Are newspapers dying out? I think not

There has been much talk in today’s world of the internet and high-speed knowledge that the printed newspaper is dying out. Some think that the newspapers of this world are standing on their last leg and their life-span is limited.
I think not!
Many newspapers have indeed folded and gone out of business in the last few years. But so have many other businesses (which I blame on Washington, D.C., “leaders,” local “leaders,” shutting businesses down and the rising economy/inflation … but that’s another column.)
Newspapers are like any other business – if they lose enough money for long enough, they will go out of business. Despite popular belief, newspapers are a business just like any other business. To survive, they must show a profit. With the economy being what it is, for the last year and a half, there are businesses all over this nation, newspapers and non-newspapers, feeling the crunch of the times.
I read a column a few years ago that said when the AM radio came along, people had predicted that the days of the newspaper were numbered. Radio could get a story out in minutes; newspapers took hours.
Then when FM radio came along, people had predicted that the days of the AM radio were numbered.
Then came television. The talk was that television would take radio’s place, for TV had both sound and pictures.
When cable television came along, it was predicted that the days of the local networks were numbered. Cable TV offered more channels and had movies with no commercials.
And now … the internet is here and the talk is that the days of the newspaper are numbered.
Again, I think not!
Admittedly, some do rely on the internet and "cyberspace" to provide them with news and information. However, there are a great many who still desire the tangible feel of a newspaper in their hands. They enjoy flipping through real paper to see the score of the latest local ballgame or the happenings of their local government officials, while enjoying their morning coffee or quiet time. That is something a "click of the mouse" cannot provide. In addition, words on a computer screen cannot be cut out and saved for prosperity.
With a printed version of the newspaper, you hold everything right there in your hands … your local news, school news and sports news, crossword puzzles, the local sales at the community stores, coupons … all with just a few turning of the pages.
The fact of the matter is that newspapers feed a basic human need – the need to know; and that need will never go away. The difference between prominent daily newspapers and small hometown newspapers is that the ONLY place to find your local hometown news is IN your LOCAL NEWSPAPER. Thus, a big reason I believe that newspapers will not die out anytime soon (especially community/hometown newspapers.)
However, the internet is a great thing and all newspapers seem to now have a version of their printed product on the web. Some newspapers only have a few paragraphs of each story on the web (telling the reader to purchase the printed version for the whole story), some newspapers put only some of the stories on the web (advising the reader to purchase the printed version to get all the stories), and yet other online newspapers are viewable at a subscription cost, and can be read, in their entirety, on the web.
Competition keeps us all on our toes in life. The internet is no different.
Here at ECB Publishing, Inc. (the Monticello News and the Jefferson County Journal) we regularly update our website to make it more accessible and user-friendly. You can find us at www.ecbpublishing.com. We have a lot of our local stories on our website, but not all the stories. You can find ALL the stories in the actual newspapers sold around town, by subscribing and having a newspaper delivered to your home or business twice-a-week (for just $60 a year), or by subscribing to our online e-pub edition.
With a subscription to our internet publication (e-publication/e-pub) you can click the newspaper page by page and see everything that the printed version has to offer. The newest e-edition becomes available every Tuesday afternoon and Thursday afternoon. For a nominal fee of just $35 (for the entire year) you have all your local news with a click of a button, no matter where you are.
We thank you, our readers, for the years of support you have given us, and we hope to continue to better serve you in the upcoming months and years to come, both in print and on the web.
If we can be of any service to you, please call our office at (850) 997-3568.