Newspapers: A Dying Industry

On September 8th, we discussed the printing press and newspapers in class. We learned of the time before Johannes Gutenberg, the man who is famously credited for inventing the printing press, where inefficient things, such as stamp seals, screw presses, etc, were used to produce papers.

Then, Gutenberg came around and introduced his idea of a movable metal type printing press that was much more efficient than the old printing presses. Because of his invention, the world was forever changed. If he nor anyone else had ever come up with this invention our lives would be so incredibly different.

Without the printing press, corruption in religion would be much greater than it is today because priests or preachers could say certain things are written in the Bible when they are actually not. We would have no way of seeing if the words they spoke were true because, unless we were in a position of power, we would not have the resources to learn how to read in the first place. We also would have no journalism if not for this invention. This is a huge deal; how could we spread news if not for journalism?

Newspapers have been around for an extremely long time; although they have evolved quite a bit over the years. Fewer and fewer people have been buying newspapers over the last few years. The reason why is because how much technology has evolved; I can read "Google News" and get the top news stories in under ten minutes, and it's so much easier than getting the paper and attempting to find what I want to read about.

While I agree that newspapers will never be truly extinct, I do believe that the number of consumers will continue to decline. Technology will keep evolving as long as we live, and it will be easier and easier to read the news on our phone. Why bother with the paper?

Well, there are a few qualities a newspaper has that cell phones, the evening news, and your computer will never have. Newspapers are low tech; so they appeal to older people. They are nonlinear, so you don't have to sit through an entire evening news broadcast just to watch a 2 minute story; you can skip around and find what you want to read. Newspapers are affordable, portable, and a physical object. And of course, we all know newspapers are a huge tradition in the United States. My parents always get out of bed Sunday morning and read the paper while eating breakfast. However, I don't feel like in 20 years I will be having this same tradition. Traditions evolve and change, and I have to wonder how different journalism will be when I am an adult.