media, we are more accustomed to our iPhones, Androids, iPads, Kindles and other tablets and smartphones than we are of traditional media like printed newspapers.

From their formative years as stone carvings in the Ancient Roman era, newspapers were a communication powerhouse that allowed consumers to view the important news, information, opinions and etc. of their community. Newspapers were the most transcending format of communication transmission in an condensed format. Before the invention of the radio, phone, photography and television, newspapers transmitted important messages to readers. The distribution of printed newspapers were the mainstream efforts of distributing breaking news and important information to a world who had no other alternative of gathering information on their own during this era of non-existent technology. Much like those of an era were distributed newspapers were new media, our generation like-wise adjust to the ever changing evolution of media.

In the last 6 years, we have slowly seen the new emergence of what media is now and will be in the future. The new emergence of a new era of media also introduced to us to what we should prepare for in some formats of the media industry, most importantly print and newspapers. It is apparent that much change in media could be associated with the invention of broadcast, internet, smartphones, tablets and computers. However we should be more aware that ourselves as the consumers are the evolution and the change of the media industry and not the technology we access it with. As any animal would evolve to their new surroundings, consumers of information have adjusted to exceedingly rapid rate of information gathering. This exceedingly rapid rate of information gathering is the driving force of all companies developing the newest form of  media.

The newest form of media that could be featured as company blasts on social media like Twitter and Facebook, to bloggers like myself who release detailed information on events or crisis before a local newspaper or media outlet is able to get just the basic information. We are a society and generation of immediacy and impatiences in a world that is constantly moving faster and faster. What is the big breaking news an hour ago could be and will be trumped by information flooding in from a different part of the nation and world.

In saying all of this, I’m presenting the question to you as news consumer: Are we watching the death of traditional printed newspapers. Decades ago, we watched broadcast media (both radio and television) tap into the success of newspapers and drained them of their readership. However in that competition between print and broadcast, no true victor could be named with each format holding their own pro to the others con and vice versa. In the comparison between broadcast and print, broadcast was favored for the fresh air of new technology, the ability to take a consumer visually and through sound on a journey through a news story and always be up to date among other pro’s. However print had its ability to be convenient and always available to the consumer. The most appealing convenience of traditional printed newspapers compared to print I’ve heard was the ability to fold up a newspaper and throw it under your arm and move about your day, something you could never do with your television.

But now that has changed.

Today, we can take those television broadcasts on the go with us in the form of live streams or replayed videos on our smartphones or tablets. At work or home, we can go to our computers and pull up the latest information or breaking news from a news sources. This change has brought a new card to the table in the world of media. I will not say that newspapers have fallen completely way side to this new emergence in media technology. Many newspapers have adapted and created many additional accompanying formats across different platforms in addition to their printed papers. Newspapers have created apps, websites, and some have even entered the world of visual story telling to keep up with the times.

Many have suggested many ways that traditional printed newspapers could lose in this ever emergent industry, printed newspapers do not have the ability to do what any form of media technology can do, which is keep readers up to date. With printed newspaper circulations once a day or sometimes a week, how can printed newspapers keep readership? Some have suggested that designing newspapers to keep readers engaged could save a dying breed. The flashy colors and pictures of a newspaper headline could attract readers but the immediacy of the news available offered online and through a special app will need to keep them. The details of an in-depth news story in a newspaper will always attract the consumers who did not get the same information from the news during their 60 second news story limit, but the interactiveness of details and related material offered online or through a special app is what will keep the readers.

Newspapers across the country and world are collapsing because of their inability to keep up. Many newspapers cannot financially keep up to the new technology change that may retain their readership and lose everything in a last ditch effort to keep that last reader. Some newspapers have moved their format completely to online in order to save costs when print and online isn’t financially feasible. Newspapers once had the lead in convenience, but now are they more of a burden compared to the new world of media when we can’t know every bit of information immediately? What can save these newspapers in addition to entering the new media world? Newspapers have done what is necessary to keep up with today. Newspapers have adapted like all species to the evolution and created their own stamp in the new media world with online formats and apps, however like the tree in forrest that falls, if no one is around to purchase the printed material, are they still considered newspapers?