For centuries, our main source for news has come in the form of print writing in newspapers. Newspapers have been at the core of our culture since day 1. Newspaper companies budget's have been mainly supported by the advertisements placed in them and by the classified section. With the advancement of the internet over the last 20 years and the idea of Craig's List, newspapers have finally begun to recognize their demise.
Times change, and so do the way people get their news. Fox News reports that the Chicago Sun Times filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection and The Rocky Mountain News out of Denver and the Seattle Times have officially printed their last newspaper. Other major newspapers spend millions to provide coverage from dangerous and remote place around the world but because of cost pressures, many newspapers including The Sun of Baltimore, The Boston Globe and The Philadelphia Inquirer have closed their foreign bureaus.
Ross Johnson, a marketing expert and CEO of WebDesign Michigan, believes newspapers fail because they are no longer efficient. Print is slow. The internet is almost instant news and is constantly being updated. The internet is also very convenient because it is available in many different formats. You can read the news on websites, by news emailed to you or on your cell phone wherever you are. News on the internet is also more specific. A person who is just looking for the business or sports section no longer has to buy the entire newspaper just to get what information they are looking for.
I am not saying newspapers are doomed forever into failure, but without a revamped look at their approach to delivering the news, they will not survive in the current economic conditions we are facing. Some newspapers, such as The New York Times, have found a way to get money over the internet through micro-subscriptions. Subscribers pay a small fee to view the news over the internet, similar to what they have been doing for years with the paper copy. This is one idea that has seen minimal success, but it is time we face the facts being presented. The cost to run a news website is cheaper, more efficient, and as of recently more popular than a newspaper (and its free!). Today, with the internet being at our fingertips at all times we must ask the question: Are next day newspapers OLD news?
-Kurt Schmidt-
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ReplyDeleteThe demise of the newspaper is inevitable. Yes, it is sad that these newspaper companies are going out of business when they are the ones who have been our “go to guys” for so long. Regardless, times are changing and in our economy most people are cutting back where they can and free online news is definitely something to keep in mind. With the advancements of new technologies in a time like this we should be grateful that things are going as best they are. Not to say that millions of American jobless is a good thing, but it could always be worse. I think we need to focus on the positive that these new media outlets are providing us with.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading chapter seven in Stovall that focuses on the characteristics of the web the section that stuck out to me was the flexibility it offers. Not only is there more leeway in the online forum of news coverage, but also we are accepted to interact to make it the best it can be. This made me think about what other outlets have changed because of this flexibility of the web. I can across an article by the University of Stanford, for the Online Writer’s Studio that focused on how anyone from anywhere can register to take an online class taught by Stanford professors. Because the web offers so much flexibility and interaction it makes it possible for a diverse group of people to interact in a class from all over the world. Just makes you think how many opportunities we are going to have down the road.
Receiving news on your phone and being able to look things up on Google is just the start. Print writers should be excited that there is still an option out there; people are always going to want their news. For many people losing jobs, that have such specific skills, they should embrace that they at least still have a chance to make an income, where others are really struggling. As people begin to accept this change and start perfecting it whether they are the actual constructors of the website, or the writers, or just the people who read and give feedback; we all have our job in making online news the best it can be.
*Jenny Pierron
This is my link to the Stanford article relating to the Stovall reading.
ReplyDeletehttp://csp.stanford.edu/courses/onlinewriters.php
Those of us that actually read the news have to be open minded as to where news can come from or the newspaper itself will be doomed. Its just the fast-paced society that we live in and have envisioned since the Jetson cartoon. We have no choice but to grin and bear it, I personally have to take time out to get on a computer or my phone just to catch up on the news that I may have missed on the TV. What you say is true though, we just have to realize and accept that there are other ways of getting the news.
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