Print Media VS Online Media. Who Will Win?

Let’s face it. Journalism in the future will be different. The changes may be disorienting to those who are used to the old ways of doing things, but change is definitely coming. A morning routine for my father on Sunday’s was to wake up, fix himself some coffee, go outside and grab the newspaper, and read the paper front to back and share some of my mother’s stories (she was a journalist) since my sister and I had no interest in the news at the time. My mother and father would both highlight the news in the paper and answer any questions we had. In, what seemed like the next day, both my mother and father had ditched the paper and were reading the news online. That is where it is going, and it is only a matter of time before we see newspapers and magazines shutting down worldwide.

I did not realize the severity of the situation until I read an article from Techcrunch about the decline of newspapers. Duncan Riley is absolutely right when he says, “Newspapers do have a future, but as I wrote in November, we are yet to see a major consolidation of print in the United States. Declining revenues will ultimately force consolidation across print media in the United States, and many of those that fail to embrace change will be on borrowed time.”

Duncan Riley of Techcrunch says that figures show rapid decrease from 9.4% to $42 billion in 2007 compared to 2006. Regardless, print media face competition from Internet-only e-zines, which have virtually no traditional paper, printing, or distribution costs, and are better versed in new media interactivity. Because of this, they are able to serve more specialized vertical communities - a function similar to today’s special interest and trade magazines. Magazines also face the television and radio industries’ entry into the text-based medium now available through the Internet.

You can get a good sense for where journalism is headed by looking at the world of tech reporting, such as Engadget, Gizmodo, The Tech Brief :) etc… They tend to be steps ahead of the rest of the media; At least try to be anyway. Most techies have also been getting tech news from sites like Slashdot  for a while, and aggregators like Digg are used more heavily among techies than any in the rest of the news media. So there is a good chance, that today’s tech news trends are a foretaste of what’s ahead for the broader media world.

Although not too close to taking over print media, online media is very close behind. The rapid decrease of print media will heavily inpact our society and changes will be made that some of you may not like, but in a effort to “go green” and “save the world,” the changes must take place, and technology - online media - will likely follow. The offering of e-ink technology will be much more prevalent, and may take over paper. Perhaps I am think way to ahead, but it is a thought that looks more likely as time ticks away. Until then, enjoy your newspapers and magazine, and any other print media while we have it now, because you never know when we may not.