With the Boston Globe newspaper sitting on shifting sands and unsure of its sustainability as a print product, the debate continues on the state of the newspaper industry.
Print vs. electronic news is not a new debate, however.
We (journalist/newspaper/magazine people) have been grappling with this for several years. We saw it coming with the advent of the Internet-- not its early roots as a network for government and academia-- but, more specifically, when business began to embrace it. That was, I would say, in the mid-to-late 90s.
Back then, I was a cub reporter at a weekly technology newspaper, called PC Week (later renamed, eWeek to reflect, what else, the ‘electronic’ age). Software companies would come in to brief us on their new application that would give businesses a presence on the Web. We’d nod, and smile, and ask poignant questions like, “Why does a retailer need to sell their merchandise on the Internet?” “Who is going to shop that way?” “What’s the return on investment expected to be?”
Fast-forward ten years: It’s the only way I shop.
About five years ago, I took a class at Harvard Extension School on local journalism taught by two editors at the Boston Globe. They were fantastic teachers, and, it was because of them that I later got my chance to become a Globe correspondent (thank you Dave and Mark!). During one class, they brought in the Globe’s online editor to discuss how news writing works on the Web—a fairly new concept for mainstream media at the time. It is meant to be a dynamic, real-time platform that can be interactive and proactive, it was explained.
The question I had, however, was, “Will you just repackage stories from print to the Web, and vice versa? And, if not, and the Web is so dynamic, how do you make sure the print product doesn’t become stale as a result, in which case, readers and advertisers may lose interest?”
The three editors looked at each other as if I had just exposed a horrible secret. Turns out, they had been having those conference room conversations for months already. It was an unresolved question…And, it appears that it still is.
As a journalist, and someone who loves to sit at the table every morning with her Boston Globe newspaper, scanning the stories, turning the pages, leaving it open to come back to later, I don’t want to see the demise of print news. But as someone who actually reads the major news stories on the Web first (when I log on at 6:00 a.m.), and has watched major shifts in technology—and business-- unfold in front of my eyes, I know you can’t stop the inevitable.
Print, I hope, will never go away completely. But when I look at my kids, and how they get their information—even textbooks are repurposed on the web—I do imagine there could be a time when information is 100% electronic.
Now is the time to figure out the news formula of the future.
-Steph
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