There is no question that the media world is undergoing a quiet – well, sometimes not so quiet – revolution. More and more publishers are making the move away from traditional “print journalism” and embracing the digital world. With the release of the iPad today we can expect that more consumers will be switching over to digitally based media as well.
Is this the end of print journalism? While there will always be the consumer who swears that they need to “hold the magazine and turn the pages” and feels rooted to their traditional print-based media, the mass trend certainly is toward a more digital media. Think about the transition from film cameras to digital cameras. Several decades back most consumer cameras were film based. Now the majority of consumer cameras are digital. Film is not – and very likely never will be – dead, but it has been challenged by something more convenient and easy to use for the average Joe. Don’t get me wrong, I love film cameras and know several successful pro photographers who use them, but the average consumer’s needs are met far better with a compact digital camera.
Consider print media in the same light. Sure, it’s nice to hold that print magazine and turn the pages. But isn’t it also nice to be able to load ten or even twenty books onto a digital device and not worry about hauling around forty pounds of paper? Isn’t it easy to be able to subscribe online to your favorite publications and be able to read them anytime, anywhere, without worrying about toting them all around in your briefcase (or trying to remember to pick them up at the bookstore)?
The future of media lies in the digital world. And while I suspect we will always have the presence of print media, embrace the revolution. Try something new. You never know… you might like it.
Side note: the guys at Dry Fly Media put up a great link a few weeks back to the Onion’s poke at print media. Good for fulfilling the day’s entertainment quota…
Tags: News
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The Ipad will save Apple Corporation but not journalism
Journalism was already in decline before the Ipad was launched. What will you be writing about using you Ipad that will make you a better or worse journalist? Journalism is not dying, it’s just not the same. Will the popularity of the Ipad translate to better journalism? BIG NO! The demise of journalism started years ago when journalists started to write desperate articles just to get the information published. Now, it is mass media journalism. It’s got nothing to do with ethics or factual writing. Get the information or misinformation out and that is what journalism boils down to. To make it worse, bloggers think they are journalists! lol
Everybody loves free so why pay for something you can get for free? It doesn’t make business or journalistic sense. Free is good and I should know. lol
I agree that journalism as a whole is in desperate need of change. Most journalists have steered away from real, ethical, unbiased reporting and spin the media one way or the other. The revolution in journalism that is needed regards the quality of the information being released, not necessarily the method of delivery.
Be it via the iPad or another online means of “transportation”, the trend is certainly moving to an online media community. Journalists need to take responsibility for their work – producing quality, well researched pieces – regardless if the piece is viewed in a glossy print magazine or on a mobile device. Thankfully there are still many professional journalists out there who put in the necessary hours to produce vividly real, complete stories.
That said, change is almost always a positive thing and it will be exciting to see where the future leads!
Desperate, reread the post. She didn’t claim to be reporting the end of print journalism – she said that publishers (by the dozens in fact) are embracing digital venues to deliver content and that consumers are embracing new technology to consume content.
Apple’s iPad isn’t the end all / be all of devices, though it’s a good example (as the author intended it to be) of one wave of the digital revolution. Selling 300,000 iPads last Saturday gives you a glimpse of the interest among early adopters.
Dissing bloggers as a category is another swing and a miss on your part – though few and far between (consider the number of blogs out there) there are a few blog based news sources that provide some of the only ‘real reporting’ available today.