Newspaper sales are declining and it shouldn't come as a shock. The increasing amount of internet users over the last 20 years has been gradually taking its toll from newspapers. Even in some of the largest cities, the falling sales are speeding up.
Newspapers are simply kicking up dirt. They shamefully find themselves rotting on the very racks they sit upon. The old feeling of grabbing "today's" paper doesn't have the same impact as it once had. The increase in price also discourages people like me from buying it. It's a sad story, especially for people like my aunt and uncle. They both worked for newspapers in Chicago for over 20 years. Both were laid off last year due to labor budget cuts. Can you guess why their budget was cut?( You probably won't need to)
The importance of this demise in newspapers exploits the benefits of online news sources and television programs. The advantages of making my home page a news website is quite convenient. Instead of relying of the strength of the newspaper's front page, I can visit several top stories simultaneously. Newspapers are for people who have time to sit and read them. Everyone else hops on a computer or turns on the TV.
Some are claiming that democracy is suffering from the decrease in newspaper sales. I disagree with that statement. What will happen is a decline in career opportunities for journalists as they try to adapt.
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While I do agree that democracy will not suffer as a whole through the demise of newspapers, I do think that the actual delivery of the news (and therefore the context of it) may take a hit.
ReplyDeleteDaily newspapers numbered in the hundreds and even thousands as little as 15 years ago. With the advent of iReporting and online news, the ability of who "reports" news has taken a whole new meaning. Yet, most if not nearly all of those iReporters have zero traditional journalistic background. Silverblatt mentions appearing as a source on pg 221 of "Media Literacy;" if iReporters fail to use sources (which most do), this further undermines the credibility of their reporting, while still broadening the pool of news stories out there.
With so many newspapers previously circulating, the variety in the way news was reported and delivered was a breath of fresh air. With the typical daily paper going down the crap shoot now, that variety is dwindling fast. I think this could lead to a few centralized daily newspapers and news agencies that could deliver the news the way they see fit- and unfortunately undermining democratic ideologies.
Still, there is awhile to go for this to all happen. The top 100 daily newspapers in circulation today (in the US) are still all well above 100,000 [http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0004420.html]. Nonetheless, the declining newspaper should be taken as a warning about how our news is delivered to us, and why we may start needing to question it.