Our paper (The washington post) has downsized since the new year. 3 comic pages have gone to two, business section was folded into the front page section. No more book world, no more Sunday Source. It’s sad and a shock to the system, but I hope they survive. Just today in the paper I read the Boston Globe is in jeoperdy too. I read them for 4 years while we were in Massachusetts, another venerable paper. My parents’ paper, the Reading Eagle, got smaller paper and a weird fold to convince you it’s not as small as it is.

My local paper (afternoon edition only) has only just now started offering a companion online service, which is mediocre at best. The next town over, which offers a morning edition, does a much better job at complementary print-and-online stories, similar to what you see in magazines (different features online, etc). They encourage you to get additional info online, which I think is clever.

I think that eventually newspapers will be forced to change or die, like any company, really. But papers that do the best in the transition will survive, I’m sure of it.

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My blog is sponsored by my newspaper.

I don’t mind the shift in media.

I do mind the fact that the Internet media isn’t bringing in as much income as the print media did.

Somehow, the payroll has to be met.

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And I hope paper coupons never go away. My grocery store seems to think that internet printable coupons are mostly fraudulent, and it is a pain to use them. I much prefer buying a couple papers every Sunday.

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…we do get the local newspaper. It is a gift subscription from my dad to our kids. Why? We view the newspaper as the source of our first lessons in civic awareness our children receive. Yes, they run for the comics each morning, but the one who “loses” ends up reading some article that catches his/her eye while they’re waiting. Since we don’t live in a huge city, the article is usually about something they can relate specifically to. Viola, a lesson about what is going on in “their” world. Discussions result, awareness grows. Oftentimes, the internet is then used to dig deeper, get more information. It is a valuable tool.

Having said all that, I don’t think I’d be subscribing if I had to pay for it myself. I think I’d assign current events to my children and have them find internet articles that caught their eye. The newspapers have “dumbed” down their content over the years, the coupons don’t help someone who tries to cook from fresh and bulk items rather than prepackaged, and the funnies aren’t that funny.

As for the argument that journalists are needed, I agree, but if the last two years have taught us anything, it is that viral video can spread the word farther and faster than any newspaper and, for the younger generation, has far more credibility. I think rural newspapers that spread good news or narrowly relevant news will not go away, but won’t be dailies. I think the big city newspapers are dying because they aren’t providing value…it is simply a manifestation of the evolution of the medium.

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