Tuesday, April 21, 2009

I disagree...

Ever since my first journalism class, I have been told that print journalism is slowly dying out.  It's all going to be online soon, journalists say.  Not many people read newspapers anymore, computer nerds rant.  Up until our lecture on Monday, I began to believe it myself.  Now, I just believe that I was being brainwashed to believe what everyone else thinks.

I know better now.

My generation is obsessed with receiving information at lightening speed.  We cannot stand the unknown and, for some reason, having to wait longer than an hour for information is too hard to do.   Please note that this is my generation.  Considering my generation is not the only one that exists, I'm not quite sure why we are so panicky.  

Generations before ours have relied on newspapers forever.  People read them with their coffee, stuff them into briefcases and take them out on the train ride to the office.  Papers provide ample entertainment on the way to the office, during lunch and after someone gets home from work.  The generation of which I am speaking is not mine.  It is our parents' generation and the one before that...and, in some cases, the one before that.  Sure, my generation is going to take over all of those places, but it is not something that is going to happen any time soon.  

My advice to you is to stop freaking out.  It would be naive to say that the Internet has no effect upon print journalism, but it is also naive to believe that print journalism will die anytime soon.  The Internet obsessed era has yet to gain total control of the world, so until they do, take a breather, grab a paper, and actually flip through it.  Don't be afraid.  It is virus free and you might actually learn something new.  

2 comments:

  1. agreed. I will just have to close my eyes when another newspaper lays off people... (eek!)

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  2. I'm not so optimistic. I do think that newspapers are going to die out, and in our lifetime. Sure there will always be some, but I don't think you will have multiple major dailies for every city anymore. But I just think that means that our jobs of the future are not going to be the way we thought they would be - on a printed broadsheet.

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