Myopia
Some people have a rather myopic view of the world:
Some people, including seemingly newspaper publishers, continue to underestimate the role and influence of the internet in the sustainability of their business models. Many newspapers, including virtually all of our local papers, make their papers available online at no charge to the consumer, removing the cost impediment to their consumers. With the removal of this cost impediment and the instant adaptability of internet news delivery, those people who wish to be informed without buying their local daily are already reading it.
When you combine that with the availability of specialty news sources and blogs, the average consumer (especially younger people) is receiving more information about their world that at any time since the invention of the printing press.
Mr. Micklos view that one can only obtain news from a large corporate newspaper is a sad commentary about how out of touch some people are with the new reality....though sadly, maybe not as out of touch as print newspaper publishers who respond to a weakening economy by printing a small, more inferior product and charging more for it. Maybe it's that lack of economic understanding and the diminishing quality of their news that is the cause of reduced revenues, not the alleged "uninformed" public.
After reading "Sun's parent files for protection from creditors" (Dec. 9), I think that the decline in the number of newspaper subscribers and readers is a barometer of our nation's inability to grasp the importance of keeping up with local, national and world events.The write of this letter seems to misguidedly assume that we can only achieve an informed citizenry if the newspaper businesses is somehow propped up by encouraging those who are not buying newspapers to buy newspapers. And of course this is a horribly misguided, not-with-the-times sentiment.
If our democratic values and institutions are to survive, the public must remain informed.
So let us all encourage each other and our young people to return to reading the newspaper.
Some people, including seemingly newspaper publishers, continue to underestimate the role and influence of the internet in the sustainability of their business models. Many newspapers, including virtually all of our local papers, make their papers available online at no charge to the consumer, removing the cost impediment to their consumers. With the removal of this cost impediment and the instant adaptability of internet news delivery, those people who wish to be informed without buying their local daily are already reading it.
When you combine that with the availability of specialty news sources and blogs, the average consumer (especially younger people) is receiving more information about their world that at any time since the invention of the printing press.
Mr. Micklos view that one can only obtain news from a large corporate newspaper is a sad commentary about how out of touch some people are with the new reality....though sadly, maybe not as out of touch as print newspaper publishers who respond to a weakening economy by printing a small, more inferior product and charging more for it. Maybe it's that lack of economic understanding and the diminishing quality of their news that is the cause of reduced revenues, not the alleged "uninformed" public.
Labels: Media
posted by Brian Griffiths at 6:51 PM
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