It’s really not fair. How can the newspapers compete? Why make a run to 7-11 for the paper when you can get every story from the comfort of your computer chair? Why shell out a couple of bucks for the latest edition of the New York Times when the website is free? Why even flip through the pages of a newspaper when you can sit back and have the anchor on TV tell you what’s happening in the world?
So really, how can the newspapers compete? The answer is: they can’t. We live in a world where people need everything, and they needed it five minutes ago! Newspapers, as they exist right now, can never expect to cater to this increasingly impatient demographic.
Right now, the newspaper is the Walkman of the news world. Big, clumsy, and basically useless when you’ve got all these iPods around. Sure, grandpa may stick with the Walkman because the iPod is too complicated and annoying. After all, they both play music right? But before long, generation iPod will take over. And if you couldn’t follow that admittedly poor analogy, let me put it in terms a bit less convoluted: the newspaper is DEAD! People don’t want it, and if people don’t want what you’re selling you don’t make money!
How do you run a newspaper? You can’t. Not for very long anyway. Unless maybe you’ve got Charles Foster Kane’s money.
This is sad, but true. Why pay money if you can get the same information for free? As this younger generation takes over, the struggling newspaper industry will only face more hardships. People are becoming more accustomed to fast information that they can receive on electronic devices. Print can’t possibly regain its stance in this new technological world.
By: Elizabeth Ward on September 23, 2009
at 4:38 pm