Is the Print Media Dying? March 29, 2007
Posted by Vijay in Blogging, Business, Internet, Issues, Media, Print.trackback
I have written about this before. People are getting their news, views and reviews online. Bloggers are increasingly the new media and are capable of influencing the opinion of their readers.
The readers themselves are a community that contribute to the news. Compare this with the print media.
Take the example of Churumuri. Its a blog that is fed by people from the journalistic field and has built up a loyal following. People like Anand Balaji are Journos who now share their views on their blog.
Heres an interesting take on the Print Media by Don Dodge.
The businessman in me thinks theres a new business model here 🙂
Business Buzz 
Vijay, these online media makes gadgets as mandatory !!
To read a news paper(regular) you just need 1.50/- & you can enjoy the whole reading & later can sell your old news papers ;-). I beleive its a different fun reading the printed ones.
Heard from Girish HampaLi that one of the s/w groups are developing some interface which can print them all these news papers when they want it. I think that business idea will catch up, atleast for NRI’s..
To Add to it, Vikrantakarnataka is one newspaper which was started as an online paper and is also avaialble as hard copy now & the editor sits at the other side of the world.
But yeah, you can patent that new business modeal, thats anytime is on air… You can coin a new business process model & let others follow it. Also isn’t blogs more like views than the ‘genuine news’ & there is no section like Errata etc.,… !
Veena: Interesting thoughts…
Thanks for making a mention of me Vijay!
You’re right about the fact that blogging has increasingly become an easy way to disseminate information to the masses. Online journalism is here to stay. At the same time, I hold a brief for the more conventional forms of journalism such as newspapers and magazines. Their impact and reach cannot be ruled out.
But there’s the ‘disgruntlement’ factor if one were to work for the print media, and I am the prime example of it! Having worked for no more than 4 suffocating hours at Deccan Herald, and tossing my resignation the next day, I feel I am (sadly) qualified to speak my mind against the pathetic manner in which newspapers conduct business today.
I had the guts to dare to be different instead of silently tolerating the nonsense at Vijay Times and Deccan Herald. While I openly made my opinions known to my seniors at Vijay Times (editor included), I had reached a point where I couldn’t give a damn when I joined Deccan Herald; hence I quit without batting an eyelid.
I gave print journalism one last shot when I rejoined Vijay Times at the behest of the editor and realised a few months later that I’d made a dreadful mistake. The problem with passionate people like me is that journalism is a calling in life and not just another job. While, the majority of those in the field of print journalism remain clueless.
I might have digressed here, but certain truths must be told.
Please visit my blog for a post ‘In praise of folly’ in which I have spelt out the short comings in the print media.
Veena sure knows how to make ordinary people like me feel very important. Here’s proof of that: “Hey why are you talking ill about DH & VT in public ? Maana nashTa mokkadomme haaktaare ashTe.”
Hahaha…
veena:
this just came into my inbox, and is along the lines of what you say.
– s.b.
i think the question depends on where. I don’t think it’s dying in India. There hasn’t been enough internet penetration for online news to overpower the print guys. That said, because the online guys are innovative and sharp, they are forcing the newspapers to stay on their toes rather be complacent.
In the US, it’s definitely a case of newspapers dying, at least in their print versions. What papers here are doing is trying to shrink the size of the newspaper and sell it to commuters on mass transit, and they’re building up their web sites with content other than just news articles (blogs, videos, flash-based graphics, etc).
Hi marylandmacaca!
I suppose it has to do more with the decreasing attention span of people more than anything else. Add to this 24-hour news channels, and it’ll become clear why newspapers are being edged out, albeit slowly.
Mumbai, the business hub of India, introduced tabloid-size newspapers to cater to its vast, busy workforce. This was done much before any other city in India could even spell the T in tabloid!
Hi again marylandmacaca,
Not much of breaking news is covered by newspapers in India. The 24/7 news channels fill that spot. If anything, the newspapers merely parrot what has already been said on TV, adding a bit of spice along the way!
In fact, I wrote an essay titled ‘How will the Press buffet the waves of the New media’ to enter journalism college! I’ll try and post it on my blog sometime. In it I had spelled out the same aspects you’ve mentioned here. In depth analysis is the only way out for newspapers as compared to news websites.
I am not aware of the Poynter study, and I’m guessing it was based on data collected from affluent countries, like your own, where an overwhelming majority have access to the Internet. Here in India, newspapers are still the easiest way to disseminate news, for obvious reasons.
By “absorb” I suppose you meant ingesting news. If not, what’s the point in reading through some material if you aren’t able to remember the details as you would if you were to read a newspaper?