Newspapers and the Future Post 9

  With the advent of computer technology and the widespread use of the internet, the way we as humans carry out certain tasks has forever changed. Mainly, the ways we have changed is in how we obtain information. Instead of going out to the library for research or to pick up the paper, we can simply log onto the computer and browse out favorite news site for free. This is a problem for news companies originally in print; With so many more people just going to online news sources, they are losing business in their printed newspapers.* It is harder to make money online, as the only real way while providing free content are advertisements. This being said, I do not think that traditional media will become less relevant of a source in the near future. Instead of becoming less relevant, I think that print editions will become scarce, and eventually disappear altogether.

   This phasing out of print editions can already be seen in multiple places. The Encyclopedia Britannica, a revered encyclopedia for over two hundred years, released its last printed thirty two volume book this year.** Over ten metropolitan daily newspapers have ceased to print since 2007 alone; its obvious that traditional newspapers will be faded out, smaller ones will go first, and eventually there will be one or two big ones left covering national or world news.

   The reason why printed papers are folding (hah) is because of the ease of access to online news sites. There are many to choose from out there, and they are all accessible from anywhere in the world. That being said, for printed editions to continue to exist, they will need to refine what they write. This means becoming actually more relevant, being a good source for anyone looking to read the news. This would only prolong the inevitable, though, as online companies would follow suit and inprove on their reporting as well. In the long- run, most if not all printed news sources will be phased out, but the printed sources will not be any less relevant to the normal person.

*Marunde, Chuck. "Print Newspapers Losing Readers to the Internet." Weblog post. Sequim Real Estate in Sequim, Washingto. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. <http://www.sequim-real-estate-blog.com/internet-and-real-estate/print-newspapers-losing-paper-to-the-internet/>.

**ROUSSEAU, CARYN. "Last Paper Copy for Encyclopaedia Britannica." CapeCodOnline.com. Associated Press, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120314/NEWS11/120319901>.

***"Newspaper Death Watch." Newspaper Death Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://newspaperdeathwatch.com/>.