My tennis team discussed the state of the newspaper because one of the players works for a major newspaper’s sales and marketing division. She said that the newspaper’s subscriptions were down, but readership went up. People pick up the paper in places like Starbucks, thus driving up the readership.
The newspaper employee said that the newspaper has to find ways to stay in business or else. But I always start my day with a cuppa coffee and the newspaper — print version. Sure, I could get my news online anytime, but unlike a newspaper — there’s no start and end. It’s too easy to go from one news item to another and soon too much time will have passed.
I can’t get carried away with a newspaper except doing Sudoku. I do the Sudoku puzzle every day, but if it takes me too long — I stop. I don’t have that kind of willpower with online content and news.
Travelers often read USA Today even though they have their laptops with them and can connect to the Internet from their hotels. They might not want to hook up their laptops just to get the news highlights.
While news sites and newspapers give readers the ability to select the sections they want to read and provide that by e-mail, feed or a personalized home page — reading online is a different experience from print. I hope the future of the printed newspaper isn’t as bleak as it sounds.
2 thoughts on “The Future of Newspapers”
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Being both a blogger and an avid reader, I agree with on on this one. I’ve read books I absolutely loved in print and then came across them in PDF format. I couldn’t sit and read it at the computer.
Reading a book or newspaper is much more of a hands on and aesthetic experience.
Just came across this Bob Bly post regarding traditional media convergence.