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Are we the last generation to experience the 'paper' news?

By: onlinebusinesswoman

New York City : NY : USA | 10 months ago

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A new era in local news?

Posted by: onlinebusinesswoman

Will this generation be the last to experience the 'paper' news?

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If the last several decades of local newspaper industry downturn wasn't enough to indicate a change in the news reading habits of Americans, then certainly the newest developments online will. Recently NBC launched a hyper-targeted media site, intending to delve deeper into the "sweet spot" of the local news market.

The site will aggregate news from local TV affiliates, which doesn't seem to be much different than what local TV station websites would be doing. However, the advantage for this site will be the ability to tap into national and international news as well.

There is no question that in the past decade, newspapers have been slow to react to changes in local news readership. Not long ago Google jumped on an opportunity to mass sell advertising in local newspapers across the country by creating a marketplace that allowed anyone to upload and pay for an ad automatically online. Newspapers were despondent when they realized after-the-fact that they should have been the ones to incorporate technology with their advertising products. Additionally, changes in technology have been happening so quickly that large conglomerate news industries have had a hard time keeping up.

This new website idea by NBC reflects yet another notch that will be whittled from newspaper industry grasp. With the popularity of video and audio-enhanced news stories, who can provide local video feed as it happens faster than television? Is it truly realistic for the newspaper industry to now try to develop expertise in video and audio when their real expertise is print medium?

It appears this change is yet another that some day may be referenced as the big "digital industrial" revolution. The changes at least today appear to mirror those of the industrial revolution - those who are not ready for the change or are too dug into an "old way" of doing things, will not survive. Is it possible that this generation of newspapers will some day be seen only through the windows of a glass museum case?

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Post a Comment Comments: 6

Posted By

mominasheikh | 10 months ago

It seems possible that our generation will be the last, if not second last to actually live through the old age of newspapers. It can't be the ending years of it though because after print media came radio and television and computers and all that but still those roots and forms of communication are still there. And I'm not going back to that age when only the snake game where you had to join the dots came under what is now called the print media.
Point being, the period when technology was improving and expanding at the same time, new technologies over took the previous inventions but didn't entirely alleviate them. So, side by side, there is a chance that newspapers might survive longer than expected because in comparison, all forms are better than one another in one way or the other. Its the access to these sources that varies.

Reply By

onlinebusinesswoman | 10 months ago

Yes, I think you are probably right, in the sense that newspaper will never completely be gone. I think though that local newspapers on every corner as a daily "must have" is likely near extinction. I think it will be different, in the future, and may end up being more like the Cabbage Patch dolls of yester-year --- everyone remembers what it was like when they were all the rage and the most popular toy on the market, and it is nice to have one today but they just aren't worth as much as they were back then.

Posted By

Majdy | 10 months ago

With the kind of busy life and hectic routine we have, It comes to me as no surprise that we are and we should foresee a possible extinction of newspaper media.

No wonder many technologies come and go, and ususally the newer ones overcome the older ones and yes not denying the fact that many old technlogies stay functional parallel to the advanced ones but just imagine, when all the world is getting all the information, every minute updated version, who would care to read anything that becomes stale after an hour.

The point remains that we are not seeing the end of newspapers in very near future but I guess it is not very far away from now either.

I can give my own example, about few months from now, I used to read the newspaper from first to last page and every bit of it everyday but in last four months, I can literally count on my finger tips, the times I had picked up the newspaper in my home and read it and you know what was usually the first comment I would give after skimming through the paper...Ohh this, I had already read about it online last night!"

Posted By

solitaire | 10 months ago

I don't believe ours will be the LAST, however, yes, this is the time for new media and all voices is also a proof of that :) However, newspapers will sitll be around for some time... on a similar note, I hold a personal belief that handwriting will also become extinct in another hundred years or so... everyting will be on the computer or online or integrated into little devices etc. It's quite an interesting thought... Let's hope the Earth is able to survive that long... when people will be like 'oh, how quaint, people used ot WRITE with their HANDS in the 21st century!'

Posted By

lhermanson | 7 months ago

Are we the last generation to enjoy paper books? I hope not. Books are so much more to me than the words and story; reading is a tactile experience and I love to run my hands over the cover, the smell of the paper and the weight in my hand. What a shame if my daughter doesn't have a chance to share that joy.

Posted By

broteem | 3 months ago

It seems to be a period of transition for passing from newspaper to electronics. Newspapers all over the world are faced with unequal and tremendous competition. People will feel some nostalgia for the newspapers for a long time. It is hard to foretell which generation will be the last one to shift to the electronics finally biding goodbye to the newspapers. May be the generation just next to the present one. And, if by this time, newspapers find some brilliant innovation they will keep themselves alive for some more time. But this will have a sharp limit if life becomes faster than what it is now in the developed and in some cases in the developing countries.