The end of the traditional newspaper is near. Many large news corporations cut thousands of jobs this year, and traded in their current newspapers for thinner ones. While readers can expect print media to stick around, it is about time for it to find a new dynamic. The growing popularity of the internet sparked a gradual shift in media and readership. Readers dumped their subscriptions for free access to news information online. Advertisers dumped print media for cheaper internet ad rates. The free nature of Craigslist managed to take quite a large bite out of the classified ad revenue that newspapers counted on.
Online news and media are not intrinsically better than print media, however they meet the needs of customers quite a bit more extensively, and are integrated into the readers lifestyle much more easily. Online media is instant. It is no secret that the current world society feeds off of instant gratification. Print media (such as newspapers) are released daily, and the information contained in them, aside from editorials and creative pieces, is already common knowledge by the time it is delivered to the reader. Why wait for something to be delivered, when the contents are already known?
The second great advantage that online media has over print media is the brevity (yet extensiveness) of the news. Some people prefer to know every last detail of certain news stories, and the internet allows for these types of readers to pleasure themselves in this way. However, others are of the persuasion that information media and news hinders productivity. These people believe that news and information is unessential for their daily tasks, and consequently pay not attention to it. When they feel it necessary, they ask others what kinds of important things are going on in the world, and usually the informant is able to keep the answers short and sweet, while still very informative. For those who like to know things, but don’t have the time to study them there are a variety of websites which condense news stories into 150 words or less (or 140 characters or less if you follow the @NY Times on Twitter).
The third great advantage that online news media holds is that of instant interactivity. When readers want to leave comments in print media, they must leave them in the form of letters to the editor. These letters spend a few days in the mail, and then a few more hours or days being prepped and chosen for printing. By the time the comments get printed, everyone could very well have forgotten what the original article or story was about. For the online newsie, reactions and thoughts can be done instantly in the form of a comment. Some news websites even allow readers to have their own blog to post reactions to certain news stories. Online news builds a sense of community and interaction. While some print media does the same, the must work much harder at it.
While both forms of media are valuable in their own right, print media (specifically traditional newspapers) must find a way to reinvent themselves if the wish to aviod a slow and painful death. In the extensive bit of reading that I have personally done on the subject, I have yet to see a solution. I do image that there is at least one innovator out there though, who is working on the solution and will rise to fame upon its implementation.
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