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What's so great about daily print newspapers?
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The Tim
Bubble Blogging Buffoon
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:02 pm
Posts: 790
Location: Kenmore, WA
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 What's so great about daily print newspapers? As readers of the blog know, I am loosely involved in a group that is discussing the future of journalism in Seattle (and in general). I'm also listening this morning to KIRO, who have David Horsey and Art Thiel in a discussion primarily focused on the demise of the Seattle P-I. They keep talking about how foundational newspapers are, yadda yadda yadda, and I can't help but wonder... what's really so great about daily print journalism? A 1939 Robert Heinlein quote comes to mind: Robert Heinlein wrote: There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back. Horse-drawn carriages, roll-based player pianos, pinball machines, daily print newspapers... they all filled a need in their time, but technology and society continues to advance. It seems to me that those in the print journalism business have a choice: evolve or die. IMO, the writing has been on the wall for print newspapers for quite some time and was merely brought to a head by the current economic climate. All this argy-bargy about daily print newspapers seems to be rather pointless. So what am I missing? What's so great about daily print newspapers? Why shouldn't they go under in the current economy?
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:05 am |
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ira s
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:05 am
Posts: 284
Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Archaic they may be, but there's something immensely satisfying about folding the printed newspaper in four and doing the crossword puzzle.
Yeah, there are online puzzles, and yeah, newspaper management had their heads in the sand for years, but it's an ethereal thing rather than a practical thing. I could live without a newspaper and probably will. I just don't want to.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 8:18 am |
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Civil Servant
Bubble Blatherer
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:05 am
Posts: 87
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? In part this is a public-policy question. If there are no daily print newspapers, then it becomes more difficult for lower-income people, who don't have regular access to an internet connection, to keep themselves informed to the degree they'd like. Do we have a responsibility to those people not to undertake actions -- or let them happen -- that will both further the existing class divide and make it even more difficult for them eventually to cross it? What's so great about daily newspapers, in this context, is that their ease of accessibility to almost everyone contributes (at least in theory) to a more informed populace, which is assumed to be the desirable social state.
I'm not saying that this is my opinion -- this is just the wonk perspective, to which I've had some exposure.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:53 am |
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Lake Hills Renter
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Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:13 pm
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Location: Bellevue
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Civil Servant wrote: If there are no daily print newspapers, then it becomes more difficult for lower-income people, who don't have regular access to an internet connection, to keep themselves informed to the degree they'd like. Yep. Switching to online newspapers assumes that everyone has an internet connection, which is most decidedly not the case. I've heard numbers (I think it was a Houston paper) that still had 1/3 of its readers that didn't have Internet connections. If they switched to all digital access, which would save them a ton in printing costs, they'd lose 1/3 of their readership. And the readers they'd lose would have less access to news in general, since the newspaper was the cheapest mechanism.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:21 am |
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ira s
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:05 am
Posts: 284
Location: Seattle, WA
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? So if we gave everybody internet access, gave them a computer, and taught them how to use it, then newspapers would have no usefulness.
So I have to agree strongly with Civil Servant and Lake Hills Renter.
Newspapers have a lot of information, much more so than what you can get from watching television. So if 1/3 of the people out there don't have internet access and get their info from the newspapers, by letting newspapers die we are sitting by idly as the dumbing down of America accelerates.
I know, there's a lot of stupid stuff in the newspapers, but even more on television.
And the internet? That's a colossal warehouse filled with stupid stuff.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 10:31 am |
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sniglet
Bubble Banter Boss
Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2007 2:58 pm
Posts: 679
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? I am certainly not one to say we should do anything to stop the changes in society, or the economy, as technology marches forward. However, it is worth pausing for a moment to recognize that some things are irretrevieably lost when we transition to something new. On the whole, things might be better, but there are often some beneficial aspects of the old technologies that are lost forever.
In the move away from print newspapers, for example, we are losing the whole business model that was able to cross-subsidize and fund reporting and content that might not have been able to sustain itself otherwsie. In the new digital mediums, everything has to justify it's existence on it's own right, not by being a part of something else.
So much for all the great articles that Playboy used to publish, now that pornographic officionados can go directly to the pictures on-line and ignore silly stories that just get in the way of their purile pleasure.
Likewise, the decline of the newspaper also means the end of much investigative reporting.
We have already seen how technology publications have HUGELY cut back on in-depth product reviews as their business models have collapsed. It is getting increasingly difficult to find unbiased 3rd party reviews for many items, unless they are posted by a consumer themselves, which is hit and miss.
These things are just going to be the dustbin of history.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:01 am |
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The Tim
Bubble Blogging Buffoon
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:02 pm
Posts: 790
Location: Kenmore, WA
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Devil's advocate on the "class divide" topic:
Can't people without internet access at home just go to the local library or public university and access the internet for free?
Last I checked, free is cheaper than the $0.75 per day newsstand price of a print paper. And both methods require some effort on the part of the person that can't afford internet access.
If we're talking about people with home delivery of the newspaper, that's about a $20/month cost, compared to dial-up internet services @ $10-$15 a month or high-speed at $30 a month.
In other words, I don't get the "if daily print newspapers disappeared, poor people wouldn't have access to news" argument. Perhaps someone can explain it further for me.
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For great justice.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:06 am |
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jon
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:13 am
Posts: 267
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? I suspect the 1/3 figure has more to do with age than with income, and it is a preference for staying with the familiar that keeps them reading print. Beyond a certain age, a transition to online just isn't going to happen, but as people who have already learned to follow the news online get older, they will do fine.
Dropping from 2 newspapers to 1 is not that significant anymore with all the other points of view that are now available online. Dropping from 1 to 0 would be a bigger problem, but we aren't there yet.
It would be great if someone found a way turn a profit from investigative reporting. I think the potential for doing that through an online payment mechanism is more likely that just sticking with print.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:24 am |
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Civil Servant
Bubble Blatherer
Joined: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:05 am
Posts: 87
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Devil's response to Tim's question: They can't go to the public library or a local college if they are elderly, infirm, are here illegally and fearful that their use of the internet will lead to them being deported, etc... And as for that 75 cents a day, it's a non-issue: just climb onto a bus in the free zone and scavenge what you want from the papers that morning commuters leave behind. I have a job and my own internet connection, and scavenging is how I get my crossword puzzles.
The issue Sniglet raises is a good one though. Even if newspapers can survive by going fully online, their newly straitened budgets and need to seek efficiences won't allow for a lot of investigative journalism, except perhaps quickie hit pieces. Stuff like this? [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,919328,00.html] Forget it.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:25 am |
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SeattleMoose
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Sun May 06, 2007 7:26 am
Posts: 220
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? I can use newspaper to: 1) Help get a fire going in a fireplace 2) Burn it to keep my hands warm in a "tent city" scenario 3) Read wherever I want (e.g. camping) 4) Keep physical historical records of events (in case the electricity/batteries ever disappear for more than a couple of days) 5) Clip coupons/ads and take them with me to the store 6) Grab it to read on the airplane/bus/etc. More importantly, with independent and unique printed news media in every town/city of America it is almost impossible for any agency to grab complete control of the news media. However, if all physical newspapers are eliminted, online news sites could end up like "TV news" in that all news is "fed" to them. Saying goodby to printed media is one step closer to total centralization/control. Not a good situtation. Imagine the future where all print media has long disappeared (everything is now via the internet) and suddenly civilization is thrown back to the stone age and people have to "start over". There will be no electricity, no batteries, but thank God we have all these "how to" books on farming, building, teaching, etc......that is, if they still exist. 
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:26 am |
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jon
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:13 am
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Quote: suddenly civilization is thrown back to the stone age and people have to "start over". There will be no electricity, no batteries, but thank God we have all these "how to" books on farming, building, teaching, etc Lead acid batteries are pretty robust, and electricity is just a reclaimed alternator and crank away. In such a scenario, which would be more valuable: books on how things used to be or tapping into an ad-hoc 802.11 network to find out what is really going on?
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:53 am |
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Lake Hills Renter
Bubble Banter Boss
Joined: Sun Feb 18, 2007 9:13 pm
Posts: 550
Location: Bellevue
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Civil Servant wrote: Devil's response to Tim's question: They can't go to the public library or a local college if they are elderly, infirm, are here illegally and fearful that their use of the internet will lead to them being deported, etc... And what if there isn't a local library or university? Many/Most rural towns don't have them, yet still get the city paper. Does Eatonville have a library? Darrington? I'd be surprised if they do. Certainly not a college. Not everyone is as young, urban and tech-centered as some on this blog/forum.  I think newspapers aren't as useless as some seem to believe, particularly to those that have fewer avenues for news. That said, it's about economics, and if the papers can't find a valid revenue stream they will (and should) fall. I just don't necessarily see that as all good, or even that nothing is being lost.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:05 pm |
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Charles Dean
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:11 am
Posts: 417
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? One of the main reasons that newspapers are on such hard times right now is one reason and that's Craigslist.
Craigslist gave out for free that which newspapers have had a monopoly on for centuries and that's classified advertising.
Advertising for real estate in print for instance has become wholly ineffective over the last 2-3 years because of this. No one looks for houses in the Times and P-I anymore. Everyone looks online. Either from listings your agent sends you or on windermere.com, themlsonline.com, redfin or craigslist. Almost no one looks in the Times or the little nickel for houses anymore.
For me, I haven't bought a printed newspaper for well over a year. I get all of my news online from about 6-8 different sources, local and national. With internet access, it's far easier I think to find news and different takes on the same story.
Ultimately it does come down to a question of economics. And so the question is, do we want the government bailing out the press? Do we really want state run media?
I mean, sure it's sad to see the newspaper go away. There were I'm sure alot of horse breeders that went out of business as cars became more and more popular.
Print media will likely never completely disappear. However, like television to radio, so the internet is to print media and news. And for that matter, so the internet is to television as well.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:34 pm |
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The Tim
Bubble Blogging Buffoon
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 6:02 pm
Posts: 790
Location: Kenmore, WA
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Lake Hills Renter wrote: Does Eatonville have a library? Darrington? and yes. Lake Hills Renter wrote: I think newspapers aren't as useless as some seem to believe, particularly to those that have fewer avenues for news. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying newspapers are useless, I just think their importance is maybe being a bit overstated by some as we face the prospect of dropping to a 1-daily-paper town. Pinball machines were (are) great too, but their time of dominance has passed. Side note, does losing one of our daily newspapers make us more, or less of a world-class city?
_________________
For great justice.
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:49 pm |
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EconE
Bubble Bloviator
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 3:29 pm
Posts: 273
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Re: What's so great about daily print newspapers? Newspapers help boost hand soap sales. On a more serious note, I agree with LHR. Not everybody has easy access to a library. It doesn't even have to be rural. Do you know how many buses you might have to take to get to a library in L.A.? If you had a car and drove...your gas cost would be more than $0.75. But then again, I'm a pinball fan that has never owned a video game console in my life. Anybody up for a game of "Captain Fantastic"? 
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| Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:51 pm |
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