When the Internet opened up the world of communication it was widely predicted that this would cause the death of newspapers. That seemed a reasonable prognosis. The idea of cutting down millions of trees to make newsprint, meeting deadlines to get the content of a paper ready for the press to roll - and then delivering a copy to each reader before breakfast seemed a wasteful way of doing things - when the same information could be gleaned from a viewing screen on a computer or a television.
The same prognosis was made about the printing of books - and yet they survived until a major bookseller closed it's doors. The inability of holders of gift certificates to redeem their face value dealt a death blow to the custom of giving vouchers to family and friends for Christmas and birthdays. Suddenly, the " e " book plugged the gap when this publishing disaster coincided with the release of a popular tablet that put a book reader in many people's hands.
The newspaper industry has barely survived in recent times. Most publications present their product in both " e " and printed form and it seems obvious that the printed edition is losing market share. The number of pages dwindles and it seems that print no longer dominates the world of advertising as it did when newspapers were at the height of their popularity. Profits - where they still exist - are slim and the share market for paper stock has bee n on the slide for several generations.
The whole rationale for newspapers was to present the daily news - and to bring the results of sporting events. In particular, most newspapers provided extensive horse racing coverage. The racing pages became the vehicle for the punter who rarely attended a race meeting, but placed bets and tallied the results from the following days newspaper coverage.
It seems that those days are over. Just as the custom of checking the lottery results via the newspaper has ceased, it seems that checking for a winning bet will soon be a matter of running the ticket through the TAB machine at the local club or pub. More and more regional newspapers no longer print racing results or give the winning dividends.
Some see this as the final nails in a coffin lid as the newspaper in print form enters a death spiral. If it fails to remember the reason for it's creation that continued support will wither away and it will not remain relevant to the needs of the people who give it life.
People bought newspapers to bring them the information they needed. When that information flow ceases - so does the need for newspapers !
No comments:
Post a Comment