You’ve heard it all before. “It’s the end of print.” “Newspapers are obsolete”… or the ubiquitous “I get all my news from the Internet.” Where do newspapers fit in today’s web-enabled, mobile-device toting, instant news world? Aren’t they a thing of the past?
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In a word, no.
Don’t think of newspapers like The New York Times. Consider your local newspaper. Think about The Times Leader, for instance. Who else is going to send reporters to cover your kids’ softball game? Who else is going to cover the township meetings, or make the injustices of a corrupt official known to the world at large? Television is expensive to produce, the equipment can’t go everywhere and sometimes people don’t want to be filmed, but they’ll gladly put their word into print.
I think the real advantage of the newspaper is that it fills the deeply ingrained role of the storyteller. When you read about an event, filtered through the pen of a skilled reporter, it can fire one’s imagination in a way that the actual video record can never do.
Enter technology.
The Internet should not be a nail in the paper coffin, so to speak. Rather, it should be the great equalizer. No longer is the small paper denied the reach that the big-city goliaths enjoy. We all have an equal voice. What’s more, it gives us the ability, should we so desire, to capture the event on video or in other formats.
Any newspaper in the 21st century must consider itself a multimedia outlet.
And what of the mobile world?
You can watch video clips on your phone. You can even view the whole story. But if you’re viewing the news on the phone, odds are you’re in motion. The written (or typed) word is a far more efficient communicator in this case than the spoken one.
There is a serendipity to reading the newspaper or browsing a news website that you won’t encounter in television news programs. And they are just that. Programs. You are stuck on a course, having things served to you in a predetermined order, with no freedom to peruse or skip. In our paper, or on our website, a story on a topic that might not otherwise interest you could catch your eye and draw you in.
In the end, it’s not about the paper. It’s about serving the community, and about the events taking place within that community. Technology is an asset, not the enemy. We can tell you about that softball game or that judge instantly. And you can tell us what you think – also immediately. It’s a two-way street, now more than ever.
With that in mind, visit our new website at www.timesleader.com. In the coming months, we’ll be rolling out even more tools to keep you informed, no matter where you are, and no matter what time it is.
July 20, 2010
source: timesleader.com