Free the Media

In the time before, information was broadcast to the masses and eagerly received. Newspapers had a monopoly on information and audiences and thus lucrative advertising dollars. It was said that owning a newspaper was like owning a license to print money. These newspapers were in control of what stories to print based on what would sell papers and appeal to advertisers. This raises the question, whose interests were the newspapers serving? They were the gatekeepers of information, but these gatekeepers needed a watchdog.

The internet has created a refreshing new domain for news, information, and individual expression. The most popular form of communicating online is the web log or “blog”. They have been referred to as little first amendment machines. Instead of a linear flow of information to the masses, it now flows in a circle where the audience is also the producer. The idea of networked journalism, according to Jeff Jarvis, allows the mainstream media and citizens to work in tandem to create a cooperative news environment where information is checked and balanced. More information is available HERE.

Citizens report real news. They are individual, inventive, and relatively unconstrained. These blogs offer alternative perspectives, appeal to the growing trend of niche interests and audiences and filter the media. They are free to create and free to access. Because of this, they greatly diversify the news and information available. Citizen journalists have been responsible for exposing Trent Lott’s racist remarks and Dan Rather’s Falsification of Bush documents. In this way, citizen journalists monitor the news and offer stories and perspectives the main stream media fail to cover. Citizen journalists also have the distinct advantage of being everywhere and able to upload stories immediately from the source.

The newspapers can’t compete with the growing number and amount of interest in free, online news. The newspapers have been de coupled with their audiences and thus the advertising revenue they rely on so heavily. Online news websites like The Huffington post offer fast and free news and Craigslist offer free classified ad space. For newspapers, the trend seems to be to either go online or die. Though most newspapers have gone at least partially online, they find it difficult to find a profitable business model. It is difficult to charge for news due to the fact that It can be found free elsewhere online. Also, advertising revenue is much less lucrative online. Some solutions have been a reduced paper schedule to cut costs and charging for access to exclusive content online while other sections of the news site remain free.

What are we really losing from the fall of traditional newspapers? Though they offer a great public service, they don’t always serve the public interest. Their heavy reliance on advertising revenue makes them vulnerable to bias and restraint that citizen journalists are unaffected by. Eric Alterman associates newspapers with an expert or elite class and online media with democratic participation. The loss of newspapers could spell the loss of investigative journalism, foreign reporting, and the idea of journalist professionals. However, it could also free the news from the establishment’s idea of exclusivity and the biased filtering of news to whatever is deemed “fit to print”. An example of Eric Alterman’s thoughts on this topic, The New York Time’s online exploits, and a discussion of a popular, free news source The Huffington Post is available HERE.

The Death of Print News

Since the nineties print newspapers have slowly and steadily lost their hold in American culture. People have quickly turned towards the Internet to obtain information faster and with les effort. The demise of print news is both good and bad for American culture.
The dawn of the Internet quickly provided constant exposure to new information and news. The Internet has allowed readers to access information almost immediately after seeking it. Online news has also allowed readers to become more involved in the news world. Readers can now directly give feedback through comments and posts. The Internet has allowed news to be continually updated and examined. Online news has even allowed writers to give a point of view in their articles that they were unable to present in the past due to fear of losing their jobs. This immediate and specialized information that is presented online has made traditional newspapers look “slow and unresponsive” as stated in The New Yorker. The efficiency of online news often compensates for the fact that it is much less credible then print news.
With that said, the lack credibility and accuracy in online news is it’s main downfall. With articles created at such a rapid pace, they are often overlooked by editors and sometimes not acknowledged at all. Online news has created less trusting readers. The front page of news sites is usually clean and slick in order to gain cooperate sponsors, but otherwise online news sites tend to be a bit sloppy when it comes to creditability. The need for web traffic on these news sites has allowed readers and users gain control over the news that they have not had control over in the past. While it is good to have involved readers, the line is often crossed on online news sites. Information frequently becomes unreliable due to the fact that many uninformed readers are able to voice their opinions very easily. According to Dividend Growth Investor one problem that newspapers have is that since they have lost popularity they have become skinnier; featuring less information. While the prices of newspapers have continued to rise, they have also continued to provide less information and fewer pages. These skinny newspapers have caused more people then ever to look to the Internet for information. Readers find value in the fact that online news is not only free, but also provides a greater amount of information at the click of a few buttons.
While print newspapers have been very important to American culture in the past, they have rapidly lost relevance and importance in America. Many people are looking to the Internet for more opinionated news that they find more relateable and that coincide with their own beliefs. Readers are willing to sacrifice credibility for easier access and more specialized news. The only way for newspapers to come out from the shadows is for them to undergo some serious change. The Newspaper world is in dire need of a makeover. Print news must embrace the Internet instead of viewing it as the enemy if they hope to be revived in the future.

Newspaper Downfall

The demise of the newspaper is evitable. Daily newspaper purchasing dropped to an all time low of 30.4 million combined from 379 of the largest newspapers existent in America. The newspaper is not what it was 60 years ago where 40 million plus citizens depended upon the major newspapers for their information source. Now more than ever people haven’t been turning to the newspapers for their news anymore.

Internet and Television have become the dominant source of the reflected newsworthy issues. The Internet and Television news have the ability to adapt constantly to what has happened within the world, keeping each news corporation on its toes. Our culture has become a fast paced nation, new things are always developing, new tragedies are always happening, new products are always appearing, and the Internet and Television make them important. Our culture simply “doesn’t have time” to sit and wait for a newspaper let alone pay for it, and if consumers aren’t paying, companies aren’t making. We want convenience and that's what we get.

That’s not the only problem the Internet has to offer. A writer of Balkinization, Neil Netanel, made a well-put point that many Internet competitors build on the content and value that newspapers create. For example Yahoo, MSM, and Google search engines all have display home pages to which provide links to headlines, newspaper stories, news agencies, and sometimes even blogs. But because of these links, the quality of news has diminished. The Internet is now so vast it enables newsreaders to see multiple sources, creating the Internet news reporters lack in credibility. Newspapers, however, have one chance to report right and do it well.

Netanel mentions, “Internet news copies, quotes from, discusses, and criticize stories reported in the press far more than engaging in original reporting or linking to other blogs. And just like peer-to-peer traders of music and movie files, online readers copy and distribute stories from newspaper Web sites to their friends via email and social network sites.” One person may have the “original” story, but the point is it could be completely false. What ever happened to multiple people reporting on one story, putting all the facts together, determining what facts are actually facts, what “facts” are false, and creating a credible newsworthy story?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102603272.html
http://balkin.blogspot.com/2008/05/demise-of-newspapers-economics.html

Comfortably Numb: The Imminent Demise of Printed News

Newspaper readership has dropped steadily since the early 1990's. To some degree, it's a fiscal matter. With the current economy, the increasing costs of publishing and distribution have certainly hurt the industry. However, newspapers survived (even flourished) through the tough economy of the mid-1970's. Rather than money issues, the death knell for newspapers was the advent of the internet age.

Newspaper circulation has incrementally diminished each year as internet access has increased. The Newspaper Association of America has compiled circulation data dating back to 1940. The data shows that circulation peaked in the early 90s and has dropped each year since 1993. Why? The internet provides information in ways that appeal to the average citizen. With newspapers, readers must choose one source and wait until it lands on their doorsteps to be informed. Whereas the internet offers a variety of sources and news is made available within hours or even as it happens. Easy access to news as it happens surely accounts for the trend. It seems inevitable that the newspaper industry as we know it will cease to exist altogether.

The Washington Post reported last month that it's the nation's largest newspapers that are suffering the most significant losses of readership. The smaller daily publications still control the market for local news and offer the best venue for local advertisers. The sword of Damocles.com is dangling over their heads, too. As hometown businesses begin to realize the benefits of online advertising, local newspapers will become less attractive. In response, newspapers have no choice but to offer their services online.

Most major news outlets, including newspapers, now offer services online. Many include "premium" service for a fee, but the majority provide news for free. They have to rely entirely on advertising instead of subscription dollars. For the consumer, there is a simple question: Why would I pay for a newspaper when it's available online at no cost? Newspapers have yet to answer that question and circulation will only continue to decline until they do. What does it all mean to the American public? Why should we care?

This is an era when people stare into an LED screen to access news. Bookshelves are empty as people load their libraries onto a Kindle. Instead of the hassle of a playground, kids turn to the Wii in the comfort of their family rooms. The clackity impact of the typewriter? Forget about it. We have abandoned the tactile experiences. There is something to be said for ink blackened fingers; for the 6:00 AM thump of the Sunday Times on your porch. Can one really enjoy a cup of coffee in front of a laptop? The imminent death of printed news is not progress. Newspapers, like books and baseball bats, should be held in your hands. It's another symptom of our increasingly numb culture. We don't "feel" anymore.

The Inevitable Fall

With the rise of internet over the last few years newspaper has maintained a downward fall. Americans live in a fast paced world, they want things fast easy and as cheap as they can get it; if the cost is free Americans are extremely happy. With the internet offering world, national, and local news at the touch of your fingertips the newspaper industry, bringing the news a day later, is becoming seen as unreliable. The internet offers 24 hours of constant updated news which is free to those accessing it. The newspaper, on the other hand, offers news a day late potentially missing facts that were given after the newspaper was already printed, and charges people .75 cents to $2.50.

The fast pace of Americans is maintained well with the rise of the internet. The internet is becoming more incorporated with Americans everyday lives, and now usage of the internet is being taught at such a young age. “As early as May, 2004, newspapers had become the least preferred source for news among younger people. According to “Abandoning the News,” 39% of respondents under the age of 35 told researchers that they expected to use the Internet in the future for news purposes; just 8% said that they would rely on a newspaper.” (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman?currentPage=2) Young adults and teens are now, more than ever becoming more involved with political news allowing them to broaden their horizons to topics and information now more accessible to them.

Young adults and teens have influence on how new technology will effect old ways. “They [teens] copy, quote from, discuss, and criticize stories reported in the press far more than engaging in original reporting or linking to other blogs. Online readers copy and distribute stories from newspaper Web sites to their friends via email and social network sites. Especially for the young, trading copies of newspaper stories often substitutes for visiting the paper's Web site.” (Neil Netanel, The Demise of Newspapers: Economics, Copyright, Free Speech). Newspapers used to be thought of as high-margin monopolies. The newspaper industry makes money from readers and advertising in fact, “Newspapers in a mid-sized American city was, for many decades, a kind of license to print money. In the Internet age, however, no one has figured out how to rescue the newspaper in the United States or abroad. Newspapers have created Web sites that benefit from the growth of online advertising, but the sums are not nearly enough to replace the loss in revenue from circulation and print ads.” (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman?currentPage=2).

Technology is ever evolving. As said, Americans, as well as most humans, look for ways to things the fastest and easiest way. Painting was over taken by the invention of photography just as the internet is overtaking the industry of the newspaper. Will the newspaper industry come to an inevitable failure? I believe they will find a way to strive. The industry just needs to get with the times, get their paper on the net and charge the readers. If they can find a way to that, advertisers will begin buying through them again. The demise of the print newspaper will turn to the upturn of the online newspaper.

Changes in News Media

The fall of the newspaper industry is a direct result from technological advances and availability. News media have effectively adapted to the consumer demand for instant news. Ron Smith, publisher of the Washington Times-Herald, expressed his feelings about the fall of the newspaper industry in an article titled What to Do About the Internet, “There is something exciting about picking up the newspaper and reading a story that a reporter has put their heart and soul into.” While the idea of sitting down with a hard copy of the news is appealing, the statistics show consumers turning away from this idea. According to an article written in The Wall Street Journal, “newspaper circulation for the six months ended September 30 dropped nearly 11%.” With circulation declining an increased availability of the internet, the newspaper will likely only serve a local audience.

Gains from the fall of the newspaper industry are large and significant to society. Transitioning from a newspaper to online news sites is beneficial to increasing the amount of readership. According to an article in The New York Times, readership increased by 24% from 2008 with the internet serving as the number one source for news. With the help of the internet, news is presented in an on-demand fashion allowing readers to have the news at their finger tips. Another gain from online news is the ability to provide readers with updates throughout the day. Errors in reports can easily and quickly be corrected in online news. Likewise, developing stories can be updated throughout the day keeping readers well informed.

While the appeal of instantaneous news and updates is great, paper news can be beneficial from a community stand point. Local newspapers create strength in community involvement and awareness. The demise of the newspaper industry is threatening on a local news level, but will remain in circulation. While many sections of the paper will shrink and disappear communities will still demand information such as; local sporting news, area events, police and crime reports, education news and business news. With the demand for a smaller paper, cuts will have to be made in the industry, but the newspaper will continue to exist on a local level serving the purpose of maintaining community.

Overall, the adaption of print news from paper to internet is a natural outcome from the technological movement. Society is not losing news, just the format in which it is presented. Local news will persist targeting a local audience and national and international news will target all audiences. This development posses a new question for the news media, how will they maintain competition within the industry? Will online news become less available if news media requires a subscription fee? The development of the news media industry will only slightly impact the way in which society receives their news.

The Extinction of Newspapers or soon to be.

It’s quite apparent that newspapers are in the decline. We now strive for convenience and only make time for things that are at our fingertips. With blackberries, iPhones, laptops, free Wi-Fi, and constant emails it’s obvious these new technologies bring the news to us, rather than us going out of our way to seek the news. Print newspapers have become solely part of the past. It’s sad that companies are going bankrupted such as: the Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune (NY Times). Other newspapers have decreased their circulation in order to stay afloat.

Three Michigan newspapers have reduced their publications to three days a week. The Flint Journal, The Saginaw News, and The Bay City Times will now only print editions of Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays (CNN.com). This is a perfect example of how print newspapers cannot sufficiently survive anymore in our contemporary face-paced world. It is somewhat disheartening however, the traditionalism and concept of reading the news in your hands brings forth a sort of power to your self—at least for me. I enjoy the idea of absorbing the knowledge and hard facts that are right in front of you. This is what a newspaper does.

It seems the decline in newspapers has falling in fault of us. I am definitely to blame for not making time out of my day to consume the news. The only news I do get is from my iPhone with my USA Today application. It’s pathetic that our society needs convenience to survive and stay afloat on current topics and affairs. It definitely saddens me that the circulation of newspapers are declining, but at least we are still surrounding ourselves with some sort of news; it’s just in a new form e.g. online, podcasts, PDAs, and blogs. This transformation was sure inevitable.

Works Cited:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/03/19/newspaper.decline.layoff/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/business/media/28circ.html