Print Journalism

[Actaeon]

Is it dead? Do paid journalists of any sort have a role in a world with blogs and Twitter? Should I just stop asking non-game related questions?

[Randomizer]

Prints still out there and at least unlike blogs, Twitter, and talk show hosts (especially Rush Limbaugh) they still have to check their facts. There's still something to be said about print and being able to go back and look again to see if you really read it right.

 

Besides in print you get to see all those things that you wouldn't get by just looking at your favorite source. How else would I get stories about cops finding the robber at the candy store was a really large and hungry bear.

[Alorael at Large]

Newspapers might be struggling, but journalists still have resources and networks that bloggers don't. They also have editorial oversight and (some) accountability, which to me is important. I'm happy to get my opinion pieces from blogs, but for diligently researched news, especially foreign news, real reporters are still important.

 

—Alorael, who expects the field to keep shrinking but not wither away entirely. One result he expects is fewer but very good print news sources. There's no room for mediocre newspapers.

[keira]

I live in a smaller community (~1000 people) and since everything that happens is too small to get picked up by the nearest TV news-station, the local weekly newspaper is really the only source of information for anything related to the town. Now, whether you want to call that journalism or not, the local paper is doing very well.

 

So honestly, while "mainstream" news is now being dominated by electronic media and blogs, I don't expect niche/local newspapers to go anywhere for awhile.

[Dintiradan]

What the previous two posters said. You can't get bloggers into every small community, and you can't (usually) get bloggers into war zones and refugee camps. I find I rely on news aggregators more and more, but of course those ultimately depend on journalists.

[Actaeon]

As someone who works for a small community newspaper, I agree with that assessment as far as it goes. I worry, however, whether the value system that sustains such a thing will continue indefinitely. In addition, I consistently wonder if "print" in the literal sense might be replaced by professional journalism with purely net distribution. I hope not.

[Alorael at Large]

I don't expect the presses to stop anytime soon, but purely digital distribution seems plausible if eventually everyone has a tablet or Kindle/Nook/equivalent on which to read it. That's certainly not imminent.

 

—Alorael, who already reads almost none of his news in dead tree format. And he thinks worry about local news coverage dying is justified: it wouldn't be too hard to replace most of it with local bloggers. Loss of quality would meet hard economic realities.

[Goldengirl]

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

In addition, I consistently wonder if "print" in the literal sense might be replaced by professional journalism with purely net distribution. I hope not.

This is a curious hope that I have not yet heard. Can you expound upon your reasoning for this?

[Randomizer]

Apple with the iPad has been pushing print media into going digital through them so they can have more content. I don't look forward to the idea that someday you have to stare at a computer to see stuff that I prefer in print.

 

Waiting for the comics page to download will never make me happy.

[Actaeon]

I'm an antique in my own time, I guess, but I cannot quite click with electronic newspapers, much less books. I like to feel it, fold it, appreciate the formatting, clip out the best bits and keep 'em. I like to thumb through the big bound copies of newspapers from the 1970s and photos from before that.

 

A unprinted word feels, to me, like an undeveloped photograph. Printing something gives it substance, makes it last, and suggests that it's worth having it stick around for a while. I don't know if I'm idealistic, paranoid, or am just an indirect tree-killing psychopath, but that's the visceral reaction I get when I think of taking the books off my shelf or the newspaper off my table.

[Student of Trinity]

I hate paper. It just gets lost or damaged, and there's no search for printed text. It's a storage problem, too. We keep needing to find new shelf space. I set my physical books down when I have to stop reading, and they end up littering the house, or going missing.

 

When I briefly subscribed to a newspaper, years ago, I found I spent too much time reading things I didn't really want to read, just because I had paid for them. That was a big part of the old print journalism business model, I think. It was like the huge portion sizes in American restaurants: a way to force people to buy more, and like it because they're getting so much for their money, even though it's more than they want. That's one of the big things that's hurting journalism businesses now — they're losing their opportunity to pump sales by bundling in bloatware. The main reason I cancelled my old newspaper subscription, though, was just that I got fed up with having to dispose of a big stack of paper every week.

 

I find it perfectly comfortable to read text on a screen. I can even change the font or size if I like, at least in principle. I can search in an instant for the passage I want. A huge library takes up very little memory by today's standards, and exactly zero extra physical space, since the hard drives are sitting there anyway. I have walls of books, and if I could destructively scan them as in Rainbows End, I would. Turning pages is tedious.

 

For news I rely on online news sites. The BBC news is pretty good, and for a more American focus, the New York Times. I don't subscribe to the NYT, because I'd get too much for the price. I'd waste too much time again, reading reviews of NYC restaurants that I will never visit, and the like. So I stick to my 20 free articles per month, or whatever it is. I think I'd pay for that, if I had to.

[Dintiradan]

You can't grep dead trees.

[ex post slarto]

"What is the most precious, the most exciting smell awaiting you in the house when you return to it after a dozen years or so? The smell of roses, you think? No, mouldering books."

 

Andre Sinyavsky

[Radix Malorum Est Cupiditas]

Originally Posted By: HOUSE of S

"What is the most precious, the most exciting smell awaiting you in the house when you return to it after a dozen years or so? The smell of roses, you think? No, mouldering books."

Andre Sinyavsky

That may well be because the fungus that grows on mouldering books is hallucinogenic.

Just saying.

[Skwish-E]

When a computer or such device is required to read the news, only those who can afford a computer or other such device will be allowed to read the news. Does a smartphone then become something that the government has to provide for the poor and homeless? How about public charging stations? And how do you protect yourself from a sudden downpour when trying to get from the awning to the cab? Hold your Kindle over your head?

[Alorael at Large]

Holding a newspaper over your head isn't exactly effective, and India is already trying to give all of its poor tablets with internet access. Will it work? Maybe, but the potential is there now, and prices will only go down. The present already substantially assumes that you have a computer; in the near future it'll be tablets/smartphones.

 

I much prefer books in paper. I like the physicality of it, I like turning pages, being able to flip through, being able to lend them and borrow them, and yes, having walls filled with them. Are there conveniences of digitizing your library? Absolutely, and I have a Kindle and some e-books, but they're not my preference.

 

News is different. The articles are shorter and more disposable. You don't, or at least I don't, read the news for hours. I'm more willing to put up with the screen and the need for internet access for temporary things.

 

—Alorael, who has a New York Times subscription. He reads several hundred articles per month. He also ignores the majority of the sections of the paper. He doesn't live in New York, he doesn't value most of the reviews of movies, theater, or books, he doesn't care about current style, and most of the science headlines are best understood by going and finding the papers that are being misrepresented. Just getting national and international news reports, politics, and economic collapse updates is worth the price.

[Jerakeen]

Newspapers make excellent mulch. They're also good for starting fires in wood-burning stoves.

[Micawber]

I read 10-15 pages of a hardcopy newspaper on my journey to work, most days. As well, I have an online subscription to a different newspaper, which I read on my smartphone and on my office and home computers. I like to read some of the same stories from two points of view, if for no other reason than that it helps me to remember a bit more. The physical newspaper is nice from the point of view that it doesn't require batteries and is better for burying your head in, thus avoiding the need to interact with other commuters. I am also able to dispose of the paper at work, which avoids the drawback noted by SoT.

[Actaeon]

Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves

Newspapers make excellent mulch. They're also good for starting fires in wood-burning stoves.

When there were more wood burning stoves in town, there was a fair amount of competition for left over newspapers (much less tree trimmings and other free wood). These days, there's as much as a person could want.

Before I give the impression of being a total technophobe, note that I am, even as I type this, on the internet. I also welcome the online distribution of video and music, and consider Audible the greatest things since Wikipedia. I also pay more attention to webcomics than those in the back of the newspaper (though, since I read the local dailies habitually, I usually keep up with those, too).

[keira]

Originally Posted By: Ice-breathing unirotdhizon

I much prefer books in paper. I like the physicality of it, I like turning pages, being able to flip through, being able to lend them and borrow them, and yes, having walls filled with them. Are there conveniences of digitizing your library? Absolutely, and I have a Kindle and some e-books, but they're not my preference.

I LOVE YOU ALORAEL.

[Actaeon]

We've all felt that way at some time or another. Most of us are just a bit more... subtle about it.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: Skwish-E

When a computer or such device is required to read the news, only those who can afford a computer or other such device will be allowed to read the news. Does a smartphone then become something that the government has to provide for the poor and homeless? How about public charging stations? And how do you protect yourself from a sudden downpour when trying to get from the awning to the cab? Hold your Kindle over your head?

there are always public libraries, which are already common places for homeless people to shelter during the day

[ex post slarto]

Access to news (in whatever form) is not one of the largest things that preclude the homeless and the very poor from participation in public discourse and the political process. Unfortunately.

[Alorael at Large]

I'll, uh, get back to you on that one.

 

—Alorael, who can work through his unease by curling up by the fire (started with newspapers) reading a book. Less chance of melting expensive electronics, more chances to violently dispose of it if it somehow happens to be by Jonathan Franzen.

[Randomizer]

It's easier to recycle print into something more useful than a computer, although an iPad can be used as a paperweight.

[Rowen]

Am I the only one that gets the Spiderweb forums in a newspaper? Its just above the crossword and Sudoku puzzles on B5

[Actaeon]

A lovely image, which reminds me somewhat of https://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html

 

Edit: At the rate I make mistakes, edits are practically my gimmick. But not officially, as I think the mods might not find it amusing.

[Alorael at Large]

In my day we posted by smoke signal.

 

—Alorael, who wouldn't worry about an editing gimmick, except that that niche is already occupied.

[Harehunter]

In my youth, we just painted on rocks.

 

I do agree, though, there is a place where the older technologies still work the best. Imagine if you will

[Skwish-E]

I started posting by tying messages to arrows and shooting them at people. It was really better for instant messaging, though, since it only went to one target at a time.

[Student of Trinity]

In my day we just released spores.

[Alorael at Large]

Faugh. Earlier in my day we released cAMP.

 

—Alorael, who supposes he's had a really long day. Might be time for a nap.

[Actaeon]

In my day, a message board was a literal board. It stood outside town, and people posted things on it. Sometimes, they offered rewards for... wait, maybe I'm confusing that with something else.