Web sites beat out print media

The newspaper industry has been in certain decline for some time now. Innovations such as the radio, television, and more importantly, the Internet, have collectively dealt several damaging blows to the print media business.

Most people nowadays seek to be informed by the many cable news networks or the seemingly infinite sea of online news sources, rather than taking up the effort of grabbing a newspaper.

Almost all of the top 25 newspapers in the United States reported declines in circulation with figures released last month indicating the rate of decline for print-circulated newspapers has increased  more than 7 percent from the
previous year.

Most big-city newspapers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and, most recently, the Chicago Tribune, are seeing the greatest effects of readership decline.

In order to compete and stay relevant, most major newspapers have made great strides in developing Web sites to serve as online companions to their printed brothers.

The introduction and rise of online news sources has been slowly rendering the once powerful and profitable newspaper business of this country ever closer to becoming an obscure relic of the past. While the print media is reporting drastic decreases in circulation and readership, online newspaper Web sites are seeing an increase of about 10 percent in their online audience.

It makes sense: A news Web site can be updated to the minute with new information while newspapers must wait to be printed and then circulated, which by then, details on a major news story may have changed multiple times as it develops in the world of the 24-hour news network.

Critics of the online news scene have even blamed blogs for contributing to the decline of the printed newspaper on the count that anyone can be a journalist that has access to the Internet.

But what we’ve really seen with the emergence of online news sources is the break in the grip of the monopoly that many networks and corporations held on news reporting. It is now up to the individual to determine which online news outlets are reliable, which may also expose an individual to a wider range of views on particular events, rather than the few, narrowly controlled views corporate sources may provide.

In this rough economy, the dire situation that the newspaper industry finds itself in is greatly amplified. The problems have become so amplified in fact that some in the newspaper industry are calling on lawmakers to support some sort of government bailout to keep the major newspapers from going under.

But much to the displeasure of those in the print media industry, top aides in the Obama administration signaled that there will be no such bailout. Think what you will about to whom the loyalties of the major newspapers belong, the thought of government involvement or government-managed newspapers doesn’t sound like the best way to preserve the freedom of the press.

A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in March would essentially revise tax laws, allowing newspapers to operate as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. But of course with the government, there’s a catch: Those newspapers won’t be able to make any official endorsements of political candidates, resulting in some critics stating that this would open the doorway to government control of the news.

Also decreasing is the belief that the newspaper industry can remain competitive in print to alternative forms of media, leaving many to believe that the days of newspapers are ancient history.

“I think print is dead. I always poll all my classes (journalism and composition), and it seems only one or two [students] per quarter/semester ever pick up a paper copy,” said Eric Lose, adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Cincinnati. “I no longer read paper, I prefer the web for my news.”

The newspapers of the future may become more of a novelty than a practical way of receiving news and information. The print media of newspapers have long been an important part of our history, and to some it may be sad to see the industry in decline, but to others, it simply represents the passage of time and the advancement
of society.