With so many newspapers and magazines ceasing publication, you may be asking yourself if print will survive. I don't have the answer. And, I'm not even sure it's the right question. Even when the global economy turns around, it's unlikely that we'll see the same number of magazines or newspapers. So, how will we consume print- or page-like content? Computers are the most obvious answer, but I think products like the Amazon Kindle 2 really point the way.
You see, we have to prepare ourselves for a time when the majority of written works, whether in magazines, newspapers, short stories, or novels, are delivered electronically. I don't imagine that everyone believes the computer screen and Web page is the preferred format for the consumption of this kind of content. I know that industry analyst Tim Bajarin made the argument in a recent column that future generations of e-book readers will offer color screens (I guess that's a good thing), and he suggests that a copy of Harry Potter might benefit from having an embedded video clip from the movie. I disagree.
When I want to read a novel, I want to read a novel. I don't need to be distracted by multimedia, or even color, to help me imagine the story. My mind is quite adept at painting a picture with the words I'm reading. For me, that's the allure of a good, rip-roaring novel. The minute that publishers start producing e-books with "enhancements," we'll witness the beginning of the end of that format for the written word.
The good news is that we're not there yet. For now, there are stores and libraries crammed full of paper books, and new ones published every day. The e-book phenomenon is just starting to take hold, and the rare color model, like the one from Fujitsu, is available only for pre-order right now. This means that products like the Kindle 2 are still bleeding-edge curiosities that offer their share of benefits and hurdles.
Recently, I took my first-ever magazine- and novel-free business trip. All that was in my bag was a Kindle 2. Yes, I had a computer with me for editing stories and writing a few of my own (like the one you're currently reading). Many of you may have read my column, "Amazon Kindle 2: 10 Things You Should Know." Consider this a companion piece. Here I delve into what I've learned about all the ways that reading on a Kindle 2 is and isn't like reading a physical book or magazine.
Watch Those Buttons!
Amazon significantly redesigned the Kindle for version 2, and I think the device is better. Even so, there's no getting around the fundamental differences between print and e-books when it comes to page navigation. More than once I've grabbed the e-book by its side and inadvertently changed the page. One time, I flipped through half a dozen pages. While reading, I keep my fingers positioned over the next and previous page buttons (if I don't, I have a split second in which to remember which button I push to get to the next page--a very un-book-like experience). This led me to learn that finger twitches can also result in page turns. None of this can happen with a real book or magazine.
Too Much Like Technology
As I mentioned previously, Amazon put a lot of work into the Kindle 2 to make reading a very natural, book-like experience. For the most part, Amazon got it right, but there are moments and functional quirks that can take you right out of the experience. Because the Kindle 2 lacks any sort of touch screen, or even a motion-sensitive pad, below the e-ink page, I was wholly dependent on the buttons. I love that the Kindle 2 can store so much good content, but navigating through it with a joystick is a little weird.
I was often unsure about when I should push it or move it, and it reminded me that this thing is a gadget. The Next and Back buttons worked quite well, except that I realized you have to push on the inner edge instead of the outer edge of the buttons to turn the page. This is so counter to anything I've experienced with the print or digital worlds. Again, I was reminded of the strangeness of reading on the Kindle 2.
Read the rest of this column at PCMag.com.

Kindle 2: Like a Book...but Not. (April 15, 2009). ExtremeTech.com, p.NA. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com.prx-01.lirn.net/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS The daily newspaper a dying institution? No way. That's as unthinkable as ... as General Motors going bankrupt!
Oops ... the old saw As General Motors goes, so goes the nation, turns out to be painfully accurate. And while the jury may still be out on GM's long-term financial future, it's now clear the Daily Newspaper as an institution - at least as we've known it for 300-plus years - is, in fact, dying.
That's a bitter pill for journalists, especially, to swallow. But Paper Cuts, a Web site that tracks news-industry developments, says at least 120 papers have shut down since January 2008. The 150-year-old Rocky Mountain News died Feb. 27. Already in bankruptcy - Chicago Sun-Times, the nation's 17th largest paper; corporation owners of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; Philadelphia Enquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, Minneapolis Star Tribune and New Haven Register.
The Christian Science Monitor killed its daily edition favoring a breaking-news Web site and a weekly magazine. Regionally, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer - publishing for 26 years before Washington became a state - was the first newspaper to go entirely online.
And the unkindest cut for Red Sox Nation citizens - the Boston Globe may shut down unless unions make $20 million in concessions. The Globe, published since 1872, is the nation's 14th largest paper - but ad revenues have been tanking. Some sources say the Globe lost about $50 million last year. Last week, AOL compiled a list of 25 Things Vanishing in America, and No. 2 on the list was the daily newspaper. How bad is it, really? Well, things are so bad that - the American Society of Newspaper Editors canceled its scheduled Feb. 26-29 annual convention, its first cancelation since WWII, explaining that the challenges editors face at their newspapers demand their full attention. Oh, and the society has even dropped the Newspaper from its name; American Society of News Editors.
The daily newspaper has been swamped by a perfect storm of problems - notably the Internet-based technology revolution and declining ad revenues. But operators of our dailies also are to blame for generally decreasing (comparatively costly) local coverage in favor of cheaper-to-get national/international news - then decreasing the quality of what local coverage is left, as proven by declining circulation figures.
The worst year on record for the U.S. newspaper industry has been 2008, according to the Newspaper Association of America. It reports total ad revenues were down nearly 17 percent. (On-line sites like Craigslist and Monster.com obviously hurt.) The NAA report states the rate of decline in revenues has accelerated for 10 straight quarters.
Demise of the daily newspaper is a tragedy, right? Well, not if you believe responses to the latest Pew Research Center poll, which says less than half of Americans (43 percent) think losing the local paper would hurt the community. And even fewer (33 percent) say they'd miss the paper.
The Pew poll reports twice as many members of America's Greatest Generation (born before 1946) read a daily newspaper as members of Gen Y (born after 1977). No wonder someone has said Every time a senior citizen dies, the local newspaper loses a subscriber.
Who can't read this handwriting on the wall?
In spite of this pessimistic litany, one undeniable reason for optimism about journalism's future: Newspapers may go away, but news won't.
So, the Boston Globe stops printing? Won't hurt me, as long as they (or someone) provide Boston sports news online - - where I already read about the Red Sox, first thing every morning.
Dan Kennedy, a journalism educator who operates the blog Media Nation, says a problem journalists face is that we're watching the death of the old model, (but) the new model has not yet come into focus.
That means there's still a job future for aspiring reporters. Kenton Bird, director of the University of Idaho's School of Journalism and Mass Media, said last week that Basic reporting skills are going to be the same, even if we don't know exactly what the delivery systems will be.
Now, more than ever, the public needs someone to help them sort through massive quantities of information - what's timely, what's relevant, what can help us as citizens make decisions, Bird said. Focusing on fundamentals - interviewing, retrieving information from documents, weighing credibility of various sources, the ability to sift through facts, and write clearly and concisely in a variety of formats - all those skills will continue to be taught. Our appetite for news won't die, even if - in the short run - it's R.I.P. for daily print newspapers.
Commentary: Will newspapers survive a format rebirth?. (April 13, 2009). Idaho Business Review, Boise, p.NA. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com.prx-01.lirn.net/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS The future of the media, newspapers and journalism will be one of the themes at the Thinking Digital conference in Newcastle, and Dan Lyons, who blogged as the Fake Steve Jobs of Apple and now is writer at Newsweek, didn't mince words about daily newspapers.
I don't see the point. They are dead. They are in denial.
He sees a bifurcated market where the newspapers die off and what remains are the "high value-added, brainiac magazines" like The New Yorker and The Economist.
He described the situation confronting newspapers as a disaster and said it would be worse than the collapse of the US auto industry. But he laid the blame squarely at the feet of newspapers. They had long lived off of massive profits, but that was over. "It was based on scarcity of information and monopolies," he said. Even after the recession ends, he predicted that the US newspaper industry wouldn't ever recover. They didn't even know where to start to address the loss of their monopoly position. He said:
When you ask the people running these companies what they are going to do, you get nothing. They don't know.
It didn't sound much better for magazines. Newsweek, the magazine he now writes for, has just launched a strategic review. It has announced some changes and will be announcing more. The main thrust is that they will be reducing print as they focus on building their digital business. But they will have to do something major. Since 2007, cir culation of the weekly newsmagazine has declined 52% . Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz called Newsweek strategy as "nothing less than a survival strategy ".
But Lyons was sceptical that going digital was the answer. He said no one was making money online. Social media expert Stowe Boyd, who was moderating the panel, asked about Michael Arrington of TechCrunch . Lyons said bluntly:
Arrington isn't making money. He's full of shit. Michael Arrington is making some money, but he's running a small business. It's like running a dry cleaner.
Arianna Huffington called him and asked him to write for the Huffington Post, which is often heralded as the future of media. But she said, "As you know, we famously don't pay our bloggers." To which he replied, "As you know, I famously don't work for nothing."
But as he sees it: "Writing is now worth zero. The value of what we do is worth zero."
@Thinking Digital: 'Newspapers are dead'. (May 14, 2009). Europe Intelligence Wire, p.NA. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com.prx-01.lirn.net/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Availability of newspapers online has brought in a kind of revolution that is affecting print journalism really bad. Newspapers play an important role in the development of a nation and economy. It is role as an identity independent of government should be withheld at any cost. At the same time, it is the responsibility of the government to bail it out of trouble for the better interest of the general public.
Daily newspapers are going out of business at an unprecedented rate, and the survivors are slashing their budgets.