Clearly, Murdoch is a clever guy and he realises the effect that electronic
media is having on the market for newsprint-based publications.
Well if the recent fortunes of local newspapers are anything to go by, clearly
we're not.
Advertising revenues seem to be up and new papers (the Sunday Herald for example)
are springing up out of the woodwork, so to speak.
By firing up my browser, I can get all the local and international news I want,
and my hands don't end up smelling like a printer's armpit when I'm done.
Even better, if I find a contentious issue in the news, I can jump over to
Google and quickly locate any number of different reports on the same story.
No longer am I at the mercy of my local paper's perspective on the matter.
Another great Google feature is its notification service. Just create a
query and register it with Google News. When a new story appears which
meets that criteria, you'll get an email with a link to the matching news
story(s). Bloody brilliant!
In fact, I'd have to say that the web is probably the most comprehensive,
reliable and (if you use your head) objective way of staying in touch with
news and current events.
So why are people still buying newspapers in droves?
Could it be that we're still experiencing the last burst of activity by
the pre-internet generation? These are people who haven't really felt
comfortable with computers and being "online".
They'd much rather browse the morning pulp while ingesting their bacon and
eggs. They're probably also the same people who can't understand why their
computers are repeatedly infected with viruses and worms every time they
open an unsolicited email attachment.
Will we see a dramatic turn-around in the fortunes of the printed news-page
before the end of this decade? I think so.
Just as sure as the word-processor has spelt the demise of carbon-paper and
the CD has annexed the vinyl LP, electronic media will significantly alter
the way we receive our news.
Sure, we may still end up with ink on paper somewhere along the way -- but
odds are that your morning news-fix will arrive via your phone line rather
than as a sodden mess on the front step.
Once it's arrived on your computer, you'll be able to either dump it to your
fast, cheap printer and read it on the bus while commuting into work -- or
you'll simply download it onto your electronic "device" -- the same device
that holds and plays your MP3s, favourite video clips and other electronic media.
Do you still subscribe to, or regularly purchase a newspaper?
Or have you, like myself, already opted to get all your news online?
Aardvark Forums
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www.aardvarkforums.co.nz/forums,
have your say on today's column
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