Earlier today Stephen Frank issued his latest report that includes a heading “are newspapers yesterday’s news.” In his email he included commentary from the SF Chronicle on this very topic. This is a relevant 21st century issue for discussion.
While we can thank former V.P. Al Gore for inventing the Internet perhaps he is to be blamed for the future demise of the print media as we know it.
In his book entitled “The Vanishing Newspaper,” Philip Meyer predicts that newsprint in the U.S. will die in 2043.He argues that the major product of newspapers is not news but influence. A very interesting assessment.
With the explosion of internet technology and search engines such Google we have access to literally thousands of stories dating back more years than I care to acknowledge. There is a cautionary note to this comment in that what we find in utilizing the search engines are stories that have appeared in some form of print or broadcast media such as the You Tube and www.Video.Google.com sites. Even as the print media experiences a major drop-off in classified advertising revenues, some smaller family owned newspapers may disappear but the majors will survive.
As bloggers, not only can we refute the print media bias but have the technology to immediately respond with our own research and opinions. Even the major newspapers have added their own blogs where we can immediately respond to their latest editorials.
There was a time when we had three major networks for our TV coverage. CBS, NBC and ABC. Along came CNN and their 24/7 coverage of the first Gulf War which opened the door for cable to compete for advertising dollars. I add the world of television to this discussion in that they too are starting to hurt in the Nielsen rating game. What should we talk about 24/7 and still keep our audience has become a challenge.
In our C.E. analysis our opinion is that many of today’s reporters are “creating” rather than “reporting” the news.
This ongoing shake out is probably better news for conservatives than liberals as you read the editorial pages of today’s major newspapers. Yet, at the same time, talk radio is balancing the scales as we hear more conservatives covering policy issues with listeners as we sit in traffic and tune into radio on our way to and from work.
Back in Oct of 2005 Ron, Anna Winship and myself did an editorial on the Cutting Edge-a talk show dedicated to “media bias” which is one reason for the explosion of the blogosphere. In that Commentary we reviewed fifty years of media news coverage from the first TV programs to the current day with hundreds of news anchors and 24/7 reporting. You can still watch that CE Editorial “on target” episode which remains on our home page at www.cuttingedge-atalkshow.com
OK. And now for some feedback from you. What is your major source of news?
Local newspapers
National newspapers (such as USA Today or the Wall Street Journal)
Magazines (such as Time or Newsweek as you wait in the doctors office)
Network TV channels 2, 4 or 7
Cable news channels such as CNN MSNBC, FOX, PBS or Telemundo
Free Internet newspapers such as the Sac Bee, NY Times, Wash Times, Wash Post
Your barber while you sit in the chair. Sorry, I don’t qualify for this one.
Email from bloggers
Your next door neighbor
At the water cooler in your office
The Register this morning reported two homes totally destroyed in yesterday’s Anaheim Hills fire. The electronic media and The Times said a couple homes were damaged, but none lost. Clearly, someone has this one wrong – trust but verify needs to be the motto.
You forgot to include what, for many, has become their source of “news”…talk radio.
n2justice
Thank you! What an oversight.
I mention talk radio in my text but overlooked KABC radio in my listing of sources. Thanks for catching that oversight.
Larry Elder, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity will never forgive me. And to think I copied each of them on my email release of this post. No, I do not listen to Rush as there are not enough hours in the day for this “stuff”.
What is “News”, exactly?
Are you using newspapers as your definition? Newspapers are a side-effect of an (old) technology – the invention of the printing press. Setting up a printing press is expensive, printing one more copy is cheap, and distribution in bulk is cheap. So you end up with “newspapers”.
What is your definition of “News”?
By my definition – my main sources of new information would be: Google Reader (always), and Google News (rarely), NPR radio (occasionally), and podcasts (occasionally).
No newspapers, no TV news – ever. Newspapers and TV news are an aggregation of information put together by someone else. Do you trust the reporters? Do you trust whomever chooses what to include or what to omit? Do you agree with their priorities?
Better to choose what you are interested in, and who you want to trust. Better to put together your own aggregate. Services like Google Reader (to aggregate weblogs) and applications like iTunes (to collect podcasts) are a far better solution than newspapers.
Yes, newspapers are doomed. That is not to say that news organizations are necessarily doomed. Newspaper, minus the paper, yields what?
As I strive to follow the words of Ronald Reagan, who is one of my hero’s, “Trust, but verify,” I am very cautious on acceptance of print and broadcast media reports. For that reason, in addition to subscribing to the OC Register, and that “other” newspaper, the LA Times, I receive Internet copies daily from up to 10 major newspapers around the country. Their reporting of the news enables me to double check the print media’s version of the “news.”
On the multiple pages of our Cutting Edge web site we have added over 300 web sites that you can click on at any time. In addition to major US sites we provide several links that will take you from the Economist and Guardian in the UK to the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz in Israel. The choice is yours to make. Although not as broad as our selections, Matt Drudge provides many links to news sources on his web site as well.
Although I spend hours a day on Google, their service is to make it easier for us to locate articles written by multiple sources. Once again you simply must use your instincts and fall back on the Trust, but verify policy that will help you cull out fables from fiction.
Although major news magazines cover stories that have legs, as I define it, and can spend more time and provide more depth to stories that linger, they too have an agenda.
Simply look at the around the clock coverage of Hurricane Katrina.
Newspapers will always have a place in the private office with the porcelain bowl.
Wasn’t paper money predicted to vanish by the 21st century too?
I read daily newspapers on the internet in the morning and watch Daily Show and Colbert Report at night.