For your fourth blog entry (post as comment here), riddle me this--
There's no doubt that you've heard lots and lots of news about the demise of the traditional print newspaper.
Can traditional, printed newspapers survive in the digital age? Why or why not?
Should the newspaper, because of the special role it plays in a democracy, receive government assistance (bailout) the way the auto industry and banking systems have? Why or why not?
What about the other print media? We hear a lot about the plight of newspapers, but not so much about the plight of magazines or books? Will they survive? Why or why not?
Peace,
Jack
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Michael Mathews Blog entry #4
ReplyDeleteIn the digital age that we live in today something must be done in order for printed media like newspapers and magazines to survive. The most obvious route to take would be for these printed media companies to broaden their mediums to digitized ones. For example, the New York Times company spent $75 million for a 15% ownership in the Boston Red Sox. The fact of the matter is this move doesn’t have much to do with baseball. This is a business strategy for The New York Times to get involved in the television aspect of media. They have a special word for this type of business move called convergence. I do think that we will at some point see the vanishing of print newspapers and there’s not a whole lot anybody can do about it.
As far as the government is concerned with this issue, I don’t believe they have any incentive to bail out newspaper companies like they do with the auto industry or banking systems. Technology is literally replacing newspapers with quicker more efficient information over television, internet, etc. I think the government has much bigger issues on hand and I haven’t heard of any plans regarding to save any print media companies simply because there really is no need for such an action.
I put magazines and books in another category than newspapers because they hold a little more importance. Although I do think magazines and books will also vanish at some point in the future, there is still a lot of time for them to be useful unlike the newspaper. Magazines and books bring certain pleasures to us still that technology hasn’t seemed to figure out yet. It won’t be too long though until all you see are the special digitized novels being read over what looks like a cell phone. I think magazines will be the last to go just because they are the most popular type of print media that people of all ages can enjoy.
For newspapers to survive in today’s Digital Age, they need to accommodate to their readers. This is difficult for newspapers to keep their traditions of having a printed newspaper. With everyone moving faster, and having their handheld devices such as cell phones and PDA’s, it is much easier for people to find everything they need on the Internet. The Internet is one of the biggest reasons why printed newspapers will not be able to survive in the Digital Age. It is very common to see business people walking around on their phones or looking at something on their PDA’s. This is replacing those who walked from place to place carrying newspapers. Printed newspapers are being replaced by digital objects. To be able to survive, newspapers need to make online websites, where readers can locate what they want know quickly and efficiently. The printed newspaper may not be as popular, but the online websites will increase how many people read each newspaper and allows readers to interact with each other, which has become important in daily life.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that newspapers need assistance from the government like the auto industry and the banking systems. As technology grows, people are going to grow with it, and this means that ways of finding information is going to change. The auto industry and banking systems are not changing as much as technology is. The Internet allows readers to find their information fast and the newspapers need to be able to evolve with the technology that consumers want.
It seems that books and magazines are very different than newspapers. Magazines have their own websites but they go along with their current issue of the magazine. They have ads that allow people to redeem things online at the website. Many people see the website and become attracted to the magazine, and many read the magazine and become attracted to the website. In both cases the website and magazine are working together to gather readers. Books are very different than magazines and newspapers, but they allow people to escape from technology. They seem to be important for people to relax without having to worry about distracting things that would show up on the computer.
I don’t think newspapers can ultimately survive in the digital age, because it is much easier to obtain the information online. That being said, most newspapers are available online. The New York Times website, for example, has a real estate search function that allows potential buyers to narrow down their search in a way that certainly can’t be done on paper. In other words the newspapers themselves will survive if they become primarily online sources. They can still distribute the same content and even more to some extent, so really the only people who will have any trouble getting the same information are those who can’t use computers. Those who can’t use computers are a small number of older people. My guess is that printed media is declining along with the passing of that generation.
ReplyDeleteAs for a bailout of newspapers, I am absolutely against it. I think a bailout, even in this economy, should be a last resort for companies that the world can’t survive without. People get their information from so many different sources these days, and, frankly, most newspapers consist of entertainment anyway, with the exception of a few journalists within The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Entertainment is even easier to come across in this economy because people have more need for it given that they need to escape from their own and the world’s depression. I think such money could be better invested in educating people of all ages on modern technology.
Magazines are the same thing as newspapers, except for the fact that they are more geared towards a specific subject. They might take a little longer to go down because some of them contain content that appeals to the older generation who is more into the print media, but ultimately I think they will fall as well. Books are now published in electronic format and in audio format. I think eventually those two formats will merge into one and that will happen in the near future. That being said, books go back so far that the really old ones will be available for years to come. Eventually, however, I think they will become preserved in electronic format.
I do believe there are those individuals who will always remain attached to printed newspapers, magazines and books. Despite the dirty hands and inconvenience, these people enjoy the ritual of turning pages and take comfort in holding something tangible. However, they won’t be the majority in the future. The other reason why printed media may last for a little while longer is because people still like to read on the train where they can’t really access the Internet. That, however, will change too. A day will likely come when it can all be done on an a cell phone at the same speed as a desktop computer.
The newspaper was the first form of mass communication in 1690. In 1690 came the first form of mass communication, the newspaper. It along with other printed media has served society as carriers of cultural messages and worldwide events. This media channel was designed to deliver important information to a large and diverse audience in all parts of the world. Information and knowledge was passed orally in early societies, but when the written word was developed, the written culture overshadowed oral communication. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press generated mass communication. Books became the first mass-marketed product in history, paving way for major social and political changes by transmitting knowledge across national boundaries. Soon however, the electronic phase of Information Age began and long came the concept of digital communication. This allowed images, texts, and sounds to be converted into electronic signals, which were then reassembled as a precise reproduction of other entities.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet is the latest form of mass communication and has great affect on all other forms of mass communication, printed media in particular. The cost factor of the Internet serves as great concern for the printed media industry, for there is little to no cost for obtaining information via the online web. In this day in age, the younger generations are learning more and more to rely in the Internet for their source of information rather than picking up the local newspaper and reading it.
Whether traditional, printed newspapers can survive in this digital age is a slippery slope, for the Internet is known as an “information highway”- vast networks and satellites were designed to link and carry computer information worldwide. There is no limit on how large the Internet database can grow; it has superseded what we thought the printed media could reach. People no longer have to go out and buy a newspaper to catch up on the current events of the world; the Internet itself now enables many traditional media to appear on computer screens, allowing user access to reports, journals, and magazine articles. Digital technology now permits multiple and immediate computer access to traditional media like newspapers and magazines. This accessibility to magazine articles on the Internet is known as media convergence, and it is growing bigger every day. While the Internet may draw some people together through things like Internet newsgroups, new technologies often eliminate jobs and isolate people from one another. The Internet has had the most profound affect on all other industries, especially that of printed media. Due to the appearance of older media forms on the newest media channels, it is possible, maybe even inevitable, that we will eventually witness the decline of the importance of newspapers all around the world.
I consider books and magazines to be a separate entity from newspapers and I think the use of either will not be so effected by the electronic boom.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers are often criticized by readers for what they perceive as the reporter's emphasis on reporting "bad" news, for many newspaper outlets project a rather pessimistic view regarding certain events. Journalists often choose to promote the negative aspects of something rather than equally report on [possible] progress as well. Print in magazines and books can provide a more balanced view of [a situation] because of the public's ability to express opinions in letters to the editors and op-ed pieces. Letters to the editors of many magazines present the public with varied opinions. Not to mention that a majority of the American public find book plots and magazine articles far more appealing than a newspaper's current events for leisure reading.