Are newspapers dead? What will the future of news be like?

[redguard572001]

I read that the SF Chronicle, as well as the Seattle P-I are up for sale and have no takers. Recently my hometown paper, the Austin American-Statesman, went for sale. The NY Times mortgaged its building. It seems like the newspaper industry is finished as we know it.

Why? I don't buy the "liberal media" argument. Last time I checked, San Francisco and Seattle are liberal places and should have a bunch of people who agree with them even IF the newspapers are biased (an idea I think is overblown). From what I understand, conservative publications are hurting too (I read that National Review is kept in print by donors).

I think it's more due to distribution costs and print advertising not really working on people anymore.

But I worry about the future of journalism. Is all news destined to be read to us by narcissistic personalities like Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Keith Olbermann, etc? Or will it go to the internet and become a glorified blog? Either way, I think we all lose.

 

[amyC]

I think traditional newspapers are dead, but the news is far from dead. I just became an agent for the National Times. It's a new online newspaper with all of the sections of a traditional paper. I don't want to sound biased (I do work for them after all ) but i really do like the set up of the paper, I like the format, and you might want to check it out if you are looking for a traditional national paper without the paper.

 

[MarvintheMartian]

The future of news is already here. It's called radio, television, Internet, magazines, email, phones (believe it or not text messages can spread news pretty fast) . That's why the newsprint media is going under.

Newspapers don't make sense anymore. They consume too many resources and are too slow of a means to transmit news. Sorry to see these icons go, but the horse and buggy exist today only as curiosities. Few people spin their own cloth or spear their own dinner.