Newspapers
Newspapers...and After?
While I feel that reports of the imminent death of the book have been greatly exaggerated, the book's sibling medium, the newspaper, is not at all well. The latest version of this story is in The Nation. (By the way, political magazines can't be too much healthier.)
It seems to me that while computers aren't really a good substitute for books, they are (in conjunction with the web) a much better delivery system for what newspapers do than the traditional system. Newspapers are horribly inefficient. They use a ridiculous amount of paper to print stories and advertisements. Most newspaper readers read only a fraction of these stories. After reading this fraction of stories, the reader throws the newspaper away, or recycles it, or uses it for lining a birdcage, or whatever.
I hardly ever buy a newspaper anymore. I get my news (and other newspaper items like comics) from the web.
While I feel that reports of the imminent death of the book have been greatly exaggerated, the book's sibling medium, the newspaper, is not at all well. The latest version of this story is in The Nation. (By the way, political magazines can't be too much healthier.)
It seems to me that while computers aren't really a good substitute for books, they are (in conjunction with the web) a much better delivery system for what newspapers do than the traditional system. Newspapers are horribly inefficient. They use a ridiculous amount of paper to print stories and advertisements. Most newspaper readers read only a fraction of these stories. After reading this fraction of stories, the reader throws the newspaper away, or recycles it, or uses it for lining a birdcage, or whatever.
I hardly ever buy a newspaper anymore. I get my news (and other newspaper items like comics) from the web.
posted by Mac | 9:30 AM
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