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John Roberts, Seth Prue, & Nicholas Pulliam
There is no surprise in saying that print media has been dominated by today’s technology and of course, the Internet. As we try to understand the current issues in this media, we look back and try to learn from print media’s past and see how it has dealt with recent issues. Ever since there have been other ways to be informed about the news, such as the radio, newspapers have been dropping readership. E-Books have slowed the roll of paper books being printed for in hand reading. Online subscriptions have taken over monthly subscribers who would normally have had a magazine delivered to their door. Print Media is something that’s been in our culture for many years and is slowly fading away as we know it.
Newspaper
Change in the everyday consumption of media has caused newspapers and other printed media to fall into its worse financial crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Consumers have turned to free online news sites to get their information that they would have had to pay to see through a newspaper. Because of this, advertising revenues have plummeted because they don’t want to compete with free news. Newspaper chains have gone bankrupt or at least have turned to laying off workers because the work is not needed. (Kirchhoff, 27)
People who are taking these jobs seem to be anybody with a phone or computer in front of them to attempt to make some sort of informational audience for themselves. Amateur writers are shining in this moment and are taking advantage of the no pay work that used to be another’s job. In 1998, about 58.6% of adults read the newspaper daily, by 2007, only 48.4% were reading their daily paper. (Kirchoff, 30) That number has continued to drop ten years later as we are now sitting in 2017 and it seems as if newspapers are non-existent.
As print media tries to bounce back from internet publishers, it would not be the first time they have struggled against another media. In the 1950s, newspapers were the dominant source to get news from, but by 1974, more than half preferred to get their news from the television (Spring, 87). This may not seem to be a current issue to most, but the first newspapers have been dated back to the 1600s, so in the newspaper’s lifetime, 1974 is a recent event. In this time however, newspaper industry representatives still felt strongly about newspapers taking back the top source of news. This is because the television has not figured out how to deliver that same type of information as newspapers have already done so well. They worked together at the time as television would try to share news, but mostly entertain its audience, and newspapers would distribute information. (Spring, 93-94)
Today, the only thing online writers lack is good journalism, something newspapers take pride in. However, as the more they write and gain attention, more resources and experiences are gained and slowly diminishes the newspapers proud journalists. Perhaps newspa