By Rachel Furlong
In this ever evolving technological world, many people are wondering how long newspapers will be able to stay afloat in the digital age, when news is available online with just a click of a mouse.
According to a recent PEW Internet study, some 50 million Americans now seek out news on the Internet on a typical day.
Gary Pruitt wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal on March 16, 2006 noting that last year the world celebrated the 400th birthday of the newspaper. He also noted that it was the 399th anniversary of the first prediction of the death of the newspaper business.
So, are newspapers an endangered species? Or are they here to stay? Many people in the business seem to think that while the news business is here to stay, print newspapers may slowly be giving way to the Internet.
William Babcock, journalism professor and department chair, said he thinks newspapers will continue to change.
“What newspapers looked like 50 years ago is not what they look like now, in 50 years they may be something we wouldn’t recognize now.” Babcock said. “It doesn’t mean they’re dead, just evolving.”
Others have a different perspective.
“Print journalism is a dinosaur of a business,” said Barbara Kingsley, journalism professor and advisor for the Daily 49er. “There will always be news, but readers and advertisers will go online.”
The Internet gives people the option of finding out what people are saying about President Bush’s speech minutes after he gave it, who won the game seconds after it ended, or what that big traffic jam on the freeway was all about as soon as they get home, instead of waiting for the presses to roll out the information.
“People are going to be too impatient to wait for the morning paper.” Kingsley said, “They want it now.”
In addition to being able to read the latest news about the president’s speech online, readers can hear sound bytes of commentary on the president’s speech.
Instead of just reading a music review, they can watch a podcast of the music video, with a commentator talking behind the music. Instead of only reading that the traffic jam they encountered on the way home from work was caused by a six-car pileup, they can watch a streaming video of live coverage at the scene of the accident.
John Burke, editor for The Editors Weblog, a blog created by the World Editors Forum, said in a post on March 7, 2006: “The newspaper is no longer the traditional middleman it once was. Not only do news agencies and citizen journalists contact the public directly through their Web sites and new media offerings, but companies and individuals who used to depend on the newspaper to get their messages out are now empowered by Internet marketing tools to do so themselves.”
Burke said in a phone interview newspapers are in a difficult transition because the print business was reluctant to accept that a lot of business is going to the Web.
“News journalism has a future, people will always want to know what’s going on, the question is whether media outlets will be able to keep up and make a smooth transition to the Internet,” Burke said.
William Mulligan, journalism professor at CSULB, said newspapers will adapt to change.
He subscribes to a service that provides him with access to the complete print edition of the New York Times online. The service costs him less than a print subscription.
“I can look at the complete issue online; I can flip through pages, see ads, I can even print it out,” Mulligan said.
Many news outlets are responding to the popularity of the Internet by supplementing their print versions with interactive, multimedia news Web sites.
For example, in addition to a daily print newspaper, the Los Angeles Times has a Web site that offers readers streaming videos of breaking news events, live traffic reports, links to up-to-the-minute weather forecasts, and blogs and podcasts on a variety of topics at any given time.
In his column, Pruitt wrote, “Today’s daily newspaper is the engine driving a multimedia company that includes popular Web sites, foreign language publications, direct marketing initiatives and much more. Replacing the notion of ‘readers’ with ‘audiences,’ we’re fast becoming multi-platform, 24/7 news companies – and it’s working.”
However, despite the popularity of online news Web sites, Mulligan said there is still a huge market for print newspapers.
Indeed, in Pruitt’s column, he points out that a survey conducted March 15, 2006, showed 54 percent of adults read a newspaper that day and on an average Sunday, the survey results showed the number of adults who read the newspaper is closer to 60 percent.
“It’s going to be difficult for the Web to replace newspapers,” Mulligan said.
Mulligan said he points out to students in his Web writing classes that Web stories can only be half as long as newspaper stories.
“People don’t tend to read long stories on the Web,” he said.
Mulligan predicts that eventually, the average person will go to the Internet for his or her news, and intellectuals will go to newspapers, where they can get more in-depth coverage of an issue.
According to Burke, despite the Web’s popularity, there are statistics showing that the majority of people still want an actual newspaper.
“I hate to read news online.” said Lee Brown, journalism professor and academic advisor. “It’s not real if I can’t hold it in my hand.”
Kingsley suggests that in order for large newspapers to survive in the age of multimedia, they go after more news.
“Quit trying to please everybody, find out what the news is, investigate public officials, find out what’s really happening,” Kingsley said. “Challenge people and they will read.”
Last update: 4/26/06
