Are Newspapers Doomed?
Newspapers have been experiencing declining print newspaper circulation for years, while thier online side or online competitors have become more popular. Is this an inevitable sign of the future? Will hard copies of everything die out? Or will digital and hard copies coexist in harmony well into the future?
Definitely Doomed.
Side Score: 3
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Not Doomed.
Side Score: 5
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1
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As a news source, no. The internet is way way way cheaper for both consumers and the companies who make their living in the news industry. And more and more, you can carry the internet around with you just like a paper. But papers have 2 things in their favor that will keep them around as a news source for a while to come. They are attributed with articles that are more thought out, and deeper, that is not normally what net surfers are looking for. But the internet is just as capable of having these types of pieces, and often do. But papers are better trusted in that regaurd. People like to hold things. And for many it's easier to read a paper than a computer screen. These are things that better technology, and better familiarity of the internet by the elderly, (and by the elderly dying) will make inconsequential. What will happen is someone somewhere with a printing press, will realize (or create) the artistic value of a "paper" as opposed to the net. And that's how the Newspaper will survive, though smaller and less popular than it has been in the past. Side: Not Doomed.
1
point
I do not believe they are and I believe that local news has something to do with them not being doomed. The Internet does not set up my local newspaper for any day as though you were reading it at your kitchen table, page by page and section by section. I do not believe they don't have the technology to do so since one can see any flyer page by page on the Internet or see them categorically if you so desire. I am of the opinion they don't present the news in this fashion in order to make it more difficult to read and get to the parts you are looking for. Some, are simply not there especially if they come from the wire services. In these cases you need the actual newspaper to read all the news of the day. If you're only interested in headline news you don't need a newspaper at all. All you need is the Internet for that but it certainly does not point to the newspaper's demise...yet! I would agree that some of this is age based for a time, anyway. When your kids get into school and play any kind of sport, you'll wish you had the local paper so you could save it, clip it, scrapbook it, etc. What's happening in and out of town on a week-end is important when you have kids or you're just wanting to go out to enjoy yourselves for an evening. No, Newspapers aren't doomed yet and I'm not certain they ever will be until such time as you can read whichever paper is important to you just as though you had it in your hands. Side: Not Doomed.
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