Will newspapers be around for much longer?

[John_Nevill]

I heard an interesting article on Radio 4 this morning whilst commuting to work.

It seems as though many analysts are predicting that your current daily newspaper will cease within the next 30 years. (2040 for US) Not only from an ecological point, but moreso from a major decline in readership.

The next generation barely buy them as they prefer to get there news from the net.

Ironically, the UK papers have been handing out freebies (DVDs) to entice customers and their profit margins have suffered significantly, in fact many are running at a loss.

I also learnt that newspaper DVD givevays exceeded last year's actual DVD sales (UK).

This decline seems to tie in with more and more local newspapers relying upon goodwill photohgraphers for pictures!

 

[Asher Kelman]

People still use candles!

Asher

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Newspaper is great!

People still use candles!
Asher

...for protecting your persian rug when you do some home DYI stuff.

It also plays an important role in shipping when you sell your used gear here or at FM, since it replaces rather costly foam beans for free.

 

[John_Nevill]

Candles, great for lubricating saws when cutting wet wood

 

[Dierk Haasis]

As long as reading on a monitor (even a TFT) is more tiring and lacks the haptic, books, magazines and papers will be around and sell. What happens when your notebook goes with you for a bath. How will you read news on the beach? Have you ever tried to get your G5 (or any desktop PC) with you onto the toilette? Try to clean yourself with an electronic book or PDA ...

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...Try to clean yourself with an electronic book or PDA ...

LOL: Do not forget to unplug the power line or remove the batteries first ...

Seriously, I don't doubt that the majority of people prefer reading printed materials. It is extremely portable and convenient.

I read the web sites of my favorite newspapers more often than the paper issues, especially during the working days. It is more convenient that way since I use a computer most of the time. During the weekends, I tend to scrutinize the real thing and relax while doing so .

I personally think that the papers will disappear much sooner than 2040, maybe as soon as 2020! My guess is as good as anyone else's. Only time will tell ;-)

Cheers,

Cem

 

[Mary Bull]

Quoted phrase from Dierk: "As long as reading on a monitor (even a TFT) is more tiring and lacks the haptic ..."

Here's another new word for me. And a visit to Google instructs me of how commonly it's in use. I'll never forget the first time I encountered the term "kinesthetic," in a graduate course in the teaching of children who have trouble reading.

So now I can pair the Greek source of a word that denotes "relating to sense of touch" with the Greek source of a word that denotes "relating to muscle sense."

I would miss the heft of a book in my hand, as well as the comfortable feeling of my fingers turning the page of a suspense novel.

Now I need an -ic word like aural, because I would miss the rattle and rustle of the newspaper, too.

 

[Mary Bull]

Will depend on how many subscribers they can get, to prove to the advertisers that the circulation base is worth the money. I expect them to be around in the U.S. in their ink-and-paper form at least for the rest of my lifetime.

How else can people house-train their new puppies?

 

[John_Nevill]

LOL: Do not forget to unplug the power line or remove the batteries first ...

Be careful if the batteries are made by sony

 

[Don Lashier]

The local paper here is certainly diminished in the last few years. It's thinner, they no longer send out reporters and photographers for new business openings etc., instead requiring you to email text and photos. But I think the Sunday metro is sacrosanct - nothing like sitting around with a cup reading the Sunday.

I think what's been hit as hard or harder are the news weeklies like Time and News Week. I subscribed to one or the other for decades but it's been years now since I bothered except occasionally a newsstand issue.

- DL

 

[Harris Edelman]

Now I need an -ic word like aural, because I would miss the rattle and rustle of the newspaper, too.

Otic.


-H.

 

[Mary Bull]

Thanks a million.
So imagine haptic and otic enhancing this post.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

...So imagine haptic and otic enhancing this post.

If I were to enhance this thread any further, it would possibly become chaotic ;-)

Cem

 

[Mary Bull]

< rolling on floor laughing out loud >
Would that be a subset of chaos theory?

 

[Ray West]

Although not newspapers, the gutenburg project has been around for a while, and now there is this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5297412.stm

When IBM decide the time is right, and get their electronic paper into the market place, then we will see, (or maybe not if its like the canon camera lcd)

Best wishes,
Ray

 

[Mary Bull]

Aha!

But I suppose we should have expected it. I've seen some comments floating around for years, regarding the early expectations that electronic mail would reduce paperwork in the office. Instead, seems even more paper to file is being generated.

Slightly OT: My 88-year-old sister, who is on her fourth computer now, still prints out every e-mail and then prints out her reply--to proofread it before sending. A perfectionist, she hopes to forestall her descendants from criticizing her typos in mails saved on some pack-rat's machine.

Ah, well. I'm a packrat, too. I've been saving the OPF thread-posting notifications in a folder in my e-mail program. What am I thinking! I'd better go empty that folder this very minute, before it swamps the canoe.

 

[Ray West]

Hi Mary,

The ibm paper I was referring to is a thin flexible sheet, similar to paper, but re-writable. Sort of like the childs drawing toy, with the iron filings and magnets wrt. semi permanance. However, although the technology is almost/is ready, I suspect they are stuck with the business model as to how to extract the maximum revenue.

There are a number of features of paper as an information exchange/holding method, which cannot be replicated by other means. However, other means are often adequate. But, a lot of it is what you are used to. It took me ages, like years, to get used to debugging software on a vdu. I often had to print the program listing onto 'green striped paper' in order to read it. These days, with the gui sort of application, ood paradigm, and so forth, it is well nigh impossible to print out a complete program listing.

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[Mary Bull]

Thanks a million for the explanation.

I didn't know about this and so veered off to a train of thought almost completely away from your point.

 

[Dierk Haasis]

Electronic paper, just like Ray describes it, has been around for at least a decade. Funny it didn't hit the market, yet, not even whenever one of the companies working on it (and having 'production quality' in their hands) touts it as the 'next big thing'.

Still, to slick for the best of uses paper has.

 

[Mary Bull]

I see.

Well, there's no frigate like a book--held non-slick and comfortable in one's hand.

'Scuse the slightly mixed metaphor please. I'm sure you got the reference to Emily Dickinson, but after I wrote it, the idea of the book-frigate in my hand began to seem incongruous and funny.

 

[Gary Ayala]

Newspapers will be around for a long long time. But, (the big but), only the strong will survive. With increased fragmentation of the advertising dollar, vis-a-vis internet, and a decline in subscribers, the small and marginal papers will fade away. In the US we have "Throwaways" (controlled circulation), newpapers which get delivered to your door without a subscription. I see the throwaways picking up more local news when the marginal traditional papers have folded, filling a news/advertising vacuum. I also see papers getting more sensational while downsizing above the line costs (reporters and reporting related expenses).

A newspaper on the kitchen table is still very appealing to an advertiser over a fleeting image on the tube or LCD.

Besides, it is sorta hard to wrap up a fish in a monitor.

Gary

 

[Nikolai Sklobovsky]

Gary,

Newspapers will be around for a long long time.
...
Besides, it is sorta hard to wrap up a fish in a monitor.
Gary

Totally and completely agree!

 

[Mary Bull]

Our throwaway here is called *The Green Hills News*. And you're right, it's chock full of local news, plus the ads.

Hard to scale and gut a fish without a handy newspaper to catch the *fishy* throwaways, too.