Why Newspapers Will Continue to Struggle

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy my morning newspaper.

But, when world events evolve as quickly as they did last week...it's kinda like that whole "Dewey Defeats Truman" scenario.

Before I had time last Friday morning to read that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had thumbed his nose at the rest of the world and said, in essence, "hell no, I won't go," (click to enlarge image) he was gone.

Printed just a few hours before, the paper I held in my hands ceased to be relevant. And, I wondered how many other stories had changed in that time span.

There will always be a place for the morning paper...but it's getting less relevant all the time.

Comments

[NMH]

If once upon a time a good cup of coffee created demand for both political news and entertainment in print, one would think an online version would continue that trend.

However, it's log on to check Facebook to see what Bill Geist is up to and what Lady Gaga did.

Relevance of interest has also changed.

[M. Anderson]

Reading the newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee...used to feel important to me. I didn't want to miss a potential lead, lose track of the competition, or risk looking uninformed at a meeting or event. Now I go to the computer for my news feed to stay on top of what's important to me. I go to social media channels to see what's important to other people.

[Maura Gast]

I'll admit I'm biased on this one. I wanted to be Brenda Starr at one point in my life. At a couple of other points, I did work for daily newspapers, one in a very small market, one in a very large one. Never as a reporter, always as a sleazy promotions/advertising/circulation type. But I still love the act of touching and reading the newspaper. What I wish the local publishers would get into their thick heads - is that what I want from them is what I can't/don't get from the gazillion other immediate world news sources throw at me in a never-ending barrage. I don't need my local daily to tell me late that Mubarak may or may not be going. I do need it to tell me what I missed LOCALLY at the City Council meeting I can't get to because my life is too crazy, but if I'd been there, I'd have known fill-in-the-blank. What is almost impossible to find out from a reliable, consistent, well-educated and unbiased resource is news that matters to ME on a regular basis. And I don't care if I get it in print or online, just so long as I get it. The newspaper industry long ago forgot it was in the information business, and continues to try and be about the distribution business. I don't give a flip how it's distributed, so long as what is distributed is something I want.