Newspapers are in especially rough times. With more and more companies cutting costs, merging, or even shutting down. In February of 2009, Rocky Mountain News closed down, leaving The Denver Post as the only major daily newspaper left in the city. Other papers, such as the 146-year-old Seattle Post-Intelligencer, has recently started publishing its work strictly online, leaving The Seattle Times, like The Denver Post, the only remaining major daily newspaper in the city.
Why the sudden shift? Well, the poor economy might seem like the obvious answer, but it’s not just that – it’s technology. Advertising revenue for the papers have dropped sharply – about 17% in 2008 – according to the Newspaper Association of America. One possibility is that readers are migrating towards digital media and the internet to get their news, and along with the viewers come the advertisements. This is why many newspapers have created an online counterpart. It’s worth noting however that just about every news story you find on these websites can be traced back to an actual ink-and-paper story done for an actual newspaper.
Here are links to a few articles that talk about this issue in a bit more detail:
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2009/03/no_news_would_be_good_news_on.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2009-03-17-newspapers-downturn_N.htm
There have been a few things to help keep these papers afloat however. Aside from advertising online, some companies, such as the Wall Street Journal, have been charging consumers to gain access to their business stories, information and data, and it’s been working. This is a very limited solution however, as the Wall Street Journal is a very prestigious business publication, and caters to specific demographics, which are clearly willing to pay for its content. The same cannot be said for most other publications.
The other possible solution is the electronic reader. Both Sony and Amazon have created their own versions of this fancy device, though they’re very close as far as functionality is concerned. For this entry I will focus on the Amazon Kindle.
The first major innovation worth noting is the “electronic-paper” display, which imitates the look of real paper, making it much easier on the eyes compared to a traditional LCD and other bright screens. The device is completely wireless, weighs only
The device has exploded onto the market, and Amazon already released the Kindle 2. Some updates to the device include a reduction in size, to a mere 1/3 inch in thickness, 25% more battery life, more memory, 3G wireless technology, and a text-to-speech feature.
For more information on the device(s), visit Amazon’s Kindle pages:
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA
Since one can subscribe to newspapers and magazines on the device and have them delivered electronically, there is still hope out there for the struggling companies. I haven’t used the device myself, so I don’t know if advertising has worked its way in yet, but I’m sure it’s not far off – at least for the magazines and newspapers. This cannot be the sole solution however, as the device will most likely not become ubiquitous. It will help though. It’s a step in the right direction as the print industry, which once stood proud, must now learn to walk again in an ever-advancing technological society.
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