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Internet Killed the Newspaper Star

As a writer and journalist, one might think that when the day came, that the newspaper died, I would personally, take it very painfully. As an idealistic kid, I used to think I'd grow up to be a double or triple-column, half-page writer in some major newspaper…naturally, I'd also be writing the great American Novel, Oscar winning screenplays, and directing all of my own films. 

Twenty years ago, we didn't see it coming. The fact that the majority of our news would be from an online source as opposed to a printed source. We all thought that it would be television that would kill the newspaper…as it had done the radio star. Now, in a way video is still doing the killing…only the homicide is taking place online.

I'm so keen on writing this because recently, a local survey came out measuring the difference in the size of newspapers from a number cities with varying degrees of populations. The amount of shrinkage is very significant. We see it coming, we all know it's coming, the newspaper is dying at a pace that grows faster every year.

Yet, we shouldn't blame ourselves for the demise of the newspapers. Nor, should we be made to feel guilty about it. Some older folks at dinner one night implied that by not reading the tangible newspaper – our generation and those that follow are missing out on some additional level of intelligence. One that only they would be privy to, because of their ink stained fingers. I'm not sure how this is possible, when we're reading more news than ever and our culture is more informed than their generation ever was. We can go online to the Pentagon Channel and hear the daily briefings from the Defense Secretary, or learn a new word of the day; simply because we derive our news from online sources, rather than a newspaper.

Admittedly, I occasionally enjoy the Sunday morning phonebook sized paper with the sale ads and coupons. Sometimes, certain sections are fun to read cover to cover…I just don't have time to read the whole thing, nor do I have the space to store it. Plus, it uses too much paper!

The paper-saving method of reading my news online at high-speeds is not the same experience as flipping through ink on paper, that I concede. I also love the feel of a book in my hands, and have yet to buy a Kindle. However, for my news I prefer to use the internet. I select which ads  I will allow to interrupt my field of vision, I read whole pages at a time, without a "continued on page..", and I keep my fingers clean.

The internet is always there and in one click,  I am instantly updated on developments that took place just moments prior. I have access to satellites in space that will show me more than one publisher's point of view, in fact I can see the news from more than one nation's point of view…THAT is the amazing part of being tied to the global community. I am more informed minute by minute, than my friends waiting in their driveway for their single, daily dose of news each morning, coffee in one hand, the other hand ready to be stained with ink. 

With respect to my older friends at dinner that night, which part of these advantages of internet news gathering is deficient in, or empty of intelligence? I've yet to see where it is.